How does rain affect tidal fishing?

[UnkleRob2020]

I am planning to fishing on Sunday. With the recent rain, I am curious what do I need to consider? For example, I am considering Weems Creek, Severn River, Jackson Creek/Goodhands, or Rose Haven. Will a creek like Weems be more affected by rain than a river like the Severn or the main body of the bay such as Rose Haven?

I think that water stain and decreasing salinity may make fishing more difficult this weekend and that the larger the body of water, the less impact there will be. Does this make sense? Am I missing anything important?

Thank you,

Rob

[ski357]

Temperatures too

[john from md]

The water will look like coffee with cream and the salinity level will drop (it's already too low) combined with the fish eating cicadas, I figure it is a lost cause.

On Monday I fished the South River and there were hundreds of floating cicadas with flicking wings that must have sounded like buzz bait to a fish. I watched a few different times when pretty good size rocks came u and ate them. I tossed my spinner and worms right on top of them and could not get a reaction.

I'm probably not going to fish the rivers until after July 4th.

[J.A. Veil]

Here are a few thoughts about the impacts of stormwater runoff.

1) Whenever it rains, some portion of the water soaks in the ground and another portion runs off, carrying some sediment with it. For the most part, the rain over the last day has been light. Since the portion that runs off has less volume and velocity in the current storm, the degree of erosion and muddiness should be less.

2) Consider the drainage area and the nature of cover (paved, natural) that feed into the water body. You mentioned Weems Creek. The upper end of Weems receives runoff from large paved areas near the Annapolis Mall and off of Rt 50. I suspect that at least the back half of Weems will be murky from the runoff. On the other hand, the pond below Manresa has relatively little drainage area. I would predict that the water will not be as badly stained as in the back of Weems.

3) I would not expect the main stem of the Severn to be badly discolored (unlike some of the feeder creeks). But I am not sure what you would fish for there at this time. I have not seen stripers in the main river, and perch are more likely to be found in the creeks.

4) The Queen Annes Co launches generally put you into waters that have relatively little drainage. The elevation in those sub-watersheds is pretty low such that less erosion will occur compared to some western shore locations. There are stripers near several of the launches.

5) If you decide to fish in murkier waters, consider using lures with a lot of vibration or noise. I have heard Stu say that he uses a spinner with a heavier blade on murky days to increase the thumping. I have cast Rat-L-Traps in murky water and caught catfish in the Chester River. The rattling and vibrating swimming motion allow the fish to find the lures.

If Sunday is your only day to go, pick a spot and give it a try. Even under less than optimal conditions, the fish still need to feed. I can think of several outings over the years where I was very pleasantly surprised by the successful bite in water that I anticipated to be too murky to fish well.

The commenters above made good points about salinity and temperature. I personally have not observed any fish feeding on the hundreds of cicadas I have seen flopping on the surface in Weems and other parts of the Severn, and I have fished there 7 times over the past 3 weeks. I am surprised by that, as they represent an easy-to-find food source.

[Mark]

UnkleRob,

Runoff into the Chesapeake's tributaries is the major cause of pollution in the Bay due to the Chesapeake's enormous watershed area in urban and agricultural areas of Maryland and our neighboring states. A heavy rain like we've experienced today is going to dirty the water for a day or two in many places until the sediment settles and the tides can flush it out. And that's just what we can see. Some pollutants leave no telltale signs like muddy water or oil slicks. Some creeks in particular will be noticeably dirtier immediately. That turbidity will eventually work its way to the rivers and then to the Bay itself.

On the other hand, a good downpour can actually temporarily freshen a pond like those on the Eastern Shore that are presently choking with duckweed and algae during our warm weather. The rain increases the waterflow over the dams in effect rinsing the surface waters of organic buildup. Plus the rain cools and oxygenates the pond which activates the fish by bringing them into shallow areas that they had avoided during long, hot, dry spells.
Also, rain washes insects and other lifeforms into the ponds that fish feast on.

Unfortunately, the ponds in farming areas also receive heavy nitrate loads from agricultural runoff. We can't immediately see that in the water like we see plumes of mud in creeks. But it will result in more pond algae in the future.

So, there will be an impact in tidal waters that is regionalized depending on source streams and creeks and the amount of runoff they experience. Freshwater ponds on the other hand might have a brief rejuvenation from the doldrums of warm water fishing. But long term, heavy downpours are not good for them either because increased nitrogen in them leads to even more choking vegetation.

The immediate impact of our rain on fishing, good or bad, is just that. It might harm the bite for a few days. It might enhance it too. But long term, it's a shame that rain, a critical element for our existence has become a thoroughfare for damage to our Chesapeake waters.

