Pepe LePew hits the Flats

[Wavy Davy]

The day started off fine. Got on the road before 7:30, on the water before 9:30, guy at Tydings spoke of enormous rock being caught just on the other side of the island, weather was beautiful. Four hours later, the air reeked of eau de skunk. I did get to watch John Veil catch 5 nice LMBs and one huge carp. I decided to go back to the other side of the island to see if the cows had shown up yet. Grounded on a sandbar before I could get there. Had it not been for Mr. Veil, I would have spent the next six hours trying to occupy myself on the sandbar waiting for the tide to come back in. Using my anchor trolley as a tow line, singing the song of the Volga boatmen, the two of us managed to tow my yak into water deep enough for me to paddle back to the park. Thanks again, John. I tried to get a couple of pictures of John with his fish, most of them ended up being of his back. I will post the one good one I got later today. Oh well, a bad day fishing still beats a good day working. And it was not really a bad day. Weather was good, company was pleasant, scenery was nice. And there's always next time.

[J.A. Veil]

Dave -

It is very frustrating to fish next to someone else using the same or similar tackle and have less success. I have often been on the short end of that stick -- yesterday I was the lucky one. All of yesterday's fish came from the same relatively small area. Had I not caught the first fish there, then trolled back across the same area repeatedly, I might have been sporting black and white stripes too.

I think you have a better idea of how to fish the portion of the Flats near Tydings marina. As I told you yesterday, last year (a few weeks later than April 8) I paddled through the same areas trolling the same lures, and had a banner day catching rockfish. You can't catch fish: a) if they are not where you are fishing, or b) they are not interested in the lures/baits you put in front of them. I don't know which of those two reasons explains our lack of rockfish yesterday. You will get them next time.

The southern entrance to Tydings Marina follows a narrow channel near the shore. Everything else near there is a shallow sand flat. When I launched at 9:40, the tide was up, and I could easily paddle out over the sand flat. But when we came in at 2:00, the tide was low and still dropping. You got stuck, and I would have gotten stuck too. I'm glad I saw you when I did -- another 15 minutes and you might have been high and dry for a while.

I often drag my kayak over grass to get to the water. For example at Jonas Green, I always drag my kayak 50 yds from the parking lot to the beach using a sturdy rope that I run through the front handle. It is quicker and easier for me than dealing with wheels. If you are going to drag over grass, sand, or mud, try to have a thick enough rope so you don't hurt your hands and use a long enough piece so that you can apply towing pressure at a relatively flat angle.

[Goody]

I got stuck in that low tide also. I had to do some heavy trudging through the mud that came up to my crotch to get out. It was a workout... I was beat after that.

[MOHAWK135]

I was on the other side, launched from Perryville park and went south. Found some dirty water and the temp jumped to 59. Caught one 24-26" Rock and a nice 17" LG mouth. Now sitting at McGregor's with a beer waiting on lunch.

[Wavy Davy]

Thanks for the encouraging words, John. If one can't catch fish, it's good to watch someone else do so. I only wish I could have gotten some better pictures of you with your conquests, especially that carp! I'm posting the pictures with this post. Or not. Can't seem to get it to work. I'll try again later. It seems was able to attach a picture of my favorite violinist, although I was not trying.