7-25 Severn Report

[jsnyd86]

Launched early to catch some incoming tide with the plan to find striper. Slack tide was slotted for 9am. Then find perch on outgoing tide. It was a great day with around 30 fish total, mostly schoolies and some smaller perch. One CNR made it into the mix so I let him take my paddletail.

https://imgur.com/I4IO5cF

Launched at Jonas Green and headed towards Route 50 bridge, cruising the deeper edges of the flats looking for birds and bait. There are tons of bait swimming around, primarily around the mouths of the tributaries off deeper points. Using my favorite, Zmann paddle-tails I rigged one on a 1/4oz jig head and another on a half ounce. Weight didn't seem to matter as I was running the same color on each and was mostly around 15-20ft of water. They were hitting each pretty evenly. I could almost time when my rods would go down and was doubled up a handful of times. Vegetation is still around, but its manageable. It seems to be worse upstream from the route 50 bridge.

https://imgur.com/I4IO5cF

After I had my fun with the schoolies, and realizing they weren't getting any bigger, I started searching around a bit. A few boats were jigging the bridge pylons and it didn't seem like they were catching. I started looking for deep holes away from them and submerged structure on my FF. As soon as I hit a decent hill in 20 feet of water my rod tip went down and I found the bigger fish. Trolled back around to make another pass and caught another keeper. That one made it to the stringer and to not harass anymore probably still down there, I transitioned to perch and Part 1 of my plan was complete.

https://imgur.com/EVMbalf

I had a snack and hit Weems for the perch. It took me a minute to catch on, but it was pretty straight forward. Beetle spin with a 1/8oz jighead and a Gulp minnow on board. The only pattern here was shade, on structure, close to deeper water. Not necessarily in deeper water though. I hit nearly every dock and lay-down with that in mind and was quickly pulling them in. Eventually, the boat traffic started picking up as well as the heat. Plan 2 was complete and I headed back around noon

I was able to come back with a decent haul and the wife almost demands I make her salt baked rockfish at this point. If anyone hasn't tried it, I would highly recommend. Very simple and excellent every time. The perch will make great tacos.

https://imgur.com/5E1G8bg

https://imgur.com/0ug7ejt


On a separate note, I spotted what I believe to be a Bull Shark around the mouth of Weems. I passed a group of other kayak anglers when they saw it too. I only got a good look at the dorsal fin, so I cant be certain the type. A good reminder to keep those stringers close and those feet inside the ride!

Tight lines!

[Mark]

Excellent report, Jon.

Very descriptive.

I've heard reports of bullheads visiting the Severn in past years.

[Shady]

Nice work and report. As you know, I had similar results the same day. I fished and crabbed just a couple hours and managed a dozen and a half nice crabs, several dozen perch and one keeper (released) striper on the perch rod. Released all the fish, but invited the crabs to lunch and some to be bait.

[J.A. Veil]

Good to hear that you had a successful outing in the Severn. Your bull shark report is a new one for me. I saw a school of rays toward the back end of Weems last week. But bull sharks are a whole different game.

I had salt baked pompano in a restaurant in Mexico once. It was quite good.

[john from md]

I hope you saw a ray because bull sharks favorite food seems to be US!

[jsnyd86]

I hope you saw a ray because bull sharks favorite food seems to be US!

idk, it's possible since what I saw was pretty brown, but definitely had the shape of a dorsal fin. I've seen rays swimming on the surface and they seem to bob up and down like dolphin. This was slowly creeping around a flat for maybe a minute before going under. I thought maybe it was something else, started second guessing myself and didnt think much of it. It seemed short for a Bull. Still around 4 feet maybe, but I couldn't see much of it. Maybe a sandbar shark? Then the other kayaker was saying he saw it too and was really close to it.

[john from md]

They bob up and down when they are trying to mate. Usually you have like three males trailing a female. When the water temp is high, they cruise near the surface and sometimes you only see one fin go up.

[jsnyd86]

They bob up and down when they are trying to mate. Usually you have like three males trailing a female. When the water temp is high, they cruise near the surface and sometimes you only see one fin go up.

Ahhh, I know sharks in the bay aren't unheard of, but one fin up in high temps seems a bit more plausible. I didn't know they did that. Thanks!

[john from md]

I have a friend who dives in the bay a lot and he's told me many stories about how they act. They tend to wrap themselves around him during mating season and he doesn't appreciate it at all.

[bignose]

Most likely a Ray's wing tip, rather than a bull shark's dorsal. I see them frequently.

There was also a pod of dolphins spotted in the Severn recently.........

I, too, had a decent day on a Severn tributary Saturday.
Good numbers of Perch, but no real size, plus the surprise of catching 4 pickerel along a 20 yard stretch of shoreline.
The keys were wood and shade, what little there was of it.

[jsnyd86]

The keys were wood and shade, what little there was of it.

Aint that the truth. For being a "cooler" day, it sure felt hot!

[jsnyd86]

They tend to wrap themselves around him during mating season and he doesn't appreciate it at all.

That is crazy! Has he ever been stung by one? I wish there was a way to keep them from stealing my jig heads.

[mike o]

I was in that area of the Severn Sunday and although I did not see them I was told there was a pod of dolphins was in the area. It is probably more likely you saw one of those.

[elkfish2]

nice job . lots of cow nose rays around now

[john from md]

Cow nose rays are pretty docile unlike their sting ray cousins. I got a barb in the foot from a stingray while in the surf when I was 16. Man, I don't ever want to go through that again. CNR's will let you pet them from your yak if they are swimming at the top.