Fish when you can and where you can safely. It's always better to get out and fish regardless of your results than staying home wondering what would have happened if you had gone out. That said, noisy baits in turbid waters may help.

[dsaavedra]

It's always better to get out and fish regardless of your results than staying home wondering what would have happened if you had gone out.

This right here might be one of the best takeaways from the thread. Unless you have something else way better to be doing you might as well get out and try! You won't catch any fish from your couch, that's for sure.

All of the environmental impacts discussed by John and Mark are spot on as well and it's fun for me to see these discussions "in the real world" as my profession is directly related to these issues - I use GIS mapping to identify things like headwater streams, drainage areas, land use types, and areas where there is increased potential for pollutants to enter waterways. The ultimate goal of all this mapping is to better inform scientific models that predict loading rates of sediment and pollution into the Bay so realistic goals can be set and best management practices can be implemented to reduce pollutants entering the Bay.

[summersoff]

A couple weeks ago I went out after a heavy Thursday/Friday rain and was worried about discoloration and fresh water, which I heard it has more of an affect on the bait - including crustaceans - which subsequently affects the predators. I also heard stripers hate sand on the gills, but I haven’t talked to one directly but who knows.
I was fortunate enough to be fishing a backbay which had several access points. The simple act of scouting various spots away from the tribs , as Veil pointed out, put me on clear water compared to the chocolate milk at the mouth.

So, as others said, pick your spots, use your Google earth, and add a little more driving to get you there.

[Oldbayrunner]

When this happens there's always Snakehead, the crappier the better. They aren't effected by salinity drop, stained water etc. but the tides can be important and they are just coming off their 1st spawn.

[J. Rentch]

Well, don’t know if you made Weems this morning, but I did and it wasn’t fun. Only two meager perch. One on a spinner and one on a 2” twister tail. Fished up the south side to the Gray boat house and down the north side to the mouth. Met up with another kayaker- Jim McFalls- he did no better. When I returned to the launch, a local crabber said his day was no better. He did mention that his fish Finder showed tons of marks in 34-40 FOW. So to answer you question, personally the NE storm dump a lot of fresh water and drove out the local fish. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

[ski357]

Launched last night at 630 with a couple of buddies, fished until a little before 9. Mixed bag of rock and perch for us. I got two rock/no perch. My one buddy was all perch, up to 11" (three total). Last guy got 6-7 rock and a couple of perch. We lost a few soft plastics to bite offs. Blues or specs? Grass was terrible, water very stained. Tough evening. I'm about to cut grass. Might give it another go this evening

[J.A. Veil]

Well, don’t know if you made Weems this morning, but I did and it wasn’t fun. Only two meager perch. One on a spinner and one on a 2” twister tail. Fished up the south side to the Gray boat house and down the north side to the mouth. Met up with another kayaker- Jim McFalls- he did no better. When I returned to the launch, a local crabber said his day was no better. He did mention that his fish Finder showed tons of marks in 34-40 FOW. So to answer you question, personally the NE storm dump a lot of fresh water and drove out the local fish. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

The storm probably did not help things, but when I fished in Weems on Thurs morning (before the storm came), the perch bite was poor. Lets hope the perch decide to take up full-time summer residence soon.

[Big Mike]

Fished Piney Point this morning. Launched at 5, just after high tide and the water was easily a foot higher than normal. It was so high that we were able to go over the tops of grass beds that normally would have stopped us dead in our tracks. We’ve been plagued with a ton of floating grass this year and the storms didn’t help that situation. You could maybe go 20-30 yards with a paddle tail before having to clear grass. We weren’t getting any bites so I switched to a big nose spinner. Not sure what it is but it stayed mostly grass free. I was able to start picking up perch, maybe 8 or so with multiples at the 9” mark. Ron got a few small rocks. We switched over to jigging metal on an edge and started catching real nice perch and I even got a fat 16” trout. Ron got a croaker and the worlds smallest spot. The nice thing about jigging is it got us below the floating grass. I think I had at least 10 perch at or above 9”, my best outing for them this year.

[ronaultmtd]

We fished Piney Point this morning...worst loose grass I have ever seen. High tide was really high...water temp was 76.6 degrees...a full 2 degree drop from our last trip...managed a few fish but it was ugly...

[Mark]

I got a dozen perch today in the Magothy. My first double digit perch day there this year.

Most were about 8 or 9 inches. This was the largest:

P1050490.jpg

All on a jig spinner. I tried flies and got skunked with them.

The water was very clean. No visible residue from recent rain.

The weekend boaters were out in full force -- tubers and water skiers. Lots of wakes to contend with in the main river. It was a bouncy ride at times.

I saw a lot of cicadas today. I saw no fish eating them but a water snake had a bead on one until I scooped the cicada out of the water.