Hiding from the wind for two Slams

[J.A. Veil]

The winds on Tues afternoon through Wed noon were ferocious. I had been away for a long weekend without any water time and looked for options to get in short trips on both Tues and Wed. After an early morning errand on Tues, I looked at Windfinder and felt I would have a window of opportunity for the rest of the morning. I quickly loaded up the kayak and rigged rods for casting a Bignose spinner on one rod and a 3" paddletail on the other. I spent two hours in a Severn tributary fishing tight to sheltered shorelines. Despite the wind and muddy water, I caught 2 pickerel, 14 perch, and 1 striper, and was home by noon before the wind machine really fired up.

Windfinder showed strong winds for Wed morning, but gradually slackening after noon. Also the wind direction allowed me to be fairly well sheltered in a different Severn tributary. The water was extremely low today. Some times that hurts the bite, but today it seemed to concentrate the fish in the smaller central area. I was buffeted by occasional gusts, but for the most part faced only moderate winds. Between 1:30 and 3:00, I caught 7 pickerel (most between 18" and 20"), 5 perch, and 1 striper. That was the most pickerel I have caught in a single trip since last March. I also note that up until today, I got more pickerel bites on the spinner. But today, all the pickerel and the striper hit the paddletail (initially a pearl colored tail, then a chartreuse with glitter, and finally a chartreuse with red head).

I am a strong proponent of evaluating online weather, wind, and tidal data when planning a fishing trip. I was able to get out both windy days and record a Severn Slam on each.

[Red_Beard]

Great job, John! I have found the combination of Windfinder, Nautide, and an weather app to be invaluable for kayaking fishing. Throw in the USGS water gauges for float trips, and you'll be in for a lot fewer surprises on the water.

[J.A. Veil]

Great job, John! I have found the combination of Windfinder, Nautide, and an weather app to be invaluable for kayaking fishing. Throw in the USGS water gauges for float trips, and you'll be in for a lot fewer surprises on the water.

Thanks, Cliff. Last January I gave a Zoom presentation to the Free State Fly Fishing group on Using Online Resources to Plan Your Fishing Trip. The talk covered geography (maps; aerial photos), weather, wind speed and direction, tides (highs and lows; water height differential; tidal current velocity), stream flow (gages), and depth contours. Links to various free online sites I use are included.

I can provide a copy of that presentation to any interested Snaggedline member. For those interested, please send me your email address.

[J. Rentch]

Nice going on both days-great to hear about the Pickerel- our winter fishery in the Severn River.

[UnkleRob2020]

Thank you for the report John. I refer to your slide presentation regularly. The information contained in that presentation is excellent and has been integral to my understanding of tidal cycles and how to select fishing destinations based on wind direction and speed. I now regularly consult Windfinder (noting the different between Forecast and Super Forecast) and Google Earth or the satellite view of Google Maps. Sometimes I do forget to check the winds and it can make for a rough day on the water. I hope I have learned my lesson.

Just a few months ago, I did not know how to find or apply this information. I must admit that sometimes I struggle with "paralysis by analysis."

This winter, I am looking forward to reading John's book and also Mark's book. I have skimmed both and am amazed at the excellent information contained in both. Many of the questions that I have posed over the last year are addressed in both of their books and I look forward to being able to discuss them more intelligently as well as to apply the principles contained therin into my fishing.

I would like to go fishing Saturday, but the winds look like they will be in the low teens. The launches from which I am familiar will not offer much shelter. More time on the water and exploring new water will help with this, I am sure

[J.A. Veil]

Knowing the wind speed, direction, and how it will change during the hours you are on the water are very important. Here is an example fresh in my mind. This morning was forecast to have low winds from the east. Based on that information, I drove to an Eastern Shore launch where I had not fished in four weeks. The land mass offered good protection from the wind. As I approached within a mile of the launch, the entire road was blocked to through traffic due to road construction. I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to launch at a different spot only a few minutes away. But the second spot was much more exposed to the easterly wind, which at 8 to 9 mph turned out to be stronger than the forecast. I launched in a relatively calm area, but as I made my way to my preferred fishing areas there, the waves grew stronger. The direction of the wind allowed waves to reflect off of the bulkheaded shoreline and create a turbulent area of water with waves coming at me from all directions. I made one pass through my target area without a bite and realized it would not be fun fishing there. I returned to the launch, loaded up, and looked at Google Maps on my phone.

I found that I could bypass the road construction at the first spot by driving an extra 10-15 mins and approaching from a different direction. I reversed course, made the longer drive, and found the first spot to be flat calm with extremely high water level (thanks to the high winds over the past two days that stacked water up on the eastern side). The fish were not biting fast and furious, but 3 of the 4 fish that did bite were quality stripers (19.5", 21", 24") -- the other was about 14". The 19.5" and 24" hit in 3 ft water depth near points of land jutting out into the slow current. The 21" fish hit in deeper water (I estimate 10-14' -- the kayak I used today has no electronics on it). All were caught on 3" and 4" paddletails. The very fat 24" fish is shown below. All fish were released.

2021-04-11-001.jpg

[dsaavedra]

Great fish John, that's a football. I'm getting ready to head out for some fishing in the main bay this evening, winds are forecast to be around 7mph, let's hope that holds up.

[ronaultmtd]

We got out today, Windfinder was off a bit, steady 12(+) ENE winds... the tide and wind was fighting so big swells, following seas with some white caps made crossing a channel a bit sporting...but the fish made it all worthwhile...nice 22 inch Speckled Trout...dozens of fat football legal stripers up to 22 inches...Teddy and I had it mostly all to ourselves...abnormal high tide today...at least a foot higher than normal high tide...