Ron (ronaultmtd), Kevin (kevinfry), and I decided to do a quick trip to the lower Patuxent. I've heard of a few keeper specks being caught in the Pax creeks, so I thought it might be worth checking out a spot where I had caught small specks in the past. Ron and I launched a bit after 5pm, which was just after high tide and approaching max ebb. The wind was blowing pretty hard, so we decided to look for some shelter. At the first spot, I caught this guy:
I haven't caught one with that many spots before. The water was so clear that I thought I had a speck when I saw all the spots. It hit a 4" Gulp grub on a 3/8oz red jighead. White and chartreuse grubs worked equally well. If you think there are reds in the area, but you're not connecting or having hits, try jigging the lure under the boat before you reel all the way in. Sometimes small, quick bottom bounces work, sometimes it takes more exaggerated jigging, but it's usually pretty effective. On the second cast, I thought I actually caught the same fish again because the spot pattern was incredibly similar. Upon closer inspection, it was a different fish:
I caught one or two more in the same size range in fairly short order. Ron was working the area, too, trying to come up with a bigger fish:
Kevin showed up a little while later and brought some thunderheads with him:
I also caught a croaker in the same area using the same technique. This one fought really hard, and I thought it was a much larger fish. Note the thunderheads behind me:
Kevin fishing:
I switched over to a 2", white, twin tail grub on a spinner arm to see if there were any perch around. I caught several small ones before getting one close to 10":
We started hearing some rumbling by this point. Again, note the thunderheads:
The wind picked up, and it started looking more ominous. We dashed back to the launch, and it started looking better, but Ron heard on the weather radio that a big line of storms were coming through. We loaded up and headed out, but nothing ever came of the storms, at least for my part of the county. Oh well, it was still a fun trip despite its brevity.
I haven't caught one with that many spots before. The water was so clear that I thought I had a speck when I saw all the spots. It hit a 4" Gulp grub on a 3/8oz red jighead. White and chartreuse grubs worked equally well. If you think there are reds in the area, but you're not connecting or having hits, try jigging the lure under the boat before you reel all the way in. Sometimes small, quick bottom bounces work, sometimes it takes more exaggerated jigging, but it's usually pretty effective. On the second cast, I thought I actually caught the same fish again because the spot pattern was incredibly similar. Upon closer inspection, it was a different fish:
I caught one or two more in the same size range in fairly short order. Ron was working the area, too, trying to come up with a bigger fish:
Kevin showed up a little while later and brought some thunderheads with him:
I also caught a croaker in the same area using the same technique. This one fought really hard, and I thought it was a much larger fish. Note the thunderheads behind me:
Kevin fishing:
I switched over to a 2", white, twin tail grub on a spinner arm to see if there were any perch around. I caught several small ones before getting one close to 10":
We started hearing some rumbling by this point. Again, note the thunderheads:
The wind picked up, and it started looking more ominous. We dashed back to the launch, and it started looking better, but Ron heard on the weather radio that a big line of storms were coming through. We loaded up and headed out, but nothing ever came of the storms, at least for my part of the county. Oh well, it was still a fun trip despite its brevity.
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