Several pleasant surprises

[J.A. Veil]

I fished in a Severn tidal creek from 1:00 (mid-tide) until 3:15. I worked most of the shoreline from the mouth to the back end on both shorelines. I had three really pleasant surprises:

1. After seeing badly stained water quality in the entire Severn system for the past three weeks, today much of the creek showed normal water color and better than normal clarity (up to 3 ft visibility).
2. The white perch have started to move into the shoreline shallows. My goal today was to cover a lot of ground and make a few casts at many different spots, trying to see what was there. I found perch at 11 different stretches of shorelines. They are not thick yet -- I got a single perch at each spot, rather than a bunch of them.
3. I finished the trip with an unexpected catch (more on that below).

Here are a few other observations:


• All fish were caught on a Bignose spinner. I also threw a Fat Sam mullet a few times but caught nothing on that.
• Large sections in the back third of the creek are pretty much unfishable at this point since the SAVs are so thick.
• I saw lots of bait in a few spots and found a few dead 2” peanut bunker floating on the surface. The photo shows one next to a Fat Sam. Normally in June I begin to see schools of peanut bunker rippling the surface all through the Severn and the creeks. I saw none of that pattern today. The bait I saw was swimming near shore around structure.


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I was finishing up and was most of the way back to the launch. I threw my lure into a shaded spot under some overhanging branches. I caught a perch on the first cast. On the second cast after that, I thought I had snagged the bottom. I pulled back on the rod and thought I felt the line give a bit, as if I was reeling in a waterlogged branch. But as it neared, I could see a large, elongated fish undulating slowly just under the surface. At first I thought it was a trophy pickerel, but quickly realized it was a snakehead of more than 2 feet long. I was surprised that the fight was so mild. I was using a 6’ light-power rod with a 1000 series reel (not ideal snakehead tackle). I do not carry a net. Once I got the fish to the side of the kayak, I grabbed the leader and slid my right hand down to get hold of the lure. I planned to use the FishGrips, but the snakehead refused to open its mouth. So I grabbed it around the body behind the gills, like I do with pickerel. The hook on the Bignose spinner was embedded so hard that I needed to use pliers to pop it free.


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I do enjoy eating snakehead, but felt the flesh could be somewhat unhealthy after living in the mahogany tide for the past three weeks. I released the fish and hope to catch it again. Many anglers who target snakehead say they see the fish and cast to them. In my case, I was casting to a perch spot that had just yielded a perch a minute earlier. I never saw the snakehead until it surfaced.

[Redfish12]

Very cool John! I think that’s the first snakehead on a perch spinner I have heard of!

[Big Mike]

So much for the legendary snakehead fight. Outstanding catch John.

[rugbyfish]

Nice fish John, I’m sure that was a surprise. I’ll keep that in mind next time I’m out on the Severn. My wife and I tried some bottom fishing on oyster bars in the Annapolis area and fishing was slow. We managed a few perch and several small spot, but not in the size or quantity we normally see later in the summer.

[J.A. Veil]

So much for the legendary snakehead fight. Outstanding catch John.

I whispered to the fish that I was going to put him back. He seemed embarrassed that he got caught on a perch lure. He sat there nice and still while I got the hook loose.

I caught one in the Magothy last November and had a similar sluggish response. I assumed that was attributable to the cold water. Today, the water was plenty warm. Hopefully I can catch a bunch more to see a range of responses.

[bignose]

Snakehead embarrassed to be caught on a Bignose Spinner Jig, a perch lure!

That's really funny!

Who says that they are just for perch? Lol

[DanMarino]

Outstanding report John. Really amazing how the snakeheads have spread to new territories over the years.

[HJS]

Probably a good idea that you decided to release the SH. It may have been sick or damaged by other fishermen. That would have affected the taste and texture of the fish. Definitely a big SH though.

[Mark]

That snakehead must have been delirious with hunger to attack Stu's spinner. Just kidding Stu. Your lures are well proven.

The fish's subsequent actions didn't sound snakehead-like and I think you were right to not eat it, John.

Let's hope the snakeheads find their niches in the Patpasco, Magothy and Severn creeks and don't adversely impact our perch, striper and pickerel populations in those waters.

[Tim Elliott]

Congratulations on catching a good sized snakehead close to home. It is great to hear that your part of the creek has cleared up from the mahogany tide. No fish shall discriminate against a spinner, FishTalk Magazine recently featured an article in the May edition, highlighting areas to target (https://www.fishtalkmag.com/blog/spinners-mixed-bag).

As for the areas where the SAV makes casting regular lures difficult, that is where the snakehead thrive, so topwater weedless frogs and weightless Texas-rigged soft plastics are in order. I am with Mark in that hopefully snakehead will find a balance with the other species of fish that we target, rather than completely decimating their populations. There seems to be a mixed consensus in such, with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and DNR study that compared the Potomac and Blackwater fish populations, before and after the snakehead were established. If I remember correctly, it found that the Blackwater fishery populations has declined since the snakeheads’ spread. But in the Potomac, it is a different story where they could not note a difference in the fish populations. Here is another article from FishTalk that breaks it down in simple terms (https://www.fishtalkmag.com/blog/gre...ehead-debate-0). It is with time that will tell weather or not our predictions are correct, Mark.

[dsaavedra]

Cool report, John. I was fishing Weems just the other day and could have written nearly the exact same report, minus the snakehead. The water had a blueish gray color and was quite clear. Some of the little feeder creeks to Weems were LOADED with peanut bunker, schools of several thousand at least but I did see a few dead ones floating here and there. The SAV was tough, I managed to get a beetle spin through it if it wasn't too thick. I did spend some time throwing a 3" paddle tail in the weeds hoping for a snakehead but came up empty handed though I did spook a few large fish sitting just beneath the grass as I paddled through it, might have been snakehead? I think getting a Severn snakehead just might be my goal for the year.

[Fish123]

I caught a snakehead fry last year back in a creek on a perch spinner. Only a matter of time until someone found a big one. Nice to hear the perch are coming to the shorelines. Can always count on them to get the striper skunk off lol.

[J.A. Veil]

There were a few perch interested in biting this morning in the Severn creek where I visited. The water was pretty murky from last night's storms. But the thumping blade on my Bignose spinner helped them find the lure. All of the perch were less than 8" and seemed darker along the top surface than many of the perch I have caught in the past.

There were numerous carp doing their thing in 6" of water. A few of them bumped into my kayak and splashed me with their tails.