Patuxent River water quality?

[Slackdaddy]

Slackdaddy, I'd be glad to link up sometime when im in the area and show you my method for cleaning catfish. Been doing it since I was a kid.

I appreciate that, and will take you up on it, when I can back on the water.
One of my biggest issues is getting/keeping a fillet knife sharp.
How far into the fall is the catfishing productive in the LM area of the Pax river?

BTW,, Today I had a very long conversation with the Patuxent River Keeper, I plan to get pretty active in the push to clean up the Patuxent.
The shocking thing is,, Maryland currently has NO plan in place to clean up the Patuxent,,

[SpaceCadet]

The Pax is indeed a very strange river. It has been my "local" for 6yrs now, and I still have far more questions than answers. I will say that from Wayson's up, and Solomon's down, it is not quite so complicated, but that middle stretch you all are discussing is truly odd. My experiences thus far:

Wayson's and up: plenty of SH just up from Wayson's. I started to get half-decent at working them out. Likewise largemouth, I was regularly catching quite a few. Had some great mornings with bass bugs and the fly rod! I even caught a surprise late-November smallie there a couple of years ago. Lots of pickerel and the usual catfish, carp, etc, too, plus a sporadic rockfish here and there. The trick there for bass is to not fish where you think you should fish, and instead focus on spots that aren't quite as obvious at first glance. Tide plays a major role. (I can share specifics by PM if anyone cares to try -- October/November is a great month up there.)
Jug Bay to KL: I've enjoyed some amazing carp fishing, and am now just learning the ropes on those big blue catfish that paxmule is hauling in. No sign at all of largemouth or snakehead, but in the summer I've caught puppy drum, croaker, spot, white perch, eel, yellow perch, and rockfish. Nothing huge, a very few of some of these, but they're in there. At this time of year it makes it really easy to catch fresh bait -- size 10 hook, worm, 1oz sinker, and cast to within a few feet of any piece of shoreline. Bites happen within 5 mins every time. But what's weird about this stretch is that even in deep winter the fishfinder is just lit up constantly along the main channel, like it's packed with fish. I would be fascinated to know what they are but water clarity doesn't even allow for a gopro to be dropped down there (though I haven't tried...). I cannot catch anything in those suspended shoals of fish, and I've tried many many times. If I had to guess, I'd say it's a terrifying volume of catfish, and they may be part of the problem the Pax has, and why the SH and bass can't get established. Their fry balls probably get sucked down in short order.
KL to power plant: never fished it
Power plant to Golden beach: Yet more catfish. The other week the catfish were packed so tight under 231, I snagged half a dozen with a jig, and hooked up with at least as many actually taking it. They were sitting a few feet down over 20 - 30ft of water. Rockfish seem more plentiful here, likewise spot and croaker. I haven't spent much time fishing here though. But again it's solid with fish according to the electronics -- and I think it's those catfish... again. (Aside: we saw dolphins by Golden Beach earlier in the summer -- my first time seeing them! Was amazing!) Water clarity is getting better here but still a little gross.
After that, I haven't fished it until the Solomon's bridge, which is basically Bay fishing.

I think most of the mud/sediment in the river is coming from Jug Bay -- that's a huge surface area with little depth/cover. I've seen some very clear water up past Wayson's, but nothing short of chocolate milk down from Jug Bay to well past KL. Maybe carp and catfish are stirring Jug Bay up, but I think it's mostly just the strong tide in shallow silty water. Wide, shallow tidal estuaries are often like that. It's certainly a challenge, but it has a unique charm about it too, I think. The learning curve is intimidating, but there are some good fish in there. It's also very peaceful. I went mid-week to Mattawoman a couple of months ago and that was just a circus. I'd rather spend a lonely, quiet day on the Pax for a couple of fish than shoulder to shoulder with folks on some of those Potomac tribs.

So that's my 2c on the Pax. For someone relatively new to MD, it's really interesting reading everyone's experience on there!

[paxmule]

I appreciate that, and will take you up on it, when I can back on the water.
One of my biggest issues is getting/keeping a fillet knife sharp.
How far into the fall is the catfishing productive in the LM area of the Pax river?

BTW,, Today I had a very long conversation with the Patuxent River Keeper, I plan to get pretty active in the push to clean up the Patuxent.
The shocking thing is,, Maryland currently has NO plan in place to clean up the Patuxent,,

The fall catfish bite was slower last year than summer but the size quality of catches increased a lot. The catfish feed heavily when the water temp drops for a few weeks to pack on weight for winter. Then when water drops to around 50 they turn off quite a bit and sit deep in holes but do still feed. I caught a 25 lb fish last December off the dock at clyde watson.

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[Jigsup]

Paxmule that’s a good fish from the dock. I’ve never fished Clyde Watson. Been there only once but didn’t even cast a line out. For some reason it just didn’t seem like it would be worth it. But it must be seeing you do pretty well there.

I’ve found during the colder months particularly January-April, route 231 bridge is a very good bank spot. I’ve done good with rockfish (thrown back) and big blue catfish using freshly vacuumed sealed frozen alewife. I’ve seen times where I’ve caught so many blue catfish till I didn’t want to see another one.

