St. Jerome's Creek Thursday report

[ronaultmtd]

I launched at 2:45 pm today at St. Jerome’s Creek...it was high tide and just beginning to go out...water was stained but not muddy...winds were stronger than forecast out of the south and the inlet was filled with whitecaps and washing machine swells...counted 26 crab pots in the inlet that was from 3.5 feet of water to 9 feet of water...the inlet was literally wallpapered with crab pots except for very shallow water of 2.5 feet and less and a narrow boat channel...making fishing in my favorite places next to impossible, especially with an outgoing tide against a stiff south wind...in spite of the difficulties, I did manage to catch three bluefish...the largest was approximately 1 1/2 pounds and 17 1/2 inches long...not a fan of bluefish so released them...not much of a report, but it is what it is...the rain has had an effect on the fishing...and next week looks like a repeat of this week...

[Big Mike]

I snuck out to Piney Point in the morning. Like you much stronger winds than projected making Fishing the Potomac side a challenge. I measured visibility at about 3’, which was better than I thought it would be. Had 4 bluefish bite offs, no stripers in about 1 1/2 hours before the wind just drove me off. Would have toughed it out if the bite was better.

[Mark]

Uh oh. Blues are here. Time to carry those assorted plastics that typically are your last choice for use.

[J.A. Veil]

Ron - Those &*(&(@ crab pots can certainly impede kayak navigation and trolling.

I caught my first bluefish of the year yesterday but it was very small (~6"). I was riding in a friend's boat in Eastern Bay. As we were headed back across to the South River, I spotted a small group of birds working off to the side. We headed over there and saw no fish breaking the surface. But we saw loads of good marks on the sonar in 35-40 ft depth.

We stopped and began jigging -- he used metal, I used a BKD and jighead. My BKD got bitten off, so I switched to metal. There were thousands of fish underneath us, but all were tiny.

I expect to see schools of bluefish hitting bait at the surface very soon as well as getting bite-offs on many plastic tails. I don't normally use ZMan tails, but do switch over to them when the blues are in residence.

[kevinfry]

I had been reluctant to switch to zmans until a few trips where they were preferred by fish over the other paddletails I was fishing. I'm a believer now.

That being said, I like fishing spoons and blues like eating spoons.

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