Tweet
I launched from Weems Creek about 1:00 on Sunday. The water was higher than it had been on my previous 3 trips. Plus the wind was very calm. I decided to explore several upstream tributaries to see how hungry their pickerel populations were.
Now that my electronics include a GPS, I can get a very accurate measure of speed over ground. I was pleased to see that my Manta Ray 14 hull would cruise at about 3.8 mph (averaged over both directions with and without wind at my back). This was not a racing speed, and it is nothing too exciting for the Hobie guys, but for a paddle kayak paddled by an old guy, that is not too bad. I also watched to see how many paddle strokes I needed to take to get an extra 0.01 mile on the odometer. It took 6-7 strokes (0.01 miles = 52 ft; so this represented 7-8 ft/stroke). Enough about speed and distance.
The first tributary I fished is a small cove that should hold lots of fish, but recently has been so-so. Today it performed exactly that way. I picked up 2 pickerel, but had no bites in lots of other shoreline areas with good cover and habitat.
I then paddled to the mouth of a larger tributary where I have not tried for pickerel before and worked some sheltered areas. I had one bite, could see the color of the fish, then it spit the hook. At least I verified that pickerel resided there. I suspect that there are plenty of other good habitats further upstream in that tributary.
I moved over to another tributary that I fished several times in late summer and fall. Today one of the best shoreline stretches was full of floating leaves - I could not keep my bait clean from the leaves, and had to move to less desirable stretches of shoreline. I did manage 2 more pickerel here.
I headed back into Weems. Although I fish all of Weems in the summer and fall, I have found very few pickerel in the outer portions of Weems, and don't work those areas much in the winter. I tried a few casts in areas that have produced good perch catches in the summer, but had no interested pickerel today.
Overall, I had a very pleasant afternoon in seasonably mild weather, I covered more than 5 miles paddling to get some good exercise, I caught pickerel in two tributaries and hooked one in a third tributary. That makes six mid-Severn tributaries in which I have hooked pickerel just in the past month. They are out there waiting for your baits!
Now that my electronics include a GPS, I can get a very accurate measure of speed over ground. I was pleased to see that my Manta Ray 14 hull would cruise at about 3.8 mph (averaged over both directions with and without wind at my back). This was not a racing speed, and it is nothing too exciting for the Hobie guys, but for a paddle kayak paddled by an old guy, that is not too bad. I also watched to see how many paddle strokes I needed to take to get an extra 0.01 mile on the odometer. It took 6-7 strokes (0.01 miles = 52 ft; so this represented 7-8 ft/stroke). Enough about speed and distance.
The first tributary I fished is a small cove that should hold lots of fish, but recently has been so-so. Today it performed exactly that way. I picked up 2 pickerel, but had no bites in lots of other shoreline areas with good cover and habitat.
I then paddled to the mouth of a larger tributary where I have not tried for pickerel before and worked some sheltered areas. I had one bite, could see the color of the fish, then it spit the hook. At least I verified that pickerel resided there. I suspect that there are plenty of other good habitats further upstream in that tributary.
I moved over to another tributary that I fished several times in late summer and fall. Today one of the best shoreline stretches was full of floating leaves - I could not keep my bait clean from the leaves, and had to move to less desirable stretches of shoreline. I did manage 2 more pickerel here.
I headed back into Weems. Although I fish all of Weems in the summer and fall, I have found very few pickerel in the outer portions of Weems, and don't work those areas much in the winter. I tried a few casts in areas that have produced good perch catches in the summer, but had no interested pickerel today.
Overall, I had a very pleasant afternoon in seasonably mild weather, I covered more than 5 miles paddling to get some good exercise, I caught pickerel in two tributaries and hooked one in a third tributary. That makes six mid-Severn tributaries in which I have hooked pickerel just in the past month. They are out there waiting for your baits!