Severn River 10/11/12

[dsiekman]

Went out this morning to test my cold weather gear. I had not fished in waders and dry top, so that was a little bit of an experience. I had not really intended to fish and had all but missed the tide, but figured I might as well since I was out. My lines weren't in the water five minutes before I had a double header. 24" rock on the main line and 9" WP on the second. This is where things went bad. I got blown/pulled into a pier while fighting the rock. In the mean time, the perch wrapped himself around a piling. The rock had three spots on him that I found to be a little troubling. They were not red or pink, but more "fish" colored. Sort of like a fish scab? Two on his side and one up near his dorsal fin. All on the same side. Anyway, it sort of freaked me out so I let him go. I am happy to say, though, he was FAT! After getting him taken care of I had to paddle back against the wind and sort out my other rod that still had a perch attached. I had one more small rock on my way back in.

It wasn't until after I let the rock go that I realized I should have taken a picture instead of just describing the marks, but with everything going on I didn't want to waste the time getting into my dry bag to get my phone.

[ictalurus]

Congrats on catching fish during your test run and landing both fish under adverse conditions. I would suspect that you are right that the sores on the striper were probably healing over. Supposedly, infected fish are safe to eat when cooked properly, but I'd just as soon let it go and hope that it continues healing up. I tried to find photos online of striper that were recovering from mycobacteriosis, but I've been striking out thus far.

How did paddling in your cold weather gear work out? Did you test out the seal between the waders and dry top?

[dsiekman]

Thanks! I had heard that as well, but it still makes me a little nervous. I was really curious to see what was in his stomach. Like I said, other than the spots he looked very healthy and had no interest in cooperating.

The gear worked out okay. These are stocking foot waders, so I had to improvise getting from my truck to the boat so as not to damage them. I don't really want to wear my old wading boots (felt bottom), but I also don't want to ruin my waders. Suggestions? I did not test the seal and I'm hoping not to have to! I did manage to stick the hook right through the finger of my new nrs glove, though. I think I may look for some with the finger tips cut out.

[J.A. Veil]

Nice job on the doubleheader. It is definitely challenging to deal with 2 or more fish on at the same time in a kayak, especially when the wind is blowing you around. (I recently had three ultralight rods go down at once out of my 9'3" Malibu Mini-X. I got all three fish in, but had some tangled lines). The Hobie guys have some ability to keep headway, but paddle-driven kayaks just drift. I sometimes set the hook, take a couple of short paddle strokes to turn the bow, then resume winding the fish in. It takes some practice, but gets smoother with time.

You seem to be catching fish consistently in the Severn -- that is great news.

[Shady]

Glad you were able make a decent trip out of your cold gear testing. It was quite a chilly and windy morning on the severn today...

I wear these shoes over my stocking foot waders:

http://www.basspro.com/RedHead-Men&3...roduct/103340/

They're cheap and very light weight so they work pretty well in the kayak. Looks like they dont have very many sizes left, but get a size bigger than what you normally wear if you can.

[Shady]

Looks like there are a lot more sizes available in this version:

http://www.basspro.com/World-Wide-Sp...roduct/101614/

[dsiekman]

Thanks, John. I was actually a little concerned about losing this one on a few occaisions. At one point I was at eye level with the props of a Bravo III and had to take pressure off the fish for a minute to avoid ending up under someone's boat lift. Not my finest moment, but it probably would have been fun to watch.

Yes, most have been smaller but I've had three keepers in my last four outings. All have been in the last two weeks. It is great to see the fish here. I do not consider myself a great fisherman by any stretch, so my luck would suggest that there are a LOT of fish here.

[dsiekman]

Looks like there are a lot more sizes available in this version:

http://www.basspro.com/World-Wide-Sp...roduct/101614/

Wow! $20 and they don't even look bad! Looks like a trip to bps is in my future.

[Shady]

They may only be available online, but you could do ship to store and get free shipping. The only problem that I've had with them is the tread starts to try to come off after a little while, but I've just super glued them back and they've held.

[Redfish12]

Nice work! A 24" rock in the Severn is definitely a nice catch.

Did the fish look like this one? I caught it in the Potomac last Saturday and the guy I was fishing with said he'd take it. We caught a 3 man limit on shallow rocks and other structure. Boat fish do not count so I hadn't posted a report

[dsiekman]

Nice work! A 24" rock in the Severn is definitely a nice catch.

Did the fish look like this one? I caught it in the Potomac last Saturday and the guy I was fishing with said he'd take it. We caught a 3 man limit on shallow rocks and other structure. Boat fish do not count so I hadn't posted a report

Which one? If you are talking about the third from the left, then sort of. That looks much worse than the one I caught. They all look a little bloody. I did notice that there was more blood than I expected for a clean hooked fish. Thought that was a little weird but assumed he must have torn up the inside of his mouth during the fight. Maybe it is part of the disease?

[Redfish12]

I guess I was talking about the middle two... the one on the second from the left does look pretty red though. It looked good going in and then turned red, pretty common with rock though. I think the one on the left was about 26 or 27 inches if that helps give scale

[dsiekman]

If my wife wasn't pregnant I probably would have kept the fish and just risked it. According to DNR if it is Myco then cooking it kills the bacteria. I just didn't want to take a chance of it being something else.

My other two keepers this year have been more like 22". Still a nice fish and just about the perfect size fillet. Now I'm kind of wishing I would have kept it. Oh well, there's always next time.

[Polar Rock]

Interesting. Sounds like a 24" I caught north of Round bay - Harold Harbour area on Monday of this week. I caught it on boat so I didn't post it here. is this the same fish?

[dsiekman]

Hey Polar! How are you doing with Rocktoberfest? The spot placement looks about right but he wasn't bleeding from them when I got him, just from his lip. He also had a mark up near his dorsal that looked a little more healed and blended in with his coloring.

PM me if you want to go out in the kayaks sometime.