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One of my goals for 2012 is to catch a fish in every month (I did not catch any fish in Jan or Feb last year). With tomorrow's forecasted large drop in temperature, I decided to give it a shot today. I launched my kayak at a mid-Severn River location and paddled to a small tributary that allowed me to stay out of the worst of the wind.
For the first 45 minutes I could not get a bite in the deeper sections of that tributary where the pickerel have been as recently as last Thurs. Eventually, I moved to a shallower section of the tributary that had not been productive during December. Today the shallows (1-4 feet) were very active. In the next 30 minutes, I caught 8 pickerel and had several others on the line that spit the hook. My first fish of the year was a 17" pickerel. That took the pressure off.
In addition to the good pickerel bite, I found one tiny pocket of white perch. I caught three of them, including a surprise whopper of at least 13.5". Conceivably, it could be the same fish I caught last fall in that tributary.
I normally carry a Hawg Trough measuring board with me, but managed to leave it at home today. Here I was with a giant perch, and no great way to measure it or hold it still for a photo. I paddled the kayak onto a sand bar, got out, and tried to measure it up against the tape on the side of the kayak, but the fish was flopping and I did not want to keep it out of the water any longer than necessary. The photos show the fish across my legs and up against the measuring tape. The closeup shows that the mouth of the fish was very near the 14" mark.
All fish were released back to the water. I kept fishing for another 45 minutes catching just one additional pickerel. It was a very satisfying afternoon. I suspect that I will take a break from kayak fishing for at least a few days with high temperatures near 30 deg.
For the first 45 minutes I could not get a bite in the deeper sections of that tributary where the pickerel have been as recently as last Thurs. Eventually, I moved to a shallower section of the tributary that had not been productive during December. Today the shallows (1-4 feet) were very active. In the next 30 minutes, I caught 8 pickerel and had several others on the line that spit the hook. My first fish of the year was a 17" pickerel. That took the pressure off.
In addition to the good pickerel bite, I found one tiny pocket of white perch. I caught three of them, including a surprise whopper of at least 13.5". Conceivably, it could be the same fish I caught last fall in that tributary.
I normally carry a Hawg Trough measuring board with me, but managed to leave it at home today. Here I was with a giant perch, and no great way to measure it or hold it still for a photo. I paddled the kayak onto a sand bar, got out, and tried to measure it up against the tape on the side of the kayak, but the fish was flopping and I did not want to keep it out of the water any longer than necessary. The photos show the fish across my legs and up against the measuring tape. The closeup shows that the mouth of the fish was very near the 14" mark.
All fish were released back to the water. I kept fishing for another 45 minutes catching just one additional pickerel. It was a very satisfying afternoon. I suspect that I will take a break from kayak fishing for at least a few days with high temperatures near 30 deg.
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