Southern MD meet and greet

[J.A. Veil]

I thought I would start a new post for those of us who fished the meet and greet this morning. First off, many thanks to Big Mike, Ron, and Gary for setting this up. It was well attended, despite the heat. I certainly enjoyed fishing in some new waters today. Most of the group launched at 5:30 am to beat the heat. I launched about 45 mins later and realized quickly that my steering was not working well. I pedaled to a nearby sandy spit, beached the boat, and figured out what was wrong. The Leatherman tool I keep in my tackle box came in handy as I used the Phillips head screwdriver blade to fix a few things. Ten minutes later I was underway again.

I moved out to 3-4 ft of water over grass and began trolling. A short time after that my 3/16-oz jighead with a 4" Gulp swimming mullet got bit. I expected a schoolie striper, but was really surprised when a long silvery fish with a pointy tail came onboard. It was my first ever Atlantic cutlassfish. As I fished in St Jeromes Creek yesterday, many of the ospreys flew by with long silvery fish. I guess the cutlassfish have moved in. The cutlassfish has a relatively small mouth but that mouth is filled with long teeth.

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I continued trolling and ran into some very thick grass beds that made pedaling impossible. I had to raise my Propel drive 4 times to clear off grass. While in the grassy area I threw a "walk the dog" type topwater lure but had no takers.

I trolled back toward the ramp and then under the bridge out to the Potomac. I found hungry stripers near the bridge. I continued pedaling all the way to the gas docks (jigging metals lures there was not productive) and back. I ended with 9 schoolie stripers and a blue crab that was hanging on a Gulp bait all the way back to the boat.

I was on the water today for 4.5 hours and covered 8.5 miles. After my double trips yesterday, I am worn out.

Lunch at Chiefs restaurant was very tasty with a fun group of tired anglers.

[Mark]

I had no exotic catches like John Veil's cutlassfish -- just the usual white perch and stripers.

When John Rentch and I crossed the creek early in the morning, my eye was immediately drawn to the long stretches of sod banks. We do not have terrain like that at our nearby waters here on the western shore near Annapolis and Pasadena. The closest banks I can think of for me are on Kent Island. So I was really happy to see such structure to pepper with casts. The tide was lapping on the grass and usually that indicates a good bite. The sun was still low and the banks were heavily shaded so I tossed topwater. I got five definite strikes, two brief hookups, but alas, no fish to the boat. I assume they were stripers but I don't know for sure.

As the sun rose, I put my popper rod in the holder and switched to my small spinnerbaits for perch. I caught 8 on shaded shorelines, most this size:

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I also tossed a 3-inch paddletail on a jig which many have listed on this forum as a good all-around lure for almost anything that swims. I caught a perch with it and a couple of schoolie stripers. Here's the perch:

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Usually, when a perch hits the paddletail, it's a nice one.

As I headed in for the day and got close to the ramp, I was intrigued by the current ripping under the nearby bridge. It reminded me of the current at Kent Narrows which often holds stripers. Instead of pedaling to the launch, I crossed under the bridge to the other side and held position with my pedals as best as I could in the choppy flowing water. I cast a 1/2 oz. Rat-L-Trap and picked up three schoolies. Here's one:

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So I caught nothing unusual and nothing large but I had a very enjoyable morning on the water. And I'd really like another crack with topwater at those sod banks!

[J. Rentch]

Minus the Heat!

[john from md]

Looks like all you folks had a great time. I have stayed in for the last few days due to the heat. Hopefully it will be gone sometime this week.

[J. Rentch]

Actually John it wasn’t as bad ON the water as on land. There was a slight breeze which really felt good. The worst was at 5:30 AM, the temp was 82 and the humidity was worse, kind of hard to breath. Even so, glad I went, lots of great people and even better lunch. We need to do Homeport when this weather breaks.

[john from md]

Roger that.

[thedutchtouch]

i was out of town in the poconos for a wedding, brought some of my ultralight gear along to fish the river behind my parents place, only to arrive to discover that they were releasing water from the hydroelectric dam upstream so the only fish i'd have much luck with was stripers with big plugs... so i got skunked in the heat as well lol. hoping another meetup happens soon that i'll be able to make.