Upper Severn Report

[dsiekman]

Well, it was a great morning and a terrible morning all at the same time. I've got a good deal of work starting to backlog so I'm going to be
limited on how much I get to fish in the near future. (Not complaining by any means, just saying...)

I headed out about 7, had just gotten my lines in the water and BOOM! Big fish! My new combo, "Overkill" was bent in half. (Overkill is a mid-weight bass rod I built awhile back. I swapped my Avet 5.3 spooled with 55# test braid and an 18" Fluoro leader for the POS baitcaster that was on it). The fish headed under a pier but I didn't have enough power to pull him out. Thirty seconds later he snapped the 30lb fluorocarbon leader. Snapped. Not bit off, not wore off, not pulled the not; snapped right in the middle. He took a brand new 6" Rapala with him.

I was irritated but excited at the same time. Tied on a new one, started out, and BOOM! Same rod. This
time I got him to the boat and could see he was big. This time he straighten the hook. These are 6" long saltwater plugs with heavy treble
hooks. Straightened. Thinking it was my fault, I loosened the drag...a lot. Headed out and about five minutes later, hit the same rod again!
This time I got him to the boat for the third time but couldn't get him up. I tightened up the drag and I'm guessing ended up pulling the hook
right through his lip. $#@%!!!!!!! Ten minutes later I finally landed a short. Maybe 14". Same rod. It was like pulling in a bluegill so I
know the first three were big fish. Probably upper 20" range. Finally on my last run through I hooked up on my spinning rod and fairly quickly
landed a fat 22.5" fish. My first kayak keeper!



So...what did I do wrong the first three times???

[ictalurus]

That's a heckuva trip. Sorry for the lost big fish. I don't like the hooks that the saltwater Rapalas and Bombers come with. I've had 16" fish bend them. I think the black nickel hooks on the freshwater Rapalas are much better. I've had good luck with Owner Stinger hooks, but I can't remember which model. I'll check when I get home.

[dsiekman]

Thanks for the tip! Glad I'm not the only one bending those hooks. Yeah, it was a heck of a trip. The keeper was caught on an olive colored freshwater Rapala with the black hooks you're talking about. They are significantly smaller but seem to be much tougher. I really don't like treble hooks and was thinking about changing out the back one for a dressed single. Saturday morning I had a fish stick one of those trebles in my finger. He was also kind enough to remove it before I could.

I think its time to get a bigger net, too. I was using a folder I got at BPS. It was great for smaller fish but barely held this guy. I can only imagine if he'd been a bigger fish...I might be in Eastern Bay by now.

So does it sound like my drag was just too tight? I haven't caught much on that reel so I've never really messed with the drag. After the first two fish I did find that it was cranked all the way down. Yeah, I know, dumba$$ attack. I've got no one to blame but myself.

[ictalurus]

Saturday morning I had a fish stick one of those trebles in my finger. He was also kind enough to remove it before I could.

Ouch! I hate trebles, too. You'll have to experiment. I'm not sure how an X-Rap will work with singles. Plus, it's hard to find short shank J hooks with a similar gap. I put singles on a Bomber Long A, and it didn't run right. However, singles increase the action on small floating Rapalas. Go figure. Singles work fine on poppers and Spooks, though. Another option I learned from tidalfish is to bend two of the prongs back around, which maintains the weight but reduces the number of points. That might be impossible with those black nickel ones because they might break before bending. Cutting the tips off might be better. If you do go to singles, I've read that you can wrap them with the lead wire used for tying flies to maintain the right weight, but I've never tried it. I've also thought about swapping trebles for two prong frog hooks. I think Gamakatsu makes a saltwater one that goes up to 1/0.

As for drags, I keep mine pretty loose if I'm not around structure. I haven't measured it, but I can pull it from the reel easily by hand but not so easily that the spools spins wildly. I keep it tight enough not to slip if I set the hook while casting, but loose enough to pull easily. That's vague, I know. I think the recommended setting is for something like 1/2-2/3 of the line's breaking weight. I like to keep it on the loose side in case a fish bolts at the boat. If you're doing a lot of trolling, I think a fiberglass rod is preferable to a fast action graphite rod. I use a 6'6" medium weight Ugly Stick, and it seems to work really well. A slower action graphite rod might work, too, but I don't have any for comparison.

