Finally found some Perch (non kayak report)

[bignose]

I've been listening to folks crying the blues all Spring and Summer about the dearth of White Perch on the Western Shore.
My own personal fishing experiences are similar, very slow catching rates (and I haven't been able to get out much).

Today, a little different.
I found myself up in East Baltimore, stopping in at Tochterman's to pick up some tying supplies.
I figured, what the hell, I'm down near the harbor, not far from where I used to fish back in the "Tin Boat" days.

Broke out the ultra light and walked along some rip rap over on the Harbor East side. It was a very high tide and I had a 15-20 mph wind in my face. The water was relatively clear, and even the trash level was tolerable.
Not the most attractive fishing habitat, but there was also a good bit of "moving scenery" jogging by, to entertain and distract me.

Due to the wind, I had to resort to something besides my usual spinnerjig. I dug thru the tackle bag, couldn't find and curly tail jigs, so I finally settled on a "Silver Buddy" style blade bait.

Over 45 minutes, I landed 10 Perch. I had at least that many shake off (barbless trebles).

So they are there. Just gotta find them.

[Mark]

Good for you, Stu.

I hope you told some of those fish to swim south.

[J.A. Veil]

Way to go Stu. Perch should be easy to find during the summer. I guess we have been looking in the wrong spots.

I had by far my most prolific Severn perch outing this morning. My catch rate inside creeks and ponds remains poor. But today I found some structure (riprap, fallen branches, Phragmites) along the shores of the main river and caught them abundantly. It sure felt good to have some easy perch catching today.

[Red_Beard]

They are certainly abundant when you find them, but finding them is the tricky part. Unfortunately, that is one of the signs of an overfished population, although I suspect the spreading blue catfish menace has had a far greater impact on them than anglers have done.

[J.A. Veil]

I fished again this morning for perch in the Severn -- this time on the opposite shoreline from yesterday (there was zero overlap in fishing spots between the two days). But the same trend of where I found perch happened again. All fish were caught using an old Bignose spinner that had lost some of its hair. I replaced the flash and added some bucktail using yellow Powerpro line instead of fly tying thread. It is not pretty, but it catches fish.

Monday -- creek #1 - 0 perch; creek #2 - 4 perch; creek #3 - 7 perch; shorelines along main river - 27 perch

Tuesday -- creek # 4 - 3 perch; creek #5 - 7 perch; shorelines along main river - 29 perch.

Casting to riprap outperformed casting to overhanging branches and fallen wood.

I also caught four more species of fish today while casting into the same locations where I caught perch (Norfolk spot, channel catfish, striper, pickerel). All fish were released as quickly as possible. My goal for this year is to release fish back into the water in 10 seconds or less from the time I first lift them out of the water. I met that goal on all fish today except the spot, which stayed out a bit longer to get photographed.

2021-04-11-001.jpg

[bignose]

John's catching report jibes with some information conveyed to me last week by some local crabbers.
They were catching fish in deeper water of the main stem Severn, while we were searching the shallower coves for fish.

About that lure.......by the time a spinner jig looks that bad, the swivel has usually worn out. That one deserves a proper retirement.
The only reason the fish will hit is they can't tolerate something that beat up and ugly being in the water near them. lol

Still, yet another species hitting one of the bignose baits!