Patapsco Report-Random, but overall pretty good

[yakscientist]

So Matt and I went out on Sunday 10/7/18 around Stoney Creek and some other spots, and although the weather was perfect in the AM (low-ish temps, light winds, overcast), fishing was sub par until about 8am or so. There were no breaking fish for us to try at, and we didn't pick up anything trolling for what seemed like forever. Eventually him and I parted ways, he opted to fish the shoreline (docks and rocks) for perch, catfish, and maybe striper using a perch pounder spinner; I headed for deeper waters and structure. I decided to troll my usual spread, but opted to also throw out my xrap magnum 20, which is a huge lure and one that I hope only catches large fish (thus far it's only caught 1 striper but it was 25"+). It got smashed halfway to my destination (white rocks) by what I had hoped would be a new PB striper but although the fish felt super heavy, it didn't move that much, just thrashed around a lot at the surface and took a lot of drag once it got closer. It turned out to be a 35"+ channel cat. What a crazy catch either way, for a catfish to hit that large of a lure moving at a decent pace. I then made it to white rocks and cast around a bit to see if I could find some striper hanging out over there, and caught another 22" channel catfish, which caused a small overloaded powerboat to motor over to about 20 yards from me and begin fishing. I stayed there a bit longer and then decided they were getting too close for comfort, so I moved on, but not before trolling the same lure I had been casting. Immediately I hooked a barely 19" rockfish, but I don't like to keep anything that close to the limit so I let him go. Then the boat immediately bee-lined to the spot I had caught him, only about 15ft behind me at this point. I was about to berate them but it was a family with a small child, so I opted not too. I guess they were just angry about not catching fish so they figured they'd stack right on top of me to increase their chances. I left the rocks then trolled back to where Matt was, and we left not long after. I caught 3 more rockfish trolling (finally!) right before heading in, so my total that day was 4 rockfish from 12-19" and 2 catfish at 22 and 35". Matt caught countless WP over by the shoreline, and even got a catfish and small striper too on the same lure. Overall, a weird day, but any day that I get a fish above 30" is a good day. IMG_0036.jpgIMG_0033.jpg

[Mark]

That's a heck of a channel cat.

I believe it qualifies for a MD citation for exceeding 30 inches.

[DanMarino]

Great report.

[yakscientist]

That's a heck of a channel cat.

I believe it qualifies for a MD citation for exceeding 30 inches.

I wonder if I could get a citation without having a ruler in the picture? I can always call anglers and see. Would be cool though for sure. Thanks for bringing that to my attention!

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[J.A. Veil]

Nice report. That was a huge catfish.

[mike o]

Nice cat Pat