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Tough bite in Weems - Nov 28

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  • Tough bite in Weems - Nov 28

    I think Martin and a few others may have caught all the pickerel in Weems Creek recently and told them not to bite my lures.

    I have done pretty well in Weems over the past month, but today was not a good bite at all. I launched at Tucker St at 12:45 to a brisk breeze. The air temp and the water temp were both in the mid to upper 40s. The combination of the breeze, low water level, and too many floating leaves at several of my preferred spots made it tough to fish. I tried spot after spot without even a nibble. After about 2 hours I had a bite. The fish pulled back for 2-3 seconds, then let go of the lure. I continued working all my usual spots in Weems without success. Finally at the 2.5-hour mark, when I was most of the way back to the ramp, I cast to a shallow area between two docks and hooked a 17" pickerel. That was it for the day.

    I did enjoy my first outing after installing a Lowrance LMS 527 color FF/GPS unit that I moved from my power boat to the new kayak. I had it installed two weeks ago, but discovered that my battery had given up the ghost and would no longer hold a charge. I bought a new battery last week -- this was the first chance I had to fish since then.

    I mounted the unit between the footrests on a Scotty mount. It is mounted closer to my seat than the unit I had on my old kayak. It is very easy to reach forward and push the buttons. To avoid drilling any other new holes, I ran the two cables out from under the hatch cover to the screen unit through a corrugated plastic sheath.




    I ran the battery leads out from under the hatch cover and attached alligator clips onto each lead. The 5 amp-hr battery sits inside a Tupperware box placed in front of the port side foot rest -- the battery leads tuck under the lid.



    I mounted the transducer to the floor under the hatch cover using duct seal as many other MKF members have done. I got a good signal using that arrangement.

    Although I was not fishing in deep water today, I did enjoy the bright image and detailed color sonar. I checked the GPS mapping capabilities -- they worked fine too.
    Attached Files
    John Veil
    Annapolis
    Native Watercraft Manta Ray 11, Falcon 11

    Author - "Fishing in the Comfort Zone" , "Fishing Road Trip - 2019", "My Fishing Life: Two Years to Remember", and "The Way I Like to Fish -- A Kayak Angler's Guide to Shallow Water, Light Tackle Fishing"

  • #2
    A couple to many years ago I use to fish the side creeks on the Magothy during the cool/cold months for pickerel. Even during the good pickerel years, mid-day low tides were the kiss of dead. Friday is looking like a good weather day... but dang-it, low tide is early afternoon... bummer!!! Dunno, maybe I'll go anyway. I think it's been 2 years since I last fished pickerel on the Magothy. Gotta go see what's happening there, if anything.
    Howard

    16' Oldtown Camper Canoe with a side-mount 40# thrust trolling motor.

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    • #3
      John, I was thinking of putting in over at Smith Marine (biting the bullet and paying the 20 bucks parking fee) at some point this winter and fishing in those little creeks and coves behind St. Helena's Island. There's got to be good pickeral pickings there, and maybe even some keeper yellow perch.

      I remember getting up at the crack of dawn probably in the summer and fishing over there with my brother and Dad when I was about 8 years old. Let me know if you're interested in meeting me over there. In spite of your lousy luck today, you are still the King of Pickeral in my book! Steve

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      • #4
        Congrats John on not getting skunked and I am glad that you finally got the fishfinder going on the new yak. As for your children, I would never tell them not to pay attention to their daddy. They must have just been just been being spoiled brats for the day. Uncle Martin may have to spank them with my line so they can pay attention to their daddy.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by moc View Post
          Congrats John on not getting skunked and I am glad that you finally got the fishfinder going on the new yak. As for your children, I would never tell them not to pay attention to their daddy. They must have just been just been being spoiled brats for the day. Uncle Martin may have to spank them with my line so they can pay attention to their daddy.
          Was so confused for a quick second there. Lol.
          Sun Fishin'

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          • #6
            Originally posted by moc View Post
            Congrats John on not getting skunked and I am glad that you finally got the fishfinder going on the new yak. As for your children, I would never tell them not to pay attention to their daddy. They must have just been just been being spoiled brats for the day. Uncle Martin may have to spank them with my line so they can pay attention to their daddy.
            And I've seen uncle Martin give a mean spanking to those children!
            -Mustafa
            ابو مسقوف AbuMasgouf (Aboo-Mas-goof ): Fish Roast Papa
            2016 Hobie Outback
            2012 Hobie Revolution 13
            "Be humble to whomever you learn from and whomever you teach."-- Imam al-Sadiq (as)

