Solomons, 9/28 & 9/29

[ictalurus]

I was kicking myself for not bringing my kayak with me on Tuesday because the river laid down after all the rain around 6:30pm, or so. I had my rods with me, so I fished from the rocks behind CBL from a little after 6:30 to about 7:15pm. In that time, I caught an ~11" perch, 3 stripers in the 16-18" range, another striper that was close to 24", and a 12" bluefish. The smallest striper and the perch were caught on a 3/8oz Cicada, and everything else was caught on my popper/bucktail jig combo. I had a couple blow ups on a Chugbug, but either the fish or I couldn't connect. I didn't take any pics because I didn't have my camera with me.

I brought my yak with me on Wednesday in case I had a short weather window. I brought my fly rod, too, in hopes of catching something bigger than 18" on it, which is my biggest to date. I was planning on launching at Piney Point and hitting my topwater spot there, but I ended up launching at Solomons instead because of time and weather constraints. I threw various weighted clousers and poppers between Solomons Harbor and Sandy Point, but only one small bluefish took pity on me. I couldn't cast worth a crap without the fly hitting the water behind me or in front of me. There was lots of bait and jumping fish (probably small blues) at Sandy Point. I missed a couple blow ups, which I think were smaller blues, but I think my presentation was too crappy to fool anything bigger. It was pretty frustrating because I know fish were there. What's even more frustrating is I used to be able to cast my 5wt as far as I wanted to from my yak, but I can't get the hang of my 9wt. I guess I'll have to sit and practice casting in my yard.

Surface water temperature was around 73*, and salinity was 16.

[DOGFISH]

As I was reading your post, you came to the likely conclusion. There is a big difference in casting from the sitting position with a 5wt than with a 9wt. There is much more to loading the line up. I did fair amount of fly fishing in the past and those heavier lines can be a challenge. It is much easier while standing. We used to chum and cast a chum fly. I got that idea from watching Lefty Creigh. I use to use an 8/9wt. There was no need for long casts. After the cast, just strip some line out and wait for a hit. We did this after we had a good number of fish in the chum line, mostly bluefish.

However, I wonder if anyone trolls with a fly rod from a kayak. It seems that it would be a good way to cover an area and locate fish. Rather than blind casting, other than where fish are breaking. It seems that the motion of the kayak and paddling would make for a good presentation for fly trolling. Scotty makes fly rod holders. For deeper trolling a heavy weight, a line and release clip could act as a down rigger. A deceiver would probably be as good as a bucktail. That could really be fun.


Good Luck.

[HokieDJ]

Is that salinity as in 1.016?

What's the bay's range like?

[ictalurus]

Dogfish--I have a difficult time casting that rod and line on land. When I first got the rod, I practiced a lot and got a decent 50-60 cast, even with a fly. I haven't been using it very often, so I'm really out of practice. The fast action 9wt is much less forgiving of sloppy form than my medium speed 5wt. I can't use muscle to make the 9wt work properly.

I trolled the fly to and from my fishing spots, but I had a floating line on, so the fly was probably right on the surface. I was wishing I brought my intermediate or super-fast sinking lines. I also cast those better. I might have to overline the rod with floating line.

Hokie--1.016 sounds like density to me. Salinity used to be measured in parts per thousand, but the physical oceanographers say that "practical salinity units" are better, which doesn't have units, ironically. I think PSU is the ratio of grams of salt to grams of seawater Anyway, 16ppt = PSU of 16. Go figure.

The Bay ranges from 0 (freshwater) to 32 at the mouth (nearly full strength seawater). The areas I fish (Solomons, Piney Point, Point Lookout) are usually about 9 to 13 and closer to 13 during this time of the year. I borrow a handheld salinity meter from work. I like to keep track, mostly so I can figure good redfish places/times, or to determine if a place is too salty for pickerel and yellow perch. In 2008, once the salinity hit 13 in September/October by Point Lookout, I was catching 15-17" redfish at PLO and Solomons. The salinity has been higher this year because it's been so dry, so I've been hoping for a good redfish run. Haven't found any yet, though. October was the best month, so I'm hopeful. I'd like to get a keeper in Maryland.