John Rentch and I launched into the Severn this morning from Jonas Green on a flooding tide. It was beautifully calm but that was not to last.
I made a trip to the western side of the river but soon returned to the eastern side and that is where we concentrated our efforts.
I caught this striper by dragging a paddletail on a 1/4 oz. jig when crossing to the eastern side:
P1040005.jpg
A completely unremarkable schoolie aside from its healthy appearance. However, and I say this sadly, it is the largest striper I have caught in the Severn this year. How pitiful is that?
However, it got worse. Here was my next catch:
P1040007.jpg
A pre-schoolie! The good news is that he was learning his craft. He chased down my paddletail. Perhaps he'll do the same thing in 3 or 4 years and give someone a genuine photo opportunity.
I caught another like him on the same lure during my crossing. Then I switched to targeting white perch in 4 distinct areas on the eastern side of the river.
Each site was fruitful and I caught 26 perch in total on a jig spinner. These two were the largest and I happened to catch them on consecutive casts:
P1040011.jpg P1040013.jpg
The others were 6 to 8 inches.
We often talk about casting to shade when looking for perch. Here's a case in point:
P1040015.jpg
You can see John is straddling the line between sun and shade and casting into the darker water. Note also the phragmites. Perch love to be near them.
Of course the wind kicked up during our trip north on the river. After a couple of hours we decided to head back into the teeth of the wind. I was pedaling but John was paddling. He was a trooper paddling non-stop for about mile and half into the wind. He trolled back to Jonas. I just enjoyed the ride with my lines in and snapped this photo of him working his paddles:
P1040017.jpg
So ended our morning on the Severn. The perch are present and offer lots of fun as targets. But decent stripers remain scarce, at least for us they were.
I made a trip to the western side of the river but soon returned to the eastern side and that is where we concentrated our efforts.
I caught this striper by dragging a paddletail on a 1/4 oz. jig when crossing to the eastern side:
P1040005.jpg
A completely unremarkable schoolie aside from its healthy appearance. However, and I say this sadly, it is the largest striper I have caught in the Severn this year. How pitiful is that?
However, it got worse. Here was my next catch:
P1040007.jpg
A pre-schoolie! The good news is that he was learning his craft. He chased down my paddletail. Perhaps he'll do the same thing in 3 or 4 years and give someone a genuine photo opportunity.
I caught another like him on the same lure during my crossing. Then I switched to targeting white perch in 4 distinct areas on the eastern side of the river.
Each site was fruitful and I caught 26 perch in total on a jig spinner. These two were the largest and I happened to catch them on consecutive casts:
P1040011.jpg P1040013.jpg
The others were 6 to 8 inches.
We often talk about casting to shade when looking for perch. Here's a case in point:
P1040015.jpg
You can see John is straddling the line between sun and shade and casting into the darker water. Note also the phragmites. Perch love to be near them.
Of course the wind kicked up during our trip north on the river. After a couple of hours we decided to head back into the teeth of the wind. I was pedaling but John was paddling. He was a trooper paddling non-stop for about mile and half into the wind. He trolled back to Jonas. I just enjoyed the ride with my lines in and snapped this photo of him working his paddles:
P1040017.jpg
So ended our morning on the Severn. The perch are present and offer lots of fun as targets. But decent stripers remain scarce, at least for us they were.
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