First ever Severn Slam!

[NoDakYak]

Had the morning off of work, so was able to sneak onto the water for a couple hours after dropping the kids off at school. Put in at a small and out of the way creek off of the Severn. Later in the morning, the sun was well-overhead, and there was a little more breeze than I would have preferred, but overall a lovely morning.

Fishing was slow, but I did manage to complete my first-ever Severn slam in a single outing, catching several small perch (all under 8”), a small pickerel (13”), all on bignose spinners, and one small striper (12”), with a trolled Paddletail. Not many fish, and small to boot, but as always nice to be out on the water.

Of more interest, headed to the take-out at the very top of the creek, at low tide there’s a fairly large flat right by the landing that’s about a foot deep. As I was paddling up I saw a fairly large snakehead just hanging out in the mud! I quickly re-rigged a couple things and tried to entice him to bite, to no avail. I put a bait right under his nose for about 15 minutes, including hitting him on top of the head with a chatter bait at least once, and he was just completely unfazed and uninterested. I wasn’t aware that snakes were in the Severn creeks, I thought they preferred it a little less salty. I still have not caught one, and would have loved to put this one in the boat, but he completely ignored me and eventually disappeared into the grass.

[J.A. Veil]

Matt -

Congratulations on catching your first Severn Slam. They were hard to get for most of the summer, but I got the Slam 3 times during late August and 4 more times during Sept. I'm glad to see that you are gaining more confidence on fishing the local waters. In a few more weeks, the perch will depart from the shallow areas, making Slams far more likely until next year.

Snakeheads have been in the Severn for at least the past few years. I know that many anglers target them, but I hear only a few reports of anglers actually catching them in the Severn. I caught one in a Severn creek last summer and a second one three years ago. But given the number of days I am out on the Severn in places where snakeheads are likely to live, I don't think they are really highly abundant.

[ski357]

Congratulations on your slam!

[dsaavedra]

Congrats on your Severn slam! I don't think I've ever achieved one.

Did you have a fish finder with you? I'm curious what the water temperature was in the shallows. Air temps have been dipping into the low 50's at night lately and I am willing to bet that snakehead sitting in 1 foot of water was so chilly and lethargic he couldn't even react to your lure.

I target snakeheads on the Eastern Shore pretty regularly and their behavior is very volatile in that a slight shift in temperature can turn them on or shut them down in a matter of minutes. This is because they spend much of their time in extremely shallow water which warms and cools quickly. This is especially true early and late in the season when cold nights and warm days are in the equation.

[Shoobs]

Matt congrats on the slam! And good job getting away for some time on the water. Thanks for the report and very interesting about the snakehead.

[NoDakYak]

Congrats on your Severn slam! I don't think I've ever achieved one.

Did you have a fish finder with you? I'm curious what the water temperature was in the shallows. Air temps have been dipping into the low 50's at night lately and I am willing to bet that snakehead sitting in 1 foot of water was so chilly and lethargic he couldn't even react to your lure.

I target snakeheads on the Eastern Shore pretty regularly and their behavior is very volatile in that a slight shift in temperature can turn them on or shut them down in a matter of minutes. This is because they spend much of their time in extremely shallow water which warms and cools quickly. This is especially true early and late in the season when cold nights and warm days are in the equation.

I did have a fish finder, but I don't remember what the water temp was. It certainly was a cool morning, although this encounter was almost at lunchtime and it was mostly sunny, so I would think that shallow water would have warmed up a bit? But I wasn't looking at the temp--was too excited looking at the fish. Who could not possibly have cared less about me or any of my lures.

I have not targeted snakeheads at all this first year of kayak fishing for me, I want to specifically make that a priority probably next year. Hoping to make it over to the Eastern Shore some, and also hit the Potomac creeks south of DC--I work at JBAB, so just need to throw the kayak into the truck and hit the water after work some days.