Finding Fish

[Tim Elliott]

When one is fishing in the tidal creeks and tributaries of the Bay, how long do you work a particular area before moving along to the next spot?

Does it depend upon your target species, or any other variables that you take into account?

[J.A. Veil]

You will probably get a lot of different opinions on your question. As a person who generally has a short attention span, I tend to keep moving if I do not catch fish or get some bites quickly in an area. What I have found is that in any given tidal creek, only a few small portions of the shoreline actually hold feeding fish. This is particularly true for pickerel but also applies somewhat to white perch. While there may be certain spots that are predictable over a period of several weeks, fish can and do move. I have fished many times this winter in my 4 favorite Severn tributaries and have gotten some sense of where I can find pickerel. I may make 2 or 3 casts in other areas as I paddle or drift past, but I concentrate my efforts on shoreline sections that have produced recently. Even then, if I make 5 to 10 casts in a high-probability area and get no interest, I move on.

I don't actually need to catch a fish to know that fish are in a particular spot. Often I feel a gentle bump as a fish checks out my lure and gives it an exploratory bite. On several recent trips I was throwing a white-colored tail on a jighead and winding it back through shallow water. I could see the path made by the lure. Every so often a small pickerel would swim in from the side and pull the lure off-line. In a few cases the fish got hooked, but often it just grabbed the plastic tail. I have had many casts this winter when I got no nibbles, so I began winding faster to retrieve the lure. I looked down and saw a pickerel chasing the lure all the way to the kayak before turning off.

I have fished with guides in other places (not local tidal waters) who are convinced they are in the right spot and are waiting for the tide to move or some other environmental factor. They say in that spot far longer than I would choose to do. Sometimes they are correct, and the bite begins later. Other times the action remains quiet.

There really is no right or wrong answer --it is personal preference about how long to stay in one spot.

[ronaultmtd]

So many variables in an open ended question...moon phase, tides, time of day, current flow, water temps..season...and target species migrate...so trying for a big trophy Striper in June in the Chesapeake Bay...when they are off NY...and Spanish Mackerel in May when they usually begin to show in mid to late June...knowing the migration times, preferred bait...and their usual hangouts...John gave some good information...different species require different techniques, different rigs, different tackle, although most commonly used bass fishing tackle will take 95% of everything in the Bay...bottom fishing with double bottom rig for spot, croaker is pretty basic...Carolina rig catfishing with a chunk of menhaden...casting Perch pounders in the shallows in late Spring for white perch...throwing top water poppers at daylight over the flats...the selections are varied and many...and there are hundreds of productive launch locations in our area...depending upon time of year and species you are after...the answer is- it depends...

[Mark]

Tim,

The quick answer is that I move on quickly to another spot. That goes for ponds as well as tidal creeks. I have indeed seen anglers (and guides) as John said linger far too long in a given spot. I go with the flow when I'm with a guide -- when in Rome...but privately I'm thinking, let's move on when they persist on waiting for a bite.

The warm water fish we pursue in a kayak are aggressive predators. If they are present and feeding you'll know it in short order. Then it becomes a matter of lure or fly choice. Ron has already given you suggestions about what to use and when. I won't belabor that. But weather conditions, the amount of light, cloud cover and time of year dictate what I toss at fish. I will say, however, that in my opinion lure/fly color is the least important variable in catching warm water fish. Size, shape and presentation are far more important in my experience.

In familiar waters I have "milk route" of sorts. I hit spots that have produced in the past. I hit them fast and move on unless I'm catching fish. However, there is one tactic you might try with white perch that goes against my move-on advice. In shady shoreline spots -- a well known favorite of summer white perch for many -- sometimes it helps to change the direction of your lure. If you are casting with the shoreline on your left and getting no strikes, move out and around the shade so that the shoreline is now on your right. You'd be surprised how many times a spinner or fly running in the opposite direction in the same area elicits a strike.

[Tim Elliott]

What I have found is that in any given tidal creek, only a few small portions of the shoreline actually hold feeding fish. This is particularly true for pickerel but also applies somewhat to white perch. While there may be certain spots that are predictable over a period of several weeks, fish can and do move.

