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Each year I purchase an annual pass to use the Queen Anne's County launch ramps and landings. I can get to the Kent Narrows area in 25-30 mins from my house. The water on that side of the bay seems to be cleaner and has more shallow habitat that I like. I have certain favorite launch spots that I use frequently, but have launched from many different QA County locations over the years. Today I looked at the wind forecast and saw fairly strong winds from the SW. To avoid the worst of the wind, I decided to launch from a spot where the land would provide some protection from the wind. I had several candidates in mind but ultimately chose Jackson Creek landing. This is a small stretch of beach facing the Chester River. By land, it is about 1.5 miles east of Kent Narrows. I had to drag my kayak about 15 feet across sand from the parking lot to get to the water (pretty easy).
I launched at 7:45 to flat calm water in front of me. The water level was about half way to high tide. I had done some map study on Google Maps to plan some spots I wanted to check out. I followed my route trolling 3 lines, and after 20 minutes had a bite. As soon as I unhooked the fish, I had more bites. I could not paddle for more than a minute without getting bit again. The kayak I used today has no electronics so I could not tell the depth, other than it was deeper than my paddle, or see schools of fish on a sonar screen. I was not drifting very fast and could stay 50 - 75 yds offshore from a stretch of several houses. After trolling up a few fish, I began casting to them. That worked too and resulted in more fish (up to 24"). They hit several colors of 3" paddletails and an XRap-10 crankbait. I tried throwing topwater for awhile, but had not bites on my popper.
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After I had caught 15 stripers in about half an hour, I left biting fish to continue exploring. I saw many fishy looking spots along piers and marsh grass edges, but did not get bites there. I rode around for about two hours looking for more fish but had little success. Eventually I turned and headed back toward the launch. As I passed by my hot spot from earlier, the bite started again. I caught one after another again (up to 23" this time) for a total of more than 30 stripers in three hours of fishing.
I spent an enjoyable and productive morning on the water in a new-to-me location. I enjoy trying out new spots with the hope that I can find some fish. Today's trip worked out well. I will file away Jackson Creek landing as a good spot for southerly wind days.
I launched at 7:45 to flat calm water in front of me. The water level was about half way to high tide. I had done some map study on Google Maps to plan some spots I wanted to check out. I followed my route trolling 3 lines, and after 20 minutes had a bite. As soon as I unhooked the fish, I had more bites. I could not paddle for more than a minute without getting bit again. The kayak I used today has no electronics so I could not tell the depth, other than it was deeper than my paddle, or see schools of fish on a sonar screen. I was not drifting very fast and could stay 50 - 75 yds offshore from a stretch of several houses. After trolling up a few fish, I began casting to them. That worked too and resulted in more fish (up to 24"). They hit several colors of 3" paddletails and an XRap-10 crankbait. I tried throwing topwater for awhile, but had not bites on my popper.
2003-08-01 00-00-03.jpg
After I had caught 15 stripers in about half an hour, I left biting fish to continue exploring. I saw many fishy looking spots along piers and marsh grass edges, but did not get bites there. I rode around for about two hours looking for more fish but had little success. Eventually I turned and headed back toward the launch. As I passed by my hot spot from earlier, the bite started again. I caught one after another again (up to 23" this time) for a total of more than 30 stripers in three hours of fishing.
I spent an enjoyable and productive morning on the water in a new-to-me location. I enjoy trying out new spots with the hope that I can find some fish. Today's trip worked out well. I will file away Jackson Creek landing as a good spot for southerly wind days.
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