keeper-sized rockfish in the Severn

[J.A. Veil]

Historically I have had a very tough time finding keeper-sized rockfish in the Severn and its creeks. Most years I catch just one or two of them, and they are "just barely keepers". This year my success has improved noticeably. Part of that is the fact that I spend much more time on the river over a variety of tides and weather conditions than I used to. Part may be that I am gradually climbing the learning curve. And of course, another part of it may be enhanced populations of keeper sized fish. Regardless of the cause, the results are strikingly better than in any previous year.

On 4 of my last 6 kayak trips in the river, I caught keeper-sized stripers by trolling light and ultralight rods from the kayak. This afternoon the bite was overall slow in the river and in two tributaries, but I did catch a spunky 19" rockfish on an ultralight rod using one of Woody's 1/8-oz feather spinners. The fish pulled hard enough that it swiveled my Scotty rod holder 90 degrees before I could get the rod out. I had a 2-3 minute fight before subduing the fish. I took two photos and gave the fish a reprieve. Hopefully it will continue growing so one of our club members can catch it again.

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Without giving an exact location, I can say this was on a shallow bar at the mouth of a Severn creek. The tide was incoming. I had several hits along the dropoff at the edge of the bar. The 19" fish was hooked on top of the bar in less than 5 ft depth.

[Hemingway]

Putting in the time is paying off for you, John. Plus, that is a VERY nice catch on an ultralight.

[Mark]

John,

Congrats on your catch.

The nice striper I caught in the Severn yesterday was also on a 1/8 oz. jig spinner in shallow water very close to shore. It turned my kayak too. That's when I knew it wasn't a perch.

Mark

[Shady]

Sweet! I wish I was out there...

[tufnik]

Yeah, very nice looking fish. Agree, it all comes down to putting the time in.

[bignose]

Stripers on an ultra light!
Now, like Shawn Kimbro, you need to write a book on your specialty, light and slow trolling.
Sounds like you had a great time. Very satisfying to see it all come together!

[jet]

nice job john!

[Fishinfool]

Oh, yea! Interesting that he was in shallower water on an incoming. Catching him on an ultra-lite puts a cherry on top.

I am still looking for my first keeper rock. Going from pier to