Our observations line up John, there is one particular spot in my home waters that has been stellar for pickerel. It is a 20 yard stretch featuring an isolated pier with a downed tree on one side and a sharp ledge with a submerged log on the other, complete with SAV on the bottom. There is another stretch of shoreline that forms somewhat of a cove that had produced for me this past fall, catching rockfish, pickerel, and white and yellow perch. However, it has not produced anything for me all winter long.

[Tim Elliott]

So many variables in an open ended question...moon phase, tides, time of day, current flow, water temps..season...knowing the migration times, preferred bait...and their usual hangouts...different species require different techniques, different rigs, different tackle, although most commonly used bass fishing tackle will take 95% of everything in the Bay...the selections are varied and many...and there are hundreds of productive launch locations in our area...depending upon time of year and species you are after...the answer is- it depends...

Thank you for the informative reply regarding all of the variables that I should consider.

[Tim Elliott]

Tim,

The quick answer is that I move on quickly to another spot. That goes for ponds as well as tidal creeks. I have indeed seen anglers (and guides) as John said linger far too long in a given spot. I go with the flow when I'm with a guide -- when in Rome...but privately I'm thinking, let's move on when they persist on waiting for a bite.

The warm water fish we pursue in a kayak are aggressive predators. If they are present and feeding you'll know it in short order. Then it becomes a matter of lure or fly choice. Ron has already given you suggestions about what to use and when. I won't belabor that. But weather conditions, the amount of light, cloud cover and time of year dictate what I toss at fish. I will say, however, that in my opinion lure/fly color is the least important variable in catching warm water fish. Size, shape and presentation are far more important in my experience.

In familiar waters I have "milk route" of sorts. I hit spots that have produced in the past. I hit them fast and move on unless I'm catching fish. However, there is one tactic you might try with white perch that goes against my move-on advice. In shady shoreline spots -- a well known favorite of summer white perch for many -- sometimes it helps to change the direction of your lure. If you are casting with the shoreline on your left and getting no strikes, move out and around the shade so that the shoreline is now on your right. You'd be surprised how many times a spinner or fly running in the opposite direction in the same area elicits a strike.

I agree with the notion that it is rather boring waiting for the bite to turn on vs. moving on to find feeding fish. I certainly agree with you that the size, shape, and presentation of a fly or lure is much more important rather than color choice. As they say, figure out what the fish are feeding on and match the hatch.

As for the perch tip, that is one that I look forward to trying this year. Speaking of white perch, is anyone targeting them during the spawn this year? I always wait until they show up in their summer haunts but I never give time to catch them during the run.

[ronaultmtd]

Tim- didn’t mean to sound “flippant”, but if you want to target speckled trout right now...it is on the flats on moving water...striper season is closed until May...too early yet for croakers...anchor and bait fish for blue cats using carolina rig and cut bait...I always try to locate cats on my side scan before anchoring up...if there is a slack tide you can cheat and slow troll by adding a small cork about six inches up from a 7/0 inline circle hook on heavy mono leader-drop your carolina rig to the bottom, reel it two feet off the bottom... this also works well for white perch using a double bottom rig baited with bloodworms/fish bites/gulp bloodworms..you could write a chapter of a book on any one species of fish, what structure they are found in based on time of year...right now is “transition” time..White Perch usually are in the deeper channels but with warming water temps they are moving up on warmer water flats-same with Speckled Trout...commercial netters are catching them...I should add that Speckled trout are normally Found in Southern Maryland (St. Mary’s County) and Southern Eastern Shore fish as are the occasional Redfish...

[Tim Elliott]

Ron, I didn't take it as if you were, no hard feelings! I sincerely thought that your post was highly informative and honest. I did ask a very broad question, and I enjoy the variety of answers that come along with such a question. I only have four years of kayak fishing experience that is limited to tidal creek fishing on the western shore, but I am aware that there is so much more to learn. I do know of the striper season being closed for April and that the fish are, for the majority, still south of the bay bridge. However I have very little knowledge of the speckled trout fishery but I would love to learn more about them.

Thank you for the tip about slow trolling a cork, I look forward to giving that a try this season. And now also for the perch, they are going be more towards the headwaters and feeder streams, correct? My home water is Rock Creek off of the Patapsco and I have read that almost every river system has its own white perch population.I would imagine that they would also be spawning in my creek, but it is a smaller tributary compared to the Magothy and other surrounding tribs. I just have to get out on the water more often it seems.