I believe it’s baitfish that are stacked around the bridge and in the channel up towards waysons. A friend of mine have caught alewife hook and line at LM a couple times. And snagged a couple by accident also.

Slack, I’m curious to why there is a neglect towards cleaning up the patuxent river? It’s a beautiful river and full of history.

[Slough Sleigher]

While in Solomon's yesterday I observed absolutely gorgeous water. From the boardwalk at high tide it was perfectly easy to see crabs on the bottom in six feet of water. I was very impressed but at the same time was bumming that I was playing the tourist and not fishing. Good thing was that I was able to procure a few more kitchen passes from the "Dark Haired Lady In Charge" Maybe high tides are pushing the flotsam and jetsam from the cities back upriver to provide brief windows of better water we should all take advantage of when able?

[paxmule]

Paxmule that’s a good fish from the dock. I’ve never fished Clyde Watson. Been there only once but didn’t even cast a line out. For some reason it just didn’t seem like it would be worth it. But it must be seeing you do pretty well there.

I’ve found during the colder months particularly January-April, route 231 bridge is a very good bank spot. I’ve done good with rockfish (thrown back) and big blue catfish using freshly vacuumed sealed frozen alewife. I’ve seen times where I’ve caught so many blue catfish till I didn’t want to see another one.

I believe it’s baitfish that are stacked around the bridge and in the channel up towards waysons. A friend of mine have caught alewife hook and line at LM a couple times. And snagged a couple by accident also.

Slack, I’m curious to why there is a neglect towards cleaning up the patuxent river? It’s a beautiful river and full of history.

The dock there is a good spot if you can get in there before anyone else takes it. Usually a weekday early can get you there first. They don't allow fishing off the dock on weekends but every time, there's someone there anyway. They're usually looking for perch. There's a deep hole and some structure in the middle of the river right there. The trick is so use at least a 10 oz lead to sling it out there and keep it from sweeping around.

[SpaceCadet]

There's a deep hole and some structure in the middle of the river right there

Having floated over that spot many times with my side imaging on, I'm pretty convinced it's a vehicle of some kind down there. It's in exactly the place I'd expect one to settle if it was rolled down the ramp, ie dumped. About 40ft out and just a little ways downstream. I snagged it once and lost my rig, but there's a lot of fish sit right behind it

[paxmule]

There is definitely a car in front of lower marlboro pier, never heard of one at clyde watson but possible. I know there are a few old tobacco wharfs from the 1800s down there in the area but can't be sure of exactly what it is. I definitely pull up lines when drifting over that hole because I've lost rigs there. Never had the issue from the bank though. There is definitely an abandoned trotline in front of clyde watson tied to the bottom of the tall pylons. A commercial guy told me about it.

[SpaceCadet]

Yeah, I'd heard about the one at LM. Someone claimed to me that there was one at King's Landing too but I've never seen any sign of it. I think the one at Clyde Watson is very much car/truck-shaped on side imaging. With all the history of the Pax river, particularly in the 1700s/1800s, I bet there's some really cool stuff sitting on the bottom. I see weird structures down there all the time on my electronics. I wish it was clearer so we could at least drop a camera down.

And this is starting to drift off-topic a bit but next time any of you are at the Milltown Landing site, wander the shore at low tide and you can find shark teeth fossils. I found quite a few when I camped there a couple of years ago.

[paxmule]

Interesting. I'll take a look next time I camp there. I read that the river was much wider and deeper in the area back in the tobacco wharf days. Looking at the landscape, you can see it. Those large marshes were likely once part of the river and the opposite truncated treelines behind them were probably the old banks. I would imagine that silt has been a factor over the last 200 or so years.

[ski357]

Interesting. I'll take a look next time I camp there. I read that the river was much wider and deeper in the area back in the tobacco wharf days. Looking at the landscape, you can see it. Those large marshes were likely once part of the river and the opposite truncated treelines behind them were probably the old banks. I would imagine that silt has been a factor over the last 200 or so years.

EDIT: found the article, link below. Yeah, intensive (tobacco) farming and the resulting silting really changed the character of the rivers around here. The amount of deforestation and reforestation of this area is pretty amazing. The subsequent urbanization certainly hasn't helped with the silting issue. Over two hundred years ago the Royal Navy was able to sail ships of the line to the headwaters of Chaptico Bay off the Wicomico River and land troops at Chaptico. Good luck trying that with anything less than a canoe or kayak today. I recently read an article (which I unfortunately cannot locate currently) about the Chesapeake Beach Railway and the formation of Jug Bay.

Article link Spring 1992 Bugeye Times, pg. 5:

https://www.calvertmarinemuseum.com/...nter/View/1263

[SpaceCadet]

That article was fascinating -- thanks so much for sharing! What's troubling is that it's dated from over 30 years ago, and highlights the problems of sedimentation in the river and the need to act -- and I don't see any signs that action of any kind has taken place. That's very sad. I don't think I have ever properly appreciated what deforestation and farming can do in terms of encouraging runaway sedimentation, which apparently is what happened with the Pax. Reversing or even mitigating that process now would surely be massively expensive, and I can't imagine anyone in the state or federal government (on either party) has nearly enough personal investment in the problem. Again, very sad. I suppose over the course of centuries, if left alone, the river might correct itself and rebuild the riverside forests. But that's a big "if".