Football season at Solleys - 10/31/21

[dsaavedra]

In the spirit of Halloween my wife and I thought it would be fun to take a trip to Curtis Creek and see the ship graveyards. I also wanted to check out the new launch facilities at Solleys Cove park that everyone on this board has been raving about and enjoying since earlier this summer. The facilities were very nice - I particularly enjoyed the permeable-paved lot and the ample amount of parking. Clean porta-potties are always a welcome feature too.

With the smell of sewage and fossil fuel emissions in the air, we hit the water and headed north towards the mouth of the creek. Not long after I started my trolling route I got slammed by this super fat, very healthy looking 19.5" rockfish. It hit hard and fought hard, great fun.





Not 10 minutes later I caught an almost carbon copy of the first fish. This one was a little longer and a little fatter than the first, and I caught it on an ultralight rod which was an absolute blast. It had the rod bent all the way through the handle. Unfortunately I couldn't control the fish very well and it got badly tangled with the other line I had in the water. I had to cut out the tangle and lost a good 20-30 yards of line. Oh well, it was worth it for the fun experience.



A bit more trolling produced another football - this one 18.5" - and two other smaller rockfish for a grand total of 5 fish. All day I could not get over how fat, colorful, and healthy these fish looked.



The ship graveyard was super cool too. I don't think I'll make plans to revisit this launch site - the industrial nature of the area was off putting to me and it took me nearly an hour to drive there. I can catch schoolie rockfish in more appealing waters closer to home. But I'm very glad we went and saw the ship graveyard, and Halloween was as good a day as any!

[jbrown]

Wow. Great fish! Thanks for the update. Didn’t think it was going to be good after the flood.


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[dsaavedra]

Wow. Great fish! Thanks for the update. Didn’t think it was going to be good after the flood.


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There was a fair amount of floating debris on the downwind side of the creek, and the water was stained dark brown (might be normal for this creek, not sure), but otherwise it seemed unaffected. I could see a debris/waterline on the hulls of the ships from the flood, that was about 2 feet above the water today. You can see it in the last photo if you look closely.

[Mark]

Dave,

Those photos of the wrecks are excellent.

Your catches were very nice too.

Good post.

[J.A. Veil]

Good catches, Dave. The stripers I have been catching recently have sported large girths, much as the ones you showed. I guess they are fattening up for the coming cold weather.

The wooden ship graveyard is interesting to visit. In addition to the main graveyard just past the Beltway bridge, there are several smaller ones on the opposite side of the creek on the way back to the launch. The much larger one at Mallows Bay on the Potomac is worth at least one visit, although given its exposed location, you need a low wind day.

As you noted, the Curtis Creek environment does not feature the pristine natural habitats that an angler can find in other less urban parts of Maryland. But for Baltimore-area anglers or others willing to drive a bit, it offers a useful launch that can produce a variety of species. During the 1980s, I managed industrial water pollution control programs for the Maryland Dept of the Environment. The Curtis Bay area has a long history of industrial activity, which prior to the 1970s (Clean Water Act passed in 1972) did not control their wastewater discharges well. I find it fulfilling that despite those pollution insults for so many years, the waters near Solleys Cove launch are able to support a lot of fish.

[Red_Beard]

Glad to see someone had some luck this weekend. I also tried Solley's on Sunday morning, but with the intention to target pickerel. I didn't manage to find a one of them, despite getting some very nice ones there back in the summer, and only managed to catch a small striped bass while trolling from the ramp in the morning. I tried Triadelphia on Saturday afternoon as well, and was skunked there although I did see a few guys catch a handful of small bass.