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            • #7
              I love your Manta Ray, the orange color rocks, and your sonar unit. One day hopefully I can afford a used sonar unit with gps mapping.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by moc View Post
                Congrats John on not getting skunked and I am glad that you finally got the fishfinder going on the new yak. As for your children, I would never tell them not to pay attention to their daddy. They must have just been just been being spoiled brats for the day. Uncle Martin may have to spank them with my line so they can pay attention to their daddy.
                For those of you who don't get the insider story here, let me elucidate. Many of you have read my posts about encouraging pickerel conservation through gentle handling and minimizing holding time out of the water. A few weeks ago, I wrote a pmail to Martin and Mustafa following one of their pickerel-catching days and mentioned how protective I was about "my babies". I suspect I was carried away in my choice of terminology. I do have a soft spot in my heart for pickerel. They provide a fun fishing opportunity throughout the winter in my local waters, plus they just look really cool. Several times each year as I grasp the pickerel behind their heads to hold them still enough to remove the hooks, the fish make a grunting/squealing sound unlike any other fish I have ever caught. It makes them seem a bit more "sensitive" to my handling technique.

                So Uncle Martin is not really a child-spanking rogue -- he is just playing along with my pickerel analogy.
                John Veil
                Annapolis
                Native Watercraft Manta Ray 11, Falcon 11

                Author - "Fishing in the Comfort Zone" , "Fishing Road Trip - 2019", "My Fishing Life: Two Years to Remember", and "The Way I Like to Fish -- A Kayak Angler's Guide to Shallow Water, Light Tackle Fishing"

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Fishinfool View Post
                  John, I was thinking of putting in over at Smith Marine (biting the bullet and paying the 20 bucks parking fee) at some point this winter and fishing in those little creeks and coves behind St. Helena's Island. There's got to be good pickeral pickings there, and maybe even some keeper yellow perch.

                  I remember getting up at the crack of dawn probably in the summer and fishing over there with my brother and Dad when I was about 8 years old. Let me know if you're interested in meeting me over there. In spite of your lousy luck today, you are still the King of Pickeral in my book! Steve
                  Steve -

                  The area around Smiths and the nearby creeks and coves definitely hold pickerel and some yellow perch. It is a shame that Smith's launch fee is so expensive for kayakers. On two occasions I tried to talk with the managers at Smiths to see if I could arrange a reduced-rate launch fee for kayakers over the winter. In both cases, they chose not to return my calls.

                  I don't know if any MKF members live in the neighborhoods near there that have community ramps or beaches. If so, they could host a Meet and Greet some Saturday during the winter.

                  I found one nearby location with a single non-prohibited parking space where I can park and wade out a sand bar to cast into a cove. I only visit once or twice each winter, and no local residents seem upset about it so far. I discovered this through detailed surveillance with a local road map and driving around watching the no parking signs. I have caught pickerel and yellow perch there some days, and have been skunked other days. Maybe we could meet and try fishing there if you are interested. Or we could put both kayaks into a single vehicle and launch from Smiths (their fee is based on the number of vehicles parking in their lot, not on the number of boats actually launched).
                  John Veil
                  Annapolis
                  Native Watercraft Manta Ray 11, Falcon 11

                  Author - "Fishing in the Comfort Zone" , "Fishing Road Trip - 2019", "My Fishing Life: Two Years to Remember", and "The Way I Like to Fish -- A Kayak Angler's Guide to Shallow Water, Light Tackle Fishing"

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                  • #10
                    Sounds great John. I usually work on Saturdays though, so if there's a nice day on a holiday like a Martin Luther King Day, or you haven an unexpected off day during the week, give me a few days notice and I can work it in.

                    Another other option is meeting at my sister's and working the area we talked about earlier. That would be free. Or, we could try to do both. I am intrigued with the area near Smith Marine though, been years and years since I've been back there, and it's pretty undeveloped from what I remember. Good photo taking at the very least. Steve

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                    • #11
                      The Severn pickerel were biting today. I managed 14 of them in 2 hours. I'm glad to get my MOJO back.
                      John Veil
                      Annapolis
                      Native Watercraft Manta Ray 11, Falcon 11

                      Author - "Fishing in the Comfort Zone" , "Fishing Road Trip - 2019", "My Fishing Life: Two Years to Remember", and "The Way I Like to Fish -- A Kayak Angler's Guide to Shallow Water, Light Tackle Fishing"

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by J.A. Veil View Post
                        The Severn pickerel were biting today. I managed 14 of them in 2 hours. I'm glad to get my MOJO back.
                        That is only because I had a long hard talk with your children about how they ignored their daddy the last time that your were out... LOL. I guess they paid attention to uncle Martin this time

                        Good job on the 14 pickerels.....WOW.

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                        • #13
                          John, The pickeral got together and said "let's give our Daddy John a tough day. If he really loves us he'll be back." Sure enough, you went back and were rewarded.

                          That's what's great about fishing. Even the best of the best get skunked or nearly skunked sometimes, seemingly for no reason. If the bite were on every day we went out, we'd lose interest. Where's the challenge? Steve

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                          • #14
                            Excellent work John! What did you catch them on this time? Were you using the same lures as the other, tough day?

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