Beauty and the Beast at Solleys

[scorchy]

Took a mental health day and fished Solley's again yesterday morning. Definitely improved my state-of-mind.

I started by trolling out toward the Key bridge again but had no takers. Past the CSX bridge, I pulled over to take a break from paddling and work some structure. On my second cast, my rod nearly snapped in half, giving me a sense of deja-vu from a few weeks ago in Weems. Another channel cat, no doubt. According to my watch, I fought the beast for over 10 minutes - honestly didn't think I was ever gonna get him in. A guy in a small center console actually pulled over to ask if I needed help (he may or may not have heard me cursing the fish as he was going by). After what seemed like an eternity, I finally got the beast close enough to use the handy-dandy net I bought after my last experience. It seemed to help chill the big guy out as I used my pliers to remove the hook and let him swim away. Tough to tell size from the pic, but he was definitely the biggest cat I ever caught and, despite the bad words I said while fighting him, one heck of a lot of fun on a light rod lined with 6-lb test.

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From there, I trolled back and forth for a while between the bridges without any success before heading back up the creek to look for perch around the docks. Picked up a 15" rock on the way then managed a half-dozen or so decent sized white perch before bringing in this beauty:

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My first-ever yellow perch.

Decided after that to try to make it a 5-species day and spent the next hour trying to catch a pickerel with no success. I did catch two more rock though while trolling back to the launch.

I never thought I would say something so old-mannish, but Solley's having port-a-potties is a huge tie-breaker when I'm deciding where to go. I love Weems, but the fact that there's not even a place to beach and pull over can make 5-hour outings get somewhat uncomfortable...

[Big Mike]

Good outing, you need a smaller hand to show off that beauty.

[scorchy]

Ha - yeah. Not sure how you guys get those fish to lie still in your trough, so I over-compensate.

[J.A. Veil]

Good catching. Those cats will get your attention when you are expecting something smaller.

You can carry a plastic cup or container with you to help with inconspicuous fluid removal needs while sitting in the kayak. It works great with fishing pants that have a zipper. Not so well when wearing chest waders in the cold months.

[scorchy]

I always try to have an empty gatorade bottle with me. Unfortunately, I don't always think to replace it after recycling a used one. And honestly, nowhere in Weems seems particularly inconspicuous with all the boat traffic, houses, docks, and whatnot. Not that those things have always stopped me.

I remember reading about one guy who brought along a funnel and ran the end through his scupper holes. Seems a little complex when you can just pour out the bottle or cup.

Your waders story reminded me of last week when I was out at a brewery and saw a girl wearing a full-length one-piece catsuit. I hope she didn't drink too much beer, because having to pee every hour seems like it would have made for quite the ordeal.

[dsaavedra]

Great report, sounds like you had a fun Thursday. Surely beats working.

Those catfish sneaking up on you while you're using light or ultralight tackle is always fun. You can usually tell its a cat right away because they refuse to come to the surface. I had the same experience as you described a couple weeks ago on Severn... hooked a cat while perch fishing and just sat there helplessly as it circled the boat for 5-10 minutes, unable to control it with my light gear.

Congrats on your first yellow perch too!! 12 inches is not shabby at all.

[UnkleRob2020]

Needing to relieve myself frequently while on the water is something I am very familiar with. I try to plan ahead and prefer to fish locations where there are some options to pull over and discreetly answer natures call. I have found these to be handy : https://traveljohn.com/. There is a gel inside of them that absorbs the liquid and does not leak. My lady friend used one recently and I forgot to take it out of the car at the end of the trip. A few days later it was still there...no leaks, no smells

[Mark]

I made my first visit to the improved Solleys Cove yesterday. It had been years since my last visit. In fact, before you get to the new site, the old rustic launch is still visible.

I was impressed with the work the county had done -- ample parking and a nice ramp. However, the soft launch kayak area sand is going to continue to wash out with tides and storms. It will need frequent maintenance until a solution is found. I used the hard ramp.

I launched at 0730. The lot was completely full with trailers when I returned a few hours later. It's good to see the facility being used by so many.

The ramp accesses big open water. However, there are plenty of nearby cuts, small bays and creeks to visit. Overall, it's a nice place to fish with more natural shorelines than I anticipated or recalled.

Fishing was not great. I did not expect it to be with bluebird skies following a full moon. I caught perch on the fly -- a shad fly used as a dropper. I really enjoy that approach for them. It's amazing that they will hit a relatively large jig spinner and then also attack a tiny dropper fly. I also caught picks on back-to-back casts with one of my homemade jig spinners. The first was 23.5 inches. The second 18 inches.

For those of you who like to troll, one of my buddies caught two legal sized stripers towing a paddletail.

I look forward to more trips there throughout the year, especially if the picks continue to bite.

[UnkleRob2020]

I normally stop fishing for the year around the beginning of October. I think that this year, I will extend my season a bit and will try to target pickerel and also yellow perch. Are yellow perch as active in the fall as they are in the spring?

Solley's seems to be a logical place to visit during the cooler months as there are certainly yellow perch and pickerel there and the cove at Marley's Creek looks like amazing habitat despite having caught almost nothing there so far this year.

[Mark]

I normally stop fishing for the year around the beginning of October. I think that this year, I will extend my season a bit and will try to target pickerel and also yellow perch. Are yellow perch as active in the fall as they are in the spring?

Solley's seems to be a logical place to visit during the cooler months as there are certainly yellow perch and pickerel there and the cove at Marley's Creek looks like amazing habitat despite having caught almost nothing there so far this year.

I cannot address yellow perch, but all the creeks of the Magothy, Severn and Patapsco will provide an active pickerel bite from the fall through spring. Where they go in the summer remains a mystery. I find them only occasionally in the warmer months in the above creeks as by-catch when I fish for white perch. I suspect they yield their typical tidal locations to the influx of juvenile stripers and white perch in the creeks during the warmer months. When those fish depart, perhaps they move back to their normal haunts. But who knows for sure?

However, as the water cools, particularly after a cold late fall/winter night, they will move farther from the shoreline. So keep that in mind when you pursue them.

And if you want to catch larger ones routinely, try various MD and DE ponds on the the Eastern Shore during colder weather.

[Red_Beard]

I bought my first drysuit in early 2020, and it extended my kayak fishing season to a full 10 months last year. Started in March, and went clear through December. I was catching striped bass in the creeks into November, and then kept fishing for pickerel through December. Hoping to spend more time targeting pike and muskie this year too.