[chex]

Oh man, that's frustrating. But exciting too.

I don't have much wisdom to share but I'd say you should loosen the drag some if it's really tight. FWIW, I keep mine pretty loose, but I always have my thumb on the spool to control it. If a fish is continuously taking out drag (doesn't happen that often to me lol), I'll then tighten the drag a little to give my thumb a break.

Congrats on the first kayak keeper. 22.5" is a nice fish!

[kevinfry]

those black hooks are great, but hard. I have had several break off in the fish as it flipped about the deck.......and that is what I wanted to mention. I haven't caught a fish on my Brooktrout patterned xrap since breaking off a tine on the rear treble.....altered the action. I don't think the front hook seems to be as sensitive, but rear hooks seem to affect action quite a bit on narrow action crankbaits.

[BassMoore]

ive gotten 2 keepers in 2 days on top water from the severn and a few more keepers today on poppers around gibson island.. the top water bite is ON!

[dsiekman]

those black hooks are great, but hard. I have had several break off in the fish as it flipped about the deck.......and that is what I wanted to mention. I haven't caught a fish on my Brooktrout patterned xrap since breaking off a tine on the rear treble.....altered the action. I don't think the front hook seems to be as sensitive, but rear hooks seem to affect action quite a bit on narrow action crankbaits.

Hmm...sounds like I'll just have to take my chances with the treble.

You know, I never used to have much luck with crank baits, but those Xraps are money! I tried a BPS knock off and it didn't catch crap...or carp for that matter.

[dsiekman]

ive gotten 2 keepers in 2 days on top water from the severn and a few more keepers today on poppers around gibson island.. the top water bite is ON!

Nice! I talked with a guy in a boat on Saturday and he said he'd gotten a 22 on topwater Friday night off Holland Point (not sure where that is). I threw a Smack-it in black a few times but no takers. I didn't give it a whole lot of time since the Xrap was working so well. I may try to get out a little earlier next time because the bite was really only on from about 7-8:30. After that I didn't get so much as as bump.

[BassMoore]

ive gotten all 4 keepers here in the last 3 days on a black top, chartrues bottom Chug Bug.

Chug bug comes in different sizes but the bigger but better.

Top water is my favorite type of fishing, I do tend to catch more fish with swimming lures, the xraps and swim shads and crank baits

But i do notice i catch more quality fish on the top water

[dsiekman]

Oh man, that's frustrating. But exciting too.

I don't have much wisdom to share but I'd say you should loosen the drag some if it's really tight. FWIW, I keep mine pretty loose, but I always have my thumb on the spool to control it. If a fish is continuously taking out drag (doesn't happen that often to me lol), I'll then tighten the drag a little to give my thumb a break.

Congrats on the first kayak keeper. 22.5" is a nice fish!

Thanks for the advice! I have to keep in mind that if I'm fishing braid that heavy I might as well be fishing steel cable. There is 0 give. Combine that with a really strong drag and you're going to yank it through his lip unless he's a monster. Also, the smaller diameter hooks equate to higher psi (smaller surface area with equal pressure = higher force per unit of area) which equates to tear-out. Same goes for putting fasteners in wood, metal, etc. If you look at most bucktails for big stripers, they're pretty beefy. While that means they don't bend as easily, it also means less chance of tear-out.

[dsiekman]

ive gotten all 4 keepers here in the last 3 days on a black top, chartrues bottom Chug Bug.

Chug bug comes in different sizes but the bigger but better.

Top water is my favorite type of fishing, I do tend to catch more fish with swimming lures, the xraps and swim shads and crank baits

But i do notice i catch more quality fish on the top water

Thanks for the tip. I think I have one of those floating around. I agree, top water doesn't seem to produce as many fish, but there is nothing like watching a fish take your lure.

[Aesiegel]

Nice going Doug. Did you launch at Jonas or from your "home waters"?
Sounds like you just need to play with the drag a little to find just the right tension.

Ed

[dsiekman]

Thanks, Ed. I was fishing the home waters. You should come up and fish with me one of these days. Shoot me a PM sometime and we'll get it figured out.