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Spaz attack at Allen's Fresh, 2/23
After my trout fishing excursion, I decided to make a quick run to Allen's Fresh. Since the pickerel fishing has been so hot on the Severn, I thought the same might be true at Allen's Fresh because I had caught some really nice ones there 3 or 4 years ago. I only had about 2 hours of daylight left, so I was hoping I could find pickerel quickly where I had caught them in the past, especially since it was high tide and the areas with grasses were flooded, and maybe scare up a perch or two.
Spaz attack number 1:
I've been launching by the bridge farthest from Rt 301. That was the bridge that washed out in the hurricane, so I wasn't sure what to expect. The area around the bridge is more gravelly there, which isn't optimal for dragging your yak, and there's a silt fence to lift the yak over, which is kind of a hassle, too. I slid my yak down the bank into the water, which was rather muddy, and started to step into the water to get into my boat. I stepped off the bank into the water, and my foot never hit bottom. At about this time, a little voice in my head said, "Hey dummy, the bridge washed out, so of course the bank is going to be steeper." The next thing I felt was my vest jerking me up as I fell into the water.
Since it was so warm, I cleverly opted not to wear my dry top. Despite not wearing it, I didn't fill my waders, and only my elbows were wet. However, I had one hand on my yak, one hand on shore, no feet on the bottom, and the water incredibly close to the top of my waders. I had a change of clothes and wasn’t particularly worried about getting wet, but I really didn’t want to have driven all the way out there only to fall in the water like an idiot. I didn’t think I could climb into my yak without scooping up a bunch of water, and I didn’t have enough leverage to climb back on shore, either. I managed to gently scoot my yak forward and shift my land hand forward little by little until my toes hit the bottom, then I tippy-toed like a ballerina to water shallow enough to jump into my yak. That’s when I noticed the shore fisherman who had witnessed the entire thing. 
There weren’t many people out, which surprised me. I headed to my spot. There was a guy fishing with minnows on the opposite shore, and I saw him pick up a keeper perch. He said hit had been slow for him today. I casted around with my firetiger Rapala, my firetiger Storm Shad, and my chartreuse Cicada. I missed a couple hits on the Cicada, but I connected with a yellow perch on the Storm Shad. It hit very gently like I snagged a piece of grass, so I didn’t set the hook hard. Then it started circling and spit the hook as I lifted it out of the water at the boat. It looked to be between 9 and 10 inches but didn’t have the swollen belly of a ripe female. I missed few more hits on the Cicada, and that was all the fish action for me. At least I wasn’t skunked.
I met master_pungo and chatted with him for a bit. He had more luck than I did and even managed to pick up a perch as we talked. The sun was started to set, so we both headed back to our respective launches.
Spaz attack number 2:
I had a better plan for getting out of my yak now that I knew the score with the bank. I climbed out on the bank and started working my yak back around to where I could pull it out of the water. As I reached down to grab the handle, something slid down my finger and into the water. My wedding ring.
My heart sank as I frantically looked in the water trying to spot it while cursing up a storm. I took off my hat and shades as I prepared to stick my head in the water when I heard a couple more plops. Rocks were falling off the bank into the water. Then I remembered that I had taken off my ring before I launched and zipped it in my pocket where it was still safely secured. I sat down on the bank with a sigh of relief when I heard a different guy on the other shore ask me if I caught anything.
Anyway, it seems like the perch of moved upstream a bit from The Cedars and were biting artificials and minnows. I didn’t try too hard for perch, but I think using a bobber or drop shot rig would work pretty well and would keep the lure in the strike zone longer than casting and retrieving. I'd like to go back and work the area more thoroughly for both perch and pickerel. I enjoyed meeting master_pungo and hearing about his experiences fishing some of the other areas I frequent. It was a good evening to be on the water despite not being quite as relaxing as I had hoped.
Here are a couple pics from the evening:
One of my favorite SoMD vistas:
Closer up:
Spaz attack number 1:
I've been launching by the bridge farthest from Rt 301. That was the bridge that washed out in the hurricane, so I wasn't sure what to expect. The area around the bridge is more gravelly there, which isn't optimal for dragging your yak, and there's a silt fence to lift the yak over, which is kind of a hassle, too. I slid my yak down the bank into the water, which was rather muddy, and started to step into the water to get into my boat. I stepped off the bank into the water, and my foot never hit bottom. At about this time, a little voice in my head said, "Hey dummy, the bridge washed out, so of course the bank is going to be steeper." The next thing I felt was my vest jerking me up as I fell into the water.
Since it was so warm, I cleverly opted not to wear my dry top. Despite not wearing it, I didn't fill my waders, and only my elbows were wet. However, I had one hand on my yak, one hand on shore, no feet on the bottom, and the water incredibly close to the top of my waders. I had a change of clothes and wasn’t particularly worried about getting wet, but I really didn’t want to have driven all the way out there only to fall in the water like an idiot. I didn’t think I could climb into my yak without scooping up a bunch of water, and I didn’t have enough leverage to climb back on shore, either. I managed to gently scoot my yak forward and shift my land hand forward little by little until my toes hit the bottom, then I tippy-toed like a ballerina to water shallow enough to jump into my yak. That’s when I noticed the shore fisherman who had witnessed the entire thing. There weren’t many people out, which surprised me. I headed to my spot. There was a guy fishing with minnows on the opposite shore, and I saw him pick up a keeper perch. He said hit had been slow for him today. I casted around with my firetiger Rapala, my firetiger Storm Shad, and my chartreuse Cicada. I missed a couple hits on the Cicada, but I connected with a yellow perch on the Storm Shad. It hit very gently like I snagged a piece of grass, so I didn’t set the hook hard. Then it started circling and spit the hook as I lifted it out of the water at the boat. It looked to be between 9 and 10 inches but didn’t have the swollen belly of a ripe female. I missed few more hits on the Cicada, and that was all the fish action for me. At least I wasn’t skunked.
I met master_pungo and chatted with him for a bit. He had more luck than I did and even managed to pick up a perch as we talked. The sun was started to set, so we both headed back to our respective launches.
Spaz attack number 2:
I had a better plan for getting out of my yak now that I knew the score with the bank. I climbed out on the bank and started working my yak back around to where I could pull it out of the water. As I reached down to grab the handle, something slid down my finger and into the water. My wedding ring.
My heart sank as I frantically looked in the water trying to spot it while cursing up a storm. I took off my hat and shades as I prepared to stick my head in the water when I heard a couple more plops. Rocks were falling off the bank into the water. Then I remembered that I had taken off my ring before I launched and zipped it in my pocket where it was still safely secured. I sat down on the bank with a sigh of relief when I heard a different guy on the other shore ask me if I caught anything. Anyway, it seems like the perch of moved upstream a bit from The Cedars and were biting artificials and minnows. I didn’t try too hard for perch, but I think using a bobber or drop shot rig would work pretty well and would keep the lure in the strike zone longer than casting and retrieving. I'd like to go back and work the area more thoroughly for both perch and pickerel. I enjoyed meeting master_pungo and hearing about his experiences fishing some of the other areas I frequent. It was a good evening to be on the water despite not being quite as relaxing as I had hoped.
Here are a couple pics from the evening:One of my favorite SoMD vistas:
Closer up:
Lucky you had waders on.
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