8/3 Piney Point SoMD report

[mchottie]

I tried to repeat my success from the Piney Point Meet & Greet this past Saturday. Winds from 6am - 2pm were basically nill, dead calm water, even under the bridge the entirety to the gas docks.

This is deeper water than I normally fish, and I was prepared for some jigging, brought some spoons, and jig/paddle & spinners.

The good news: I did pickup a few schoolie short juvenile stripers from the bridge out to the gas-docks. I did not pickup as many as I did during the M&G. I crept in and out of the gas docks, and landed a half dozen legal size blue crab. Under the docs, and just outside the docks in the deeper 40+ft water had breaking fish, but casting over/thru/around did not produce any takers.

The bad news: in the shallows floating in/under around the structure, I had a 1/2oz beetlespin on a rod with Mono. I didnt feel the tug but line started taking, so I gave it some time and then set & started to reel. Im not sure what size mono (i never take this rod) so I babied the pull/retrieve, and could feel it was a BIG fish. I was hoping for a Striper, but it wouldn't lift off the bottom, so I was thinking HUGE catfish. When we ducked under and went towards open water, I took a nice sleigh ride being towed around, but the fun quickly wore off, when I got it boat-side and it was Ron's favorite C-N-R! Cut the line and said adios after several tries to retrieve the spinner. Not a big loss, about $1.74 which i'm OK with...

Had lunch again at Chiefs, seafood on the plate was as delicious as those who ranted and raved about it at the M&G. Don't get me wrong the stuffed ham is awesome, but i'll take the seafood!

-McH

[Big Mike]

Great panorama at the gas dock. Glad you at least found a couple. Fishing has been meh in the Potomac last couple of days. I did hook a 16-18” red on Sunday fishing the sod banks out of Piney Point but a crappy knot I tied in the dark that I knew was crappy failed boat side, laziness got me again. Specks have disappeared for the time being.

[ronaultmtd]

Piney Point can be dynamite when it is on...but it can be dead and empty when it is off...there are some “honey holes” that always hold fish that are not apparent on topo NOAA charts, but that only comes with dozens of fishing trips there...same as any “home waters” you fish a lot...and there are certain lures and colors that work there that don’t work 2 miles away at Smith Creek...one lure that seems to work everywhere is an XRap XR 10 in blue/silver or olive/menhaden...caught a bunch at Piney point over the years with it...especially around the bridge and docks...tiny crankbaits are killer for big white perch and attractive to redfish if you know where and when to throw them...Bass Assassin swimbaits in pearl and Limetruse are standard baits I use as well...

[J.A. Veil]

Great panorama at the gas dock. Glad you at least found a couple. Fishing has been meh in the Potomac last couple of days. I did hook a 16-18” red on Sunday fishing the sod banks out of Piney Point but a crappy knot I tied in the dark that I knew was crappy failed boat side, laziness got me again. Specks have disappeared for the time being.

Big Mike showed me some of his spots near Piney Point on Sunday morning. Apparently he did not share the SMOG password with me -- the fish let me know that I was not a local. He caught a variety of fish throughout our four-hour trip. On the other hand, while fishing near to Mike and using similar lures and techniques, I caught a skunk. I did entice 3 crabs to hold onto my Gulp bait long enough to ride to the surface. But no finfish got lip punctures from me yesterday.

I too had a knot failure that caused me to lose a redfish over the past few days. However, mine was considerably larger than the one that escaped Mike. While fishing with Walleye Pete, I hooked a huge red estimated at 45" to 50". It nearly spooled me, then after I regained some of the line, it pulled out the knot. Whether it was a sub-par knot I tied or my fighting technique was too aggressive, it really hurt to lose a very memorable fish like that. Within the next 30 mins, two other guys in our party got giant reds.