Patapsco, 2-28-12

[HJS]

It was a great day to fish the inner Patapsco, 2-28-12, noon-3:30pm. Today I caught an even dozen stripers: Two ~17”; rest 22”-26”. Best day this winter. One was so stuffed with bait I don’t see how it could have eaten even a guppy, yet it still hit my lure. Half caught on soft plastics, chart/glit, the other half on a rattletrap. Mild, mostly dead calm, water vis 4’-5’ (not too shabby), water temp ~47F-48”. There was no water flowing from the WWD. First time I’ve seen that during the 10-12 years I’ve been fishing there. Saw zero gizzard marks on the FF the entire time, they must be all gone somewhere else.

Pics: Think maybe it was calm??? And I take crappy pics of fish.

[J.A. Veil]

Great job. Congratulations on so many nice sized fish.

[YaknBass]

Great day!! Congrats!! dead calm water wow!! don't see that often on that water!! 'Bent Rods & Tight Lines Always!!

[DanMarino]

Nice Photos!

Nice photos and fish. Do you ever catch anything near the bridge structure?
13

[chex]

Wow! 12 stripers! Nice going!!!!

[Shady]

Awesome! I would love to catch a dozen Stripers in one trip!

[moc]

Were you trolling or jigging?

[camelbird]

47-48 degree water?? Calm water?? 12 stripers??

Nice man!

Makes me think of a potential trip to the hart miller area if the weather stays nice....

[Yak Fish]

Spring striper season may come early this year!

For what it's worth, I've never caught anything off the bridge structure, saving a small rock near the rip rap. It's very loud there which may disturb the fish. I'd be curious if anyone else as caught them at the bridge.

If the water temp is really that high, trolling should work just fine....50 F would be better though

[HJS]

Thanks for all the good words guys. It was indeed a great day on the river and it came at a time when I was about to give up on having a day like this.

Dan - Ask Yak Fish says, it's gaud awful noisy under that bridge with a lot of noisy clanking from trucks running over heavy metal decking. I hate even going under it.

moc - I rarely troll, I don't have any rod holders on my canoe except my hands. Nearly all my winter fishing on the Patapsco is done in water less than 10'-12' deep. Therefore, my winter fishing method is to cast well out from the canoe and jig back to the boat. On the other hand, during late summer and fall I'm fishing deeper water and do a lot of vertical jigging.

Yak Fish - On Tuesday, while hunting for fish using the FF, I worked my out about 1/3 mile past Ferry Bar. The water kept getting colder and colder the farther I went out. Finally it dropped down to about 44F-45F. The FF was bare as a baby's butt for the last couple 100 yards. I could see the writing on the wall. That's when I turned around and came back to the vicinity of the influence of the WWD. But I will agree that with the warming water, the stripers will soon be spreading out into the rest of the river. No problem though, by that time I will have switched to shad fishing.

[Yak Fish]

Where are you going for shad, deer creek? I'd like to catch them on the yak, but I've only gotten them from shore.

Thanks for the report.

[HJS]

Where are you going for shad, deer creek? I'd like to catch them on the yak, but I've only gotten them from shore.

Thanks for the report.

Yak - I fish for shad at Fletchers Cove inside DC near where the Potomac River meets tideline. It takes me about 1hr-15min to get there while going to the Susky takes me 2 hours no matter which way I drive.

I've launched my canoe at Fletchers a couple of time to chase shad but found that shore fishing for shad is just as productive if not more so. Not to mention there's about a 100 yard carry to the river from the parking lot.

On the down side, the drive to Fletchers is a real bee-otch. I either go before morning rushhours (arrive before 5:45am) or after (arrive after 10:00am). Once there the fishing is fairly enjoyable and not nearly as crowded as it is on the Susky.

[Yak Fish]

The nice thing about the susky is that I'll spend time chasing the large stripers and then when I'm ready to pack it in, I'll drive over to deer creek for an hour of the non stop shad action....it's like dessert at the end of your meal

[chex]

I fish for shad at Fletchers Cove inside DC near where the Potomac River meets tideline.

The April 14 Meet & Greet will be at Fletchers. Hot dogs & shad...