Report from Taylor Island 7/28 and Severn River 7/29

I went out with Don (Shield) and Keith (Wingman) to Taylor Island in search of trout. Unfortunately, despite the nice day, we did not locate any trout. We launched out of Taylor Island Campground on the Bay side. We fished north all the way up to James Island. We fish in 4 feet to 20 feet of water. Keith landed the first fish which was a 6 inch croaker. It was pretty cool approaching James Island and the two other smaller islands next to it. I hooked up with a cow nose ray at James Island and had a little Chesapeake Bay Sleigh ride. I also caught six 6 inch croakers and one big crab. Yes I ate the crab later. By 10am we started to head back.



On Sunday I joined SurDog and fished the mouth of the Severn River. I caught my biggest puppy drum of the year so far. It was a pretty 15 inch fish. I caught 3 more puppy drum during the morning, but they were all smaller. I also caught a 10 inch rock and 40 perch. John also landed a puppy drum and caught as many perch. The perch was of a smaller class as compared to what we were catchinga few weeks ago. I did notice that later in the morning we started to catch larger perch. All fish were caught on a 1/4 ounch jighead with a Gulp curly tail grup or a bettlespin with a green jighead tipped with a small green curly tail.

[DavidGQ]

Very nice. I didn't fare as well. Launched from Jonas this morning and only got one Perch. No other bites at all. This is my second time fishing here and not sure what I am doing wrong. I fished underneath the bridge from the launch and then worked my way to the Creek.

Where is the best place to fish for Perch on the river? Maybe I need to follow you guys next time because I am still new with this

[DOGFISH]

Good fishing. Those rat reds must be everywhere.

[ictalurus]

Sorry to hear things were slow at Taylor Island. It looks beautiful there, though. Congrats on the bigger puppy drum, too. I'm dying to see if the slot-sized fish will show up in September/October this year.

[kayak456]

nice i got a keeeper drum the other day at 19 inches but he was realsed caught him on a smakit topwater

[Shady]

Moc,
Nice pics and report. Were you guys fishing the shorelines at the mouth of the severn? I've never made it out that far. I think two years ago I made it out to the green can and caught a toadfish and some pretty good sized white perch.

David,
I've never had a lot of luck under the bridge. Generally, you should focus on piers, rocky shoreline and even woody shoreline. The best piers are the ones that have steep dropoffs under them. On saturday I didnt find many in my normal hotspots, but there were quite a few around the shoreline in front of manresa (turn right from jonas green and keep going toward the big house on the hill.) See the picture I posted in the heroes on the water thread. I might take a quick paddle in weems creek on thursday with my new kayak. PM me if you are interested in going...

[moc]

Hey Shady, we fished the shorelines near the mouth of the Severn in 2 to 5 feet of water.

[J.A. Veil]

I made a quick 2-hour kayak fishing trip last evening (5:00 to 7:00). I am on a mission to catch one of the redfish that have moved into the Severn. They are not abundant, but more than a few anglers have reported catching them. Most of my Severn trips over the last month have targeted shorelines using spinners. Today, I decided to drift over the bar just upstream of the red/green marker at the mouth of Weems and bottom fish with Fishbites. The DNR oyster survey chart shows a bar there called Wade. I drifted in depths from 10 ft out to 19 ft. The fishfinder showed lots of marks on the bottom and in the lower half of the water column.

I caught about 10 perch including two different double headers that each represented 18" of perch on one rod. I caught lots of small croaker on the bottom. While drifting, I cast a spinner tipped with a Gulp swimming mullet. I had several tails bitten off then eventually landed a 10" bluefish. On my final drift, I caught a baby rockfish.

On the way back to the ramp, I trolled three rods with spinners. I caught another striper and another perch. Sadly, I caught no redfish.

That oyster bar must have already been there in 2009 when the survey was done. I was fishing nearby early this summer when a large vessel rode back and forth in the area adding more oyster shell and spat to the Wade reef.

[surfdog]

i had a few tails bitten off out there but couldn't get the culprit. kinda given up on the bottom rig, too many bitty croaker blanketing the bottom to be effective

[kayak456]

ok ive caught over 100 drum this month use a carolina rig with a 3/8th ounce weight and a small piece of cut spot. throw it on a oyster bed like the ones in selby bay and youll catch as many as you want . i caught a 19 incher the other day on a topwater plug