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This morning John Rentch and I fished in three different tidal creeks/ponds in the Severn. I got underway a minute or two ahead of him, and trolled three lines with paddletails as I moved from the launch to our first casting destination. I had no bites while trolling. But as I approached the entrance to our destination and began winding in lines, I spotted a few large splashes over a small area just to my right. I grabbed one rod and cast out to where the splashes had been. I immediately hooked up to an 18"-20" striper. I wound up the remaining lines and kept casting to the same area. I hooked fish on every cast for a while. I stopped after catching 12 stripers (most were smaller than the first). John joined me after my first few fish, and he caught several stripers too. I just happened to be in the right place at the right moment. Two minutes earlier or two minutes later, and I would not have noticed that short-lived splashing. Sometimes you just get lucky. Over our 3.5 hours on the water, I caught 18 perch and 17 stripers.
I had a similar experience in a different Severn creek two days earlier. I was casting a spinner to the shoreline for perch and noticed three larger splashes behind me. Without winding in the perch lure, I grabbed a second rod with a white paddletail and cast in the direction of the splashes. I immediately hooked up with a 21" striper.
It really pays off to pay attention to what is happening around you.
We encountered quite a few small schools of baitfish that rippled the otherwise calm surface of the water. At one point during the trip, I looked on the floor of my kayak and saw a live peanut bunker wriggling around. I held it on my leg with a 3" paddletail above it and a 4" paddletail below it for a photo (sorry about the poor quality of the photo -- my lens may have been fogged up).
2021-04-11-001.jpg
These paddletails definitely "match the hatch". Those baitfish should remain in the Severn through much of Sept. If they stack up in certain areas, stripers and bluefish can be good trolling targets. I prefer light colored paddletails when the fish are feeding on the silvery peanut bunker. Pearl/white and chartreuse are my favorite colors, but the fish hit other bright colors too.
I had a similar experience in a different Severn creek two days earlier. I was casting a spinner to the shoreline for perch and noticed three larger splashes behind me. Without winding in the perch lure, I grabbed a second rod with a white paddletail and cast in the direction of the splashes. I immediately hooked up with a 21" striper.
It really pays off to pay attention to what is happening around you.
We encountered quite a few small schools of baitfish that rippled the otherwise calm surface of the water. At one point during the trip, I looked on the floor of my kayak and saw a live peanut bunker wriggling around. I held it on my leg with a 3" paddletail above it and a 4" paddletail below it for a photo (sorry about the poor quality of the photo -- my lens may have been fogged up).
2021-04-11-001.jpg
These paddletails definitely "match the hatch". Those baitfish should remain in the Severn through much of Sept. If they stack up in certain areas, stripers and bluefish can be good trolling targets. I prefer light colored paddletails when the fish are feeding on the silvery peanut bunker. Pearl/white and chartreuse are my favorite colors, but the fish hit other bright colors too.
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