Blue Angels and a Perch Search

[Mark]

John Veil, me and hundreds of others created a flotilla of Blue Angels watchers at the mouth of Weems Creek this afternoon.

I launched from Tucker Street and headed out to the main river. These are just of portion of the boats I saw:

P1040608 (2).jpg P1040607 (2).jpg

John soon joined me:

P1040635 (3).jpg

And then the Blue Angels joined us:

P1040673 (3).jpg

They put on a fantastic show. It was stunning and it's hard to pick the best photos from the many I took. But here are a few:

P1040613 (6).jpg P1040622 (3).jpg P1040632 (3).jpg

P1040638 (3).jpg P1040651 (2).jpg

Absolutely incredible!

Now, on to the perch search. For me that's all it was. I worked the southern shoreline of Weems from the mouth of the creek almost to the very back. I searched. I did not catch. I was skunked! I did bring a couple perch to the surface of the water but I lost them before I got my hands on them. I was using either a 1/8 oz. jig spinner or a 3-inch Mr. Twister on a 1/8 oz. jig. The fish I missed looked very small, perhaps too small for my lures. Clearly, the bigger perch have not arrived in numbers yet. I went far too long between bites even while hitting my proven spots. So, I think we need to wait a little longer for the best that Weems has to offer.

Now John did much better than me. He caught a good number of perch and juvenile stripers. But I think even his perch were small. Let's hope the big ones are on their way.

The good news is that the fishing was merely an afterthought after witnessing the Blue Angels. There's something special about watching them from the water. If you ever get the chance to do so, don't waste the opportunity.

[J. Rentch]

Glad you and John were able to get out there. Have done that trip several times, always special every time I see them. No fly rod yesterday? Let’s hook up next week somewhere.

[Mark]

Glad you and John were able to get out there. Have done that trip several times, always special every time I see them. No fly rod yesterday? Let’s hook up next week somewhere.

Nope. Should have brought one. I think my regular lures scared those little guys. 😀

[J.A. Veil]

My go-to lure for summer perch fishing is a Bignose spinnerbait. Yesterday very few of the fish I encountered were interested. As Mark noted, the fish were generally small and were looking for small baits. I found one or two spots where I could get bites on almost every cast -- but these were Arkansas Capital fish (Little Rock). The small stripers would only bite on a 2" twister tail on 1/16-oz jighead. I threw the spinnerbait in those areas but did not get a touch. I also threw a 3" paddletail in those areas and had numerous bumps. But the small fish were unable to get to the hook.

Mark and I explored opposite sides of Weems Creek for more than 2 hours. I managed to catch 4 perch and 16 tiny stripers -- nothing was larger than 8-9". The small stripers reminded me somewhat of the trout my brother catches in creeks in eastern PA - small, slender, but energetic. And they put a good bend in my ultralight rod.

I enjoyed the Blue Angels show and appreciated the excellent vantage point of the mouth of Weems Creek.

Here is a photo of Mark in his Native Ultimate 12 -- an excellent lightweight, calm water kayak.

2003-08-01 00-00-03.jpg

[mjkeith13]

I'm not sure how I missed y'all but I was just south of the mouth of Weems creek near that private sandy beach as you get close to the 450 bridge. I'm just off Mark's picture #6 to the right.
I had never seen the Blue Angels before and what a fantastic show it was, especially from that vantage point. I don't think I've ever seen that many boats anchored up in such a small area (between 50 and 450 bridges). Some boat nearby me was even playing "Danger zone" from Top Gun as the demo started! About a third of the way into the demo, I was facing south focused on the 4 aircraft formation heading downtown when a solo F-18 came screaming off the deck at tree top level from behind. Didn't even hear him until he nearly passed over me - was super cool!

I fished Weems for about 2 hours prior to the demo after launching from Tucker street and didn't have nearly as much fun as the Blue Angels demo. I caught a grand total 2 6" perch with a 2" twister tail. Like John, my usual go-to Bignose spinnerbaits didn't even get a hit. I did, however, talk to a guy who was back in the creek fishing from a motorized skiff. He said he had caught over 2 dozen 8-11" perch over past 2 days using a shad dart with (I think he said) earthworms and a bobber. He had about 8 rods, all w/bobbers, in his skiff.

I also got some great pictures but can't access them from here at work.

[CarsonNash]

Mark-
The show this year was amazing. I was not in my kayak, but you can see my boat in the picture you shared facing the 50 bridge! I saw all the kayakers and was wondering if it was any SL members.

Keith-
They pull that trick every year, and every year it gets me. The intended purpose is to startle everyone focusing on the 4 other jets, and I can say that that it definitely worked this year.

And as for the fishing, I fished a dock from shore using a perch pounder spinnerbait. I caught 3 mid sized perch, and hooked 3 more.

[rob-kayak]

Great pics Mark..
glad you guys had a good time...
I forgot about the display at Annapolis...
went some where else.
Thanks for posting.

[Mark]

The speed, the sound and (choke choke), the exhaust hovering over the Severn were all just amazing.

I shot some nice video on my iPhone too. As I looked around, almost everyone present had a phone or camera pointed to the sky. The trick was capturing the images. The jets arrived before their roar. Many times they were long gone by the time you heard them.

One pilot came in from behind so low over the water I instinctively ducked when I heard the closeness of his thunder.

At the end of the show the boats started honking their horns in appreciation. I blew the whistle on my PFD.

Just a fantastic event.

[mjkeith13]

I blew my whistle on my PFD also when the powerboats started honking!!

I actually got a great video of the one Hornet that blew south very low over the water while we were all looking the other way. I'd post it here but I don't think I'm smart enough to do so or if its even possible.

That was one of the coolest events I've ever seen and I've seen some crazy stuff in the sky before. I will definitely be there again next year!

[Big Boom Bassin]

It was an awesome day to be out there for sure. I finally got around to trying out Homeport Farm Park. Minus the long drag back up to the truck, it is a nice spot! I also got skunked but was targeting Largemouth. I couldnt even get a nibble or a follow. I think I might start bringing bread balls and a bobber in case I have these issues again haha.