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I decided to make the long road trip from Annapolis to Pt Lookout today. I left the house at 4:00, and arrived at the launch shortly after 6:00, and was underway by 6:30. Big Mike, Ron, Gary, and Tom (whom I did not know) were already catching fish. Mike and Ron have told me I need to get there at or before sunrise for the best bite -- that is not realistic given my driving distance.
I anticipated finding stripers (they cannot be targeted in the river now, but are fair game out past the point), bluefish, and maybe some specks. To my surprise, I did not encounter any of those species, despite trolling in spots that have produced well in the past. With some guidance from the local guys, I spent a lot of time fishing in specific areas of 5 to 12 ft depth. I put a 4" Gulp swimming mullet on a 3/16-oz jighead, cast it out, and slowly hopped it back to the kayak. The bite was slow, but I did have a fun variety of fish. My first fish of the morning was a cute 10" puppy drum -- my first redfish in Maryland waters since 2013 or 2014. On the next cast, I caught a near citation white perch (12.5"). The bite dropped off, so I went trolling. Nothing was happening on the troll, so I returned to bouncing the Gulp. I caught several more puppy drum, a few flounder, a miniscule black sea bass, and an oyster toadfish.
The other fellows went in not long after I arrived, so I had the fishing to myself. I finished up by 11:00 and was happy to get into some air conditioning. The water was calm today and looked clean, other than the preponderance of jellyfish. I really enjoy catching a variety of species. Today's unexpected mix of species was a treat.
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I anticipated finding stripers (they cannot be targeted in the river now, but are fair game out past the point), bluefish, and maybe some specks. To my surprise, I did not encounter any of those species, despite trolling in spots that have produced well in the past. With some guidance from the local guys, I spent a lot of time fishing in specific areas of 5 to 12 ft depth. I put a 4" Gulp swimming mullet on a 3/16-oz jighead, cast it out, and slowly hopped it back to the kayak. The bite was slow, but I did have a fun variety of fish. My first fish of the morning was a cute 10" puppy drum -- my first redfish in Maryland waters since 2013 or 2014. On the next cast, I caught a near citation white perch (12.5"). The bite dropped off, so I went trolling. Nothing was happening on the troll, so I returned to bouncing the Gulp. I caught several more puppy drum, a few flounder, a miniscule black sea bass, and an oyster toadfish.
The other fellows went in not long after I arrived, so I had the fishing to myself. I finished up by 11:00 and was happy to get into some air conditioning. The water was calm today and looked clean, other than the preponderance of jellyfish. I really enjoy catching a variety of species. Today's unexpected mix of species was a treat.
2020-07-21-002.jpg 2020-07-21-003.jpg 2020-07-21-004.jpg 2020-07-21-005.jpg 2020-07-21-006.jpg 2020-07-21-007.jpg
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