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Mallows Bay photos and Nanjemoy recon, 8/13
My buddy, Tom, and I went to Mallows Bay to check out the ghost fleet. We launched at 10am, which was a bit before low tide. We took a couple rods, but we didn't have much time for fishing and spent most of it exploring. We paddled around and took pics of the various hulls and checked out a cliff for fossils. We didn't find any sharks teeth or any obvious fossils, but I found a couple rocks that were interesting and might be something. I'll post pics of those later.
Mallows Bay is definitely not Hobie-friendly. I was smart enough to bring my old drive with the shorter fins, but I wasn't smart enough to just leave the drive at home. I only hit one thing all day, but I tore both fins.
Tom even managed to high-center the Tarpon at one point, which was pretty funny. I had to grab the stern of the Tarpon and pull it off the timber he was caught on. I think the area might be more treacherous at high tide because more of the old timbers and bolts would be beneath the surface. I'll let the pics tell the story.
Barge hull:
Stern of the barge:
Liverpool Point:
Various shots of the debris:
Blurry shot of the debris field:
A relatively intact hull:
The bow or stern of a hull closer to shore:
An old fishing boat?
I definitely want to go back and fish it properly. We scared a number of big fish, which I suspect were bass or snakeheads. Tom saw a nice catfish, too. We quit around 12:30 and grabbed lunch at Family Diner and Kabob House in Bryans Road. I highly recommend the lamb kebab and shami combo platter with the spicy chick peas. Be sure to go when you're hungry.
After lunch, I headed back to the Nanjemoy to check out a creek Chris (Meadeo) recommended for snakeheads. I hit the water at about 2:45, which was about an hour before high tide. I started poking around for bass and snakeheads with my trusty chatterbait, and landed this guy on the third cast:
It cracks me up how ambitious white perch are.
I continued on toward the creek without much luck. Since perch were around, I switched to my 2" firetiger Rapala, but nothing hit it. The water was saltier than I expected. I'd guess it was between 3 and 5 based on a taste test. I went as far up the creek as I could and beat it to a froth with a variety of lures, but I didn't have any hits. At least the creek was pretty:
I gave up on bass and snakeheads and started working likely areas in search of perch. I caught a few more that were similar in size to the first one. I also caught a small bullhead and a small redfish, which was a real surprise:
The perch, bullhead, and redfish all hit a white twin tail grub on a spinner arm. I saw a number of blue crabs in the area as well. I'm really surprised that I couldn't find any bigger perch. The Nanjemoy must be the only trib in the Maryland part of the Bay that isn't filled with 11" perch this year. Oh well. The only other interesting thing I saw was a cardinal flower growing in a stump over the water:
It was pretty much a perfect day for paddling. I really enjoyed checking out Mallows Bay, and I want to go back and fish it thoroughly. Unfortunately, the park at Mallows Bay closes at dusk. What is it with Maryland parks discriminating against us nocturnal types? Anyway, I might have to wait to hit the Nanjemoy again until after the salinity goes back down to normal.
Mallows Bay is definitely not Hobie-friendly. I was smart enough to bring my old drive with the shorter fins, but I wasn't smart enough to just leave the drive at home. I only hit one thing all day, but I tore both fins.
Tom even managed to high-center the Tarpon at one point, which was pretty funny. I had to grab the stern of the Tarpon and pull it off the timber he was caught on. I think the area might be more treacherous at high tide because more of the old timbers and bolts would be beneath the surface. I'll let the pics tell the story.Barge hull:
Stern of the barge:
Liverpool Point:
Various shots of the debris:
Blurry shot of the debris field:
A relatively intact hull:
The bow or stern of a hull closer to shore:
An old fishing boat?
I definitely want to go back and fish it properly. We scared a number of big fish, which I suspect were bass or snakeheads. Tom saw a nice catfish, too. We quit around 12:30 and grabbed lunch at Family Diner and Kabob House in Bryans Road. I highly recommend the lamb kebab and shami combo platter with the spicy chick peas. Be sure to go when you're hungry.
After lunch, I headed back to the Nanjemoy to check out a creek Chris (Meadeo) recommended for snakeheads. I hit the water at about 2:45, which was about an hour before high tide. I started poking around for bass and snakeheads with my trusty chatterbait, and landed this guy on the third cast:
It cracks me up how ambitious white perch are.
I continued on toward the creek without much luck. Since perch were around, I switched to my 2" firetiger Rapala, but nothing hit it. The water was saltier than I expected. I'd guess it was between 3 and 5 based on a taste test. I went as far up the creek as I could and beat it to a froth with a variety of lures, but I didn't have any hits. At least the creek was pretty: I gave up on bass and snakeheads and started working likely areas in search of perch. I caught a few more that were similar in size to the first one. I also caught a small bullhead and a small redfish, which was a real surprise:
The perch, bullhead, and redfish all hit a white twin tail grub on a spinner arm. I saw a number of blue crabs in the area as well. I'm really surprised that I couldn't find any bigger perch. The Nanjemoy must be the only trib in the Maryland part of the Bay that isn't filled with 11" perch this year. Oh well. The only other interesting thing I saw was a cardinal flower growing in a stump over the water:
It was pretty much a perfect day for paddling. I really enjoyed checking out Mallows Bay, and I want to go back and fish it thoroughly. Unfortunately, the park at Mallows Bay closes at dusk.
What is it with Maryland parks discriminating against us nocturnal types? Anyway, I might have to wait to hit the Nanjemoy again until after the salinity goes back down to normal.
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