[Mark]

Tim,

You'll find white perch throughout the Patapsco River and Severn River tributary creeks this summer. They'll start showing up in numbers usually in late May, early June. Last year, we had a cold wet spring and they were late arrivers -- well into June.

I do believe they are spawning now, or at least starting their run. I'm not sure where they do that. However, Boyd Pond (a tidal pond off the Patapsco surrounded by private residences in Pasadena) is a hot spot for spawning white perch in the early spring. I used to live there and enjoyed many outstanding early season perch outings on that pond.

Jonas and Anne Catharine Green Park on the Severn and the Tucker Street Launch into Weems Creek provide good public access to the Severn's tribs for white perch chasers. I especially like the Locust Cove Launch from Downs Park in Pasadena as a white perch location which provides access to four creeks and the Patapsco itself.

Many Pasadena residents, like yourself, have neighborhood access points to surrounding waters. If so, you have an easy route to summer white perch and maybe even spawning perch and do not have to depend on public launches. I typically do not target them now.

As the fall arrives, white perch catches in the creeks slows considerably. You may hook a few stragglers into November or later but the big counts of 20 to 30 fish per outing will be gone when the leaves turn. Again, I'm not sure where they go. I've read they school up for winter in deep Chesapeake Bay waters. But precisely where, I don't know. I've also read that they return to their waters of origin to spawn.

Specks are not common in our area. But perhaps as our waters warm due to climate change they will become more frequent visitors. I've caught only few in MD waters but lots and lots of them in southern states. In fact, I've likened them to white perch because when you get into a school of them, it's one after another on your line. At the same time, they can be finicky in cooler winter southern waters to the point where you have to finesse them to bite. But in warmer waters they are very aggressive and hit hard.

[Tim Elliott]

Mark,

I target white perch very often, and last year was a great year for bigger perch, I have caught many 10-12" along piers, riprap, shaded shorelines, and under my dock light. In fact, I was catching them somewhat consistently from November to mid-January of this year surprisingly, under the dock light.

I am familiar with a few of the ponds in that area but I have never fished Boyd Pond. If it is a hotspot for spawning perch, I'd have to assume that they would also be spawning in Rock Creek. It seems that the Pickerel have spawned recently so I'd imagine that the big ones have moved on to wherever it is they go. I sure hope that they make a return this fall.

I have never targeted specs in Southern Maryland, but from reading reports and books, I know that they are common around the Tangier Sound. I have limited experience targeting them down in the Outer Banks with little luck.

[Mark]

Tim,

That's good that you caught white perch through the winter in your creek. That indicates that some must indeed stay in their home waters throughout the winter. It was a mild winter for temperatures. Maybe that encouraged them to stay. But fish are photo sensitive too. Less daylight as winter approaches is a natural trigger for some of them to seek a change of habitat. So while our water temperatures may have been warmer this winter, the decreasing hours of daylight certainly occurred throughout the fall and winter.

I wish we knew more about white perch (and pickerel) but I don't think the MD DNR gives either species much thought.

My catches of tidal pickerel in years past always slowed as the water warmed in spring. I assumed they were displaced by the arrival of white perch and stripers. After all, I caught the perch and stripers in the same areas where I caught the pickerel in winter. But again, who knows? Does the increase in fingerlings from various fish spawning in spring give the pickerel so much food that they can ignore our lures? Yet stripers hit our lures freely in the midst of their feeding frenzies. I would think a well placed lure in July would entice a pickerel to bite as much as it would in February. But that never happened for me.

Fish behaviors lead to more questions than answers which makes it all the more satisfying for us to catch them. They keep us guessing.

[Yak Fish]

As others have said, your question does have some variables. In general, if I'm after easy to catch stuff like perch or schoolie stripers, I'll keep moving. They are eager to bite and if they're not I'll move on. The electronics I have on the yak can see a sea louse on a striper, so I'm even quicker to move on if I don't see anything on the side scan.

However, if I'm after larger stripers that are much harder to catch and aren't in great numbers, I'll hang around for hours knowing I'll intercept one on the way through. Or I'll troll along a path I'm pretty sure it'll follow. We have to "meet" each other, so sometimes that takes some time :-) But it depends on your goals. For me, one 45" striper is worth 100 schoolies and I'm willing to put in the time for that goal.