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It was opening day for Stripers. You can keep one fish 28 inches and above in the Chesapeake Bay. Many fishermen that I know were going out to try to fish for rockfish from many locations. My plan was to go fishing with John (SurfDog) at Hogs Point. We were going to fish from shore and could get direct access to Hogs Point from the grounds of the Patuxent Naval Air Station. John had a badge to get himself and a guest on the base. He has been using the badge to get on the base for five years where he has caught hog stripers. The weather seemed to be working out too. No rain in the morning and possible thunderstorm in the early afternoon. As normal, the weathermen could not pin down the weather. First we expected rain by 3pm, then 5pm, finally I saw rain after 7:30pm. It was cool in the morning, but temperatures ended up climbing to 78 degrees.
I met John at his house at 3:30am where I jumped into his car with my gear and we headed down to the Naval Air Station. This is when things went south. When we got to the base the guard would not let John onto the base. He said that he did not recognize his badge, and that he would need a CAC card. Needless to say, John did not have a CAC card or owned one. Determined to fish, we headed down to the PLO pier and began fishing. We did not see a bit on the entire pier while we were there. Other anglers mentioned to us that they have been fishing since 1:00 am, and still did not get a bite. We then picked up shop and headed to Elms Beach. I was there a long time go and it was John's first time. Elms Beach had two coves with sandy beaches near the parking lot that would make it an excellent kayak launch spot. The park is free during part of the year, but then charges access during the late spring and summer months. John and I had the whole fishing area to ourselves, but even at Elms Beach we saw no fishing action except for a bird diving in the water. I checked out a report that I wrote back in 2001 about Elms Beach, and realized that it was real shallow close to shore and that you would need a kayak or canoe to get to 35 feet of water or deeper to get to the fish. We decided to pack up and head north to look at a potential kayak launch spot at a private cabin camp ground near Calvert Cliffs. The camp site charged kayakers $4 to launch. That was the good news. The bad news is that it was a hike to carry your kayak from the top of the cliff's down stairs and a winding path to the beach to launch. It was even worst carrying your kayak back up.
As a last ditch effort, we decided to head to Annapolis and fish on the Navy Base that SurfDog could get us onto. We fished a different sport that was within casting range of deep water. There, we found fish that avoided the skunk for the day. Using bloodworms and casting into the channel form shore, I managed to land a dozen perch. Most of them were small accept for four which were in the 10 inch range. John also caught a few white perch also. It was good seeing that the white perch was making their way back into the Severn from their spawning run in the creeks.
Well, we never made it to Hogs Point, but we did get to see many different locations and burned a lot of gas to catch perch. Apparently, from talking to other anglers, fishing was tough all over.
I met John at his house at 3:30am where I jumped into his car with my gear and we headed down to the Naval Air Station. This is when things went south. When we got to the base the guard would not let John onto the base. He said that he did not recognize his badge, and that he would need a CAC card. Needless to say, John did not have a CAC card or owned one. Determined to fish, we headed down to the PLO pier and began fishing. We did not see a bit on the entire pier while we were there. Other anglers mentioned to us that they have been fishing since 1:00 am, and still did not get a bite. We then picked up shop and headed to Elms Beach. I was there a long time go and it was John's first time. Elms Beach had two coves with sandy beaches near the parking lot that would make it an excellent kayak launch spot. The park is free during part of the year, but then charges access during the late spring and summer months. John and I had the whole fishing area to ourselves, but even at Elms Beach we saw no fishing action except for a bird diving in the water. I checked out a report that I wrote back in 2001 about Elms Beach, and realized that it was real shallow close to shore and that you would need a kayak or canoe to get to 35 feet of water or deeper to get to the fish. We decided to pack up and head north to look at a potential kayak launch spot at a private cabin camp ground near Calvert Cliffs. The camp site charged kayakers $4 to launch. That was the good news. The bad news is that it was a hike to carry your kayak from the top of the cliff's down stairs and a winding path to the beach to launch. It was even worst carrying your kayak back up.
As a last ditch effort, we decided to head to Annapolis and fish on the Navy Base that SurfDog could get us onto. We fished a different sport that was within casting range of deep water. There, we found fish that avoided the skunk for the day. Using bloodworms and casting into the channel form shore, I managed to land a dozen perch. Most of them were small accept for four which were in the 10 inch range. John also caught a few white perch also. It was good seeing that the white perch was making their way back into the Severn from their spawning run in the creeks.
Well, we never made it to Hogs Point, but we did get to see many different locations and burned a lot of gas to catch perch. Apparently, from talking to other anglers, fishing was tough all over.
At least you got some perch. We need to get some members from the Drum Point, Cove Point, and Chesapeake Ranch Estates communities so we can have access to the Pax/Bay from the other side.
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