New Member Intro and 27AUG report

[NoDakYak]

Greetings!

My name is Matt, and I'm a new kayak fisherman, living in central Maryland.

I'm both a novice fisherman and novice paddler; I grew up in North Dakota fishing casually (worm and bobber type mostly). I picked it up again as my pandemic hobby, as a way to get outside. Got into it more and more, saw some stuff online and on youtube about kayak fishing, and decided this year that that would be a great way to expand the hobby and get access to some more water (and hopefully fish). I got a used Lifetime Teton as a starter yak, and I've been off and running.

I've been lurking on this forum for a few months, and I know it's not as active as it has been in the past, but I appreciate all the great information from the archives as well as all the current reports. When I first started out, I read John Veil's book The Way I Like to Fish, which was super helpful to me. I'm interested in perch and stripers in the middle bay rivers and creeks; would also love to get on some snakeheads, and I also enjoy exploring the middle Patuxent right in my neck of the woods.

I'm active duty with three young kids, so I don't get nearly as much time on the water as I'd like, and it's tough to balance my desire to check out new places with the probably smarter method of going back to the same place and learning it. But Saturday morning I put in at a new place, into Mill Creek/Whitehall Bay from behind the Naval Academy golf course. Rather than go up the creek, as both reports and my own experience have seen tougher fishing in the creeks, I went around the corner and fished the riprap along the main bay. Threw a small mepps for perch; had one bite that I missed but otherwise nothing. Then I switched rods and trolled a paddle tail along the riprap, in 4-6 feet of water. This was my first time trolling from a kayak (a technique I learned about from the aforementioned book), so I was excited to give it a try. Had basically no luck for the morning, and was starting to head back to the ramp when I got my first hookup! And the drag was really screaming! Finally get it to the surface . . . big cownose ray. So a new species for me, and my first trolling bite, but not exactly the outcome I was hoping for. To make it worse, trying to get it netted so I could pull the hook out, he gave one big final pull and broke my rod tip.

Beautiful morning and a nice paddle, but decidedly mixed fishing results. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong lures/presentation . . . I look forward to more experimenting and hopefully more success with experience. And thanks again to all who are sharing their knowledge/experience on this forum! See you on the water.

[J.A. Veil]

Matt - The launch that you mention does put you into waters that often produce well. Paddle up into Mill Creek or Burley Creek. Look for shaded shorelines and throw a small spinner near the shore. Although this summer has been challenging for catching perch, you should find perch there and may catch a pickerel too. The pickerel bite should pick up in October. You can also troll paddletails as you move from one spot to another.

I trolled paddletails along the riprap on the bay side of Greenbury Pt a few weeks ago and had no bites. Probably the best spot for trolling the riprap is at the very point where the river side meets the bay side. I often find fish there, but be careful of waves and wakes in the shallow water there.

If you launch from that same spot again, try trolling around Whitehall Bay and work over toward Hackett Point. Look for any rip currents coming off the rocks at the point and throw your paddletail across the rip. Stripers often hang out just to the side of the rip line.

There are many places to look for fish in the Severn region. With a job and family commitments, you may have to look hard to find time for fishing. Learning a new area and new techniques does take time.

[paxmule]

Those cownose rays gave me fits earlier in the summer here at NAS Pax. They're fun to reel in but they just don't feel like actually catching a fish to me, if that makes sense.

[Shoobs]

Welcome, Matt - our starts sound very familiar - John's books are great reads and resources. I go back to them and re-read them during the season. And pretty cool he is willing to interact and answer questions here on snagged line. And many of the folks here are very helpful. Thanks for sharing your broken rod story - as a fellow rookie I am well aware of the learning curve. My first time out it took me 25 minutes to figure out how to use my rod holders - I hardly fished. With each trip I get more dialed in to the kayak and that opens up more energy to focus on fishing. John's advice in his book as being more of a minimalist was also helpful to simplify things for me. I am new to perch fishing but have done well this year using Big Nose Spinners - Stu Sklar snagged line member makes them.

[bignose]

I have had some good days much farther up in Mill Creek. The area up past Cantler's Crab House has several old docks and shaded cover that has been productive in the past.
I haven't fished them this year, so don't take this as given.
Also, nearby the launch at Jonas Greene will put you on some nice perching waters.
Sadly, Weems Creek is not doing much this year.
The fishing seems to be better on the main stem of the Severn this Summer.

Mepps spinners will catch perch, so your choice of lure wasn't off.
However, you may find that small spinner jigs such as the one pictured above may be more productive, and easier to unhook then a Mepps with a treble hook. And it won't twist your line up.
Also a 3-4" curly tail on a 1/8-1/4 oz.jig head can be productive for perch, stripers, and other local fish.

Bummer about the fishing rod. I've busted up a couple using light tackle and encountering the CNRs. The trade off is one hell of an exciting fight.

[NoDakYak]

John-Thanks for the tips about that location, I'll definitely be heading back there for some more tries.

Pax-I was excited to at least catch something, but you're right the rays almost seem like they don't count.

Shoobs-always nice to hear about the journey of other people, and know that I'm not the only one who has struggled to get it all figured out and ended up floating in circles tangled in line.

Stu-thanks for your tips about Mill Creek also, next time I head that way I think I will give the creeks a try. Also, I would be very interested in purchasing some bignose spinners to try; do you still make and sell them, and if so how would I go about doing that?