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A little over a week ago, my son settled on a house in a water-priviliged community on Cockey Creek off of the Magothy River. The community has a picnic area and boat launch for residents. Now that the hustle and bustle of the move is finally over and he can relax, we decided to explore the creek late this morning on a falling tide.
He used my Ultimate 12 and I paddled my Ultimate FX. Our primary goal was pickerel any and holdover perch we could find. We each tossed my homemade 1/8 oz. jig spinners. He caught a little 16 inch pickerel almost immediately -- too soon, I told him. It could bring "bad luck" to catch a fish so fast on an outing, I joked. And for a while that seemed true. We paddled to the very end of the creek with no more bites.
Here he is turning around at the back of the creek in less than 6 inches of water:
A.jpg
The creek is beautiful, by the way. There are areas toward the back end with natural shoreline as well as plenty of boat docks to target with casts.
We headed toward the mouth of the creek. That was not easy given the wind was blowing pretty hard right into our faces. All the flags we saw were like this:
P1060180 (2).jpg
However, we slipped into coves and cuts wherever we could to get leeside protection while we cast. We each hooked pickerel along the way however the bad luck I predicted almost came to pass. My son caught another pickerel. I should add that my son has only been kayak fishing a few times with me. He's a real novice kayak angler.
With my coaching and fish grips he managed to get the pickerel onto the Hawg Trough. It measured 21.5 inches and it was fat. Very respectable. Then all hell broke loose. I forgot to tell him to keep a hand on it prior to the photo. The pickerel flipped and flopped and wreaked havoc in the boat. My son's rod went overboard in the tussle. (Didn't we just have a session this forum about rod floats and leashes?)
Anyway, I have no photo of that pickerel. I was hooked up with one myself while the battle played out in my son's kayak. Our attention turned to retrieving his rod. We were in about 3 feel of water near a shoreline. I was tying a heavy jig on my rod to drag the bottom for his. My son meanwhile jabbed his paddle into the bottom until he felt his rod. Then he decided to jump in (he's over 6 feet tall and the water was barely to his waist). He retrieved it. Mission accomplished. Presumably our luck would turn for the better. And it did.
Soon thereafter, he got this bend in his rod:
B.jpg
The Ultimate was actually pointed toward the shore to the left of the photo when he hooked up. That fish was heading for deeper water.
Here it was after a short battle:
P1060179 (3).jpg
Again, a very respectable catch...and on a perch spinner.
We still had some distance to go to reach the mouth of the creek. In fact, I commented it was odd that we hadn't caught any perch. Just then we got into a school of them. Here's one of mine. Nothing especially large, but fun, of course:
P1060182.jpg
That particular spinner has caught nearly 100 perch so far this year plus two channel cats (in the Severn), small stripers (in the Bodkin), a 13 inch redfish recently (in Church Creek), pickerel today but its next catch surprised me the most.
A bluegill:
P1060184 (2).jpg
Sorry the photo is a little fuzzy. It has been a long time since I've caught a tidal bluegill.
If that wasn't surprise enough, I think the next fish I hooked may have been a largemouth bass. It got off at the side of the boat but I'm pretty sure I saw a dark lateral line on the fish.
So, can anyone confirm that there are largemouth bass in Magothy Creeks? I'd appreciate an answer.
Anyway, my son and I had a nice outing today on his new home creek. The first of many for him I hope. I'm pretty sure there will be a fishing kayak in his future.
He used my Ultimate 12 and I paddled my Ultimate FX. Our primary goal was pickerel any and holdover perch we could find. We each tossed my homemade 1/8 oz. jig spinners. He caught a little 16 inch pickerel almost immediately -- too soon, I told him. It could bring "bad luck" to catch a fish so fast on an outing, I joked. And for a while that seemed true. We paddled to the very end of the creek with no more bites.
Here he is turning around at the back of the creek in less than 6 inches of water:
A.jpg
The creek is beautiful, by the way. There are areas toward the back end with natural shoreline as well as plenty of boat docks to target with casts.
We headed toward the mouth of the creek. That was not easy given the wind was blowing pretty hard right into our faces. All the flags we saw were like this:
P1060180 (2).jpg
However, we slipped into coves and cuts wherever we could to get leeside protection while we cast. We each hooked pickerel along the way however the bad luck I predicted almost came to pass. My son caught another pickerel. I should add that my son has only been kayak fishing a few times with me. He's a real novice kayak angler.
With my coaching and fish grips he managed to get the pickerel onto the Hawg Trough. It measured 21.5 inches and it was fat. Very respectable. Then all hell broke loose. I forgot to tell him to keep a hand on it prior to the photo. The pickerel flipped and flopped and wreaked havoc in the boat. My son's rod went overboard in the tussle. (Didn't we just have a session this forum about rod floats and leashes?)
Anyway, I have no photo of that pickerel. I was hooked up with one myself while the battle played out in my son's kayak. Our attention turned to retrieving his rod. We were in about 3 feel of water near a shoreline. I was tying a heavy jig on my rod to drag the bottom for his. My son meanwhile jabbed his paddle into the bottom until he felt his rod. Then he decided to jump in (he's over 6 feet tall and the water was barely to his waist). He retrieved it. Mission accomplished. Presumably our luck would turn for the better. And it did.
Soon thereafter, he got this bend in his rod:
B.jpg
The Ultimate was actually pointed toward the shore to the left of the photo when he hooked up. That fish was heading for deeper water.
Here it was after a short battle:
P1060179 (3).jpg
Again, a very respectable catch...and on a perch spinner.
We still had some distance to go to reach the mouth of the creek. In fact, I commented it was odd that we hadn't caught any perch. Just then we got into a school of them. Here's one of mine. Nothing especially large, but fun, of course:
P1060182.jpg
That particular spinner has caught nearly 100 perch so far this year plus two channel cats (in the Severn), small stripers (in the Bodkin), a 13 inch redfish recently (in Church Creek), pickerel today but its next catch surprised me the most.
A bluegill:
P1060184 (2).jpg
Sorry the photo is a little fuzzy. It has been a long time since I've caught a tidal bluegill.
If that wasn't surprise enough, I think the next fish I hooked may have been a largemouth bass. It got off at the side of the boat but I'm pretty sure I saw a dark lateral line on the fish.
So, can anyone confirm that there are largemouth bass in Magothy Creeks? I'd appreciate an answer.
Anyway, my son and I had a nice outing today on his new home creek. The first of many for him I hope. I'm pretty sure there will be a fishing kayak in his future.
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