Eastern Bay was just okay 9/6

[dsaavedra]

Yesterday I bought a Queen Anne's county launch permit so I could try some new water as the weather cools. I put it to use this morning fishing in the Eastern Bay and it was okay, I've been doing better in the Severn lately. I figured out quickly that they key to finding fish today was to fish in current ripping past structure. The problem was the current was SO STRONG around the breakwaters I couldn't keep up. Pedaling as hard as I could and only maintaining 0.4 mph just wasn't sustainable. It wore me out and I had to finish the day fishing grass beds along the shoreline to get out of the current and wind. I was exhausted and needed a nap when I got home.

There were a couple guys out there in PA14s with Torqueedos who I talked to on the water and back at the ramp in the afternoon, they did well catching over 20 rockfish with several over 20", and a "bunch of trout" including a 17" keeper.

I did not do as well, with 11 rockfish (all tiny, 12" was probably the average size with the biggest around 15"), 3 perch, and 2 speckled trout (largest was 10"). The quantity was there (sort of), but the quality was disappointing. Getting those specks was a fun surprise though, I must say.

[J.A. Veil]

Sorry your first trip there was not as good as you had hoped. The current does move swiftly along the breakwater. Some times the current is less strong on the opposite side of the wall, and you can ride one side across, then fight your way back on the opposite side. Generally when the current is moving that fast, I leave the breakwater and save it for a less vigorous time.

I have never caught a speck in that area. Congratulations on finding a few of them. Your intel from the other anglers is good to know too. It sounds like stripers are moving back into shallow water locations as the water temperature cools.

[dsaavedra]

Yup, I quickly figured out that battling the current near the breakwaters for a handful of 13" rockfish really wasn't worth the effort. I found a point near the shoreline that had a much more manageable amount of current ripping past it and I plucked a few fish off that. All in all I really can't complain for a first time out on completely new water; I could have done far worse.

[J.A. Veil]

Dave -

John Rentch, Don (another old-guy kayak angler), and I fished from a different, but nearby spot this morning (the spot I told you we would go to today). Wind was almost nonexistent (glassy calm conditions allowed me to see numerous small wakes as fish got out of my way). The current was supposed to be moving well today, but I did not see any obvious rip lines off of grassy points.

In 3.5 hours I paddled 7.6 miles and caught 10 stripers (none of keeper size), two specks of roughly 18" each, and two large perch. Don also caught all three species, and John Rentch got stripers and a speck. All of my fish, including the perch, were caught by trolling paddletails and twistertails. I was surprised to see one small cownose ray this morning. It seems late in the year for them to be around.

Don't give up on your QA County ramp pass yet. Things are likely to get better as the weather cools. There are many possible launch points that allow fishing under conditions of different wind speeds and directions.

I took a photo of my second speck (the smaller of the two). My camera lens must have been partially fogged up, but you can see that this was a quality fish. All fish were released today.

2021-04-11-001.jpg

[dsaavedra]

Thanks for the follow up report John. I'm not close to giving up on QA after just one trip! I think I'll visit the spot you recommended on Thursday afternoon/evening, provided the weather looks good (wind forecast looks decent right now, but its still a few days out).