Bushwood 5/27

[mepps3]

Made my first attempt at fishing Bushwood Cove area of the Wicomico from the kayak. Was seeking croaker. Didn't really know where to go, so searched the 6-12' transition area along the crab pot lines. Didn't get bites or see much on the fishfinder. I am used to shore fishing croaker, so I was a little impatient.
I headed out to deeper water to observe the other boats, but didn't see much action. There was a pod of about 10 boats out in the channel, but I didn't want to head out there in my 11' sit inside kayak. I worked back to 17-18 feet of water and hooked my first croaker, a nice 13 incher. I setup a slow drift in the 17' water and would catch one every now and then. No real pattern unfortunately. After catching 5, with 4 being kept between 12-15 inches I started heading in. I would cast here and there amongst the crab pots. I caught a nice 25 inche blue cat that gave a nice fight. On my last cast of the day, while slowly jigging the bait back to me, I managed a 14 inch croaker. Only bait I used was cooked peeled shrimp that I bought frozen. The fish I found hit it hard, no nibbling, so I had confidence in the bait. Just couldn't find the schools. Any tips on better areas to try there?? Managed 1.75 lbs of fillets, so the 5 fish were pretty thick!

[Shady]

Thanks for the report, Croaker are hard biters and fighters for their size. I don't know anything about the area, so couldnt point to any better spots, but sounds like you did alright.

[AbuMasgouf]

Thanks for the report! What kind of set-up did you have your shrimp on?

[M_Duong60]

high-low rig works well and pretty sure that it is the most common set-up.

[richardbb85]

bushwood is probably my favorite spot to fish croaker/cat, i usually leave the pier and head left towards i think mark 5, or 6. look up comeonfish thread from last year, it will help.