Tweet
This morning I fished close to home. I launched into a flat calm Severn creek about 7:30. Water level was just higher than average and was outgoing. I paddled to another tributary. In the first 30 mins I caught a perch, a pickerel, and a small striper to get my Severn Slam. I stopped by a spot where I had caught some strong stripers last week. I made a few casts with the 3” Fat Sam mullet paddletail without any bites. On the next cast away from the shore toward a drop-off, I was quickly brought to full attention by a screaming drag for 5-10 seconds. Soon the kayak started following the fish as it dragged me nearly 20 yds. It was a 23” striper. I made more casts to that area but caught only the one big fish there. This is my third Severn trip in a row in which I have had the good fortune to hook a strong striper that towed me and gave a very nice fight. These were all caught while casting near drop-offs inside Severn tributaries.
I moved on to another creek. I spent 15 minutes casting to the shoreline and caught another Slam there. I have had some success trolling in this creek in early fall. I trolled farther back into the creek with three lines out. I was trolling three different paddletails as shown in the photo.
2020-10-06-001.jpg
The fish were waiting and were hungry. In less than an hour of trolling there, I caught 8 stripers (two at 19” and the rest in the mid-teens).
Normally my most successful plastic is the 3” Fat Sam mullet (the green one in the photo). It was not touched today while trolling. The lure that accounted for 7 of the 8 fish was the 4” Shadzilla (the middle plastic in the photo). You can see the protruding belly that gives it the same size and profile as the peanut bunker that are abundant in the creeks now. The third lure, which I don’t use often, is a 6” Buzztail. The sickle tail on that lure makes a big circle as it moves through the water. I caught two stripers on that lure and had two other hard knock downs that never hooked up (the fish may have bitten the long tail and never got the hook in its mouth). The top and bottom jigheads are 3/16-oz. The middle jighead is slightly heavier -- probably 3/8-oz.
I trolled the entire way back to the launch but had no bites in the river today. It was fun to fish by casting and by trolling using the same rods and lures and catch a bunch of fish, all in just 3 hours.
I moved on to another creek. I spent 15 minutes casting to the shoreline and caught another Slam there. I have had some success trolling in this creek in early fall. I trolled farther back into the creek with three lines out. I was trolling three different paddletails as shown in the photo.
2020-10-06-001.jpg
The fish were waiting and were hungry. In less than an hour of trolling there, I caught 8 stripers (two at 19” and the rest in the mid-teens).
Normally my most successful plastic is the 3” Fat Sam mullet (the green one in the photo). It was not touched today while trolling. The lure that accounted for 7 of the 8 fish was the 4” Shadzilla (the middle plastic in the photo). You can see the protruding belly that gives it the same size and profile as the peanut bunker that are abundant in the creeks now. The third lure, which I don’t use often, is a 6” Buzztail. The sickle tail on that lure makes a big circle as it moves through the water. I caught two stripers on that lure and had two other hard knock downs that never hooked up (the fish may have bitten the long tail and never got the hook in its mouth). The top and bottom jigheads are 3/16-oz. The middle jighead is slightly heavier -- probably 3/8-oz.
I trolled the entire way back to the launch but had no bites in the river today. It was fun to fish by casting and by trolling using the same rods and lures and catch a bunch of fish, all in just 3 hours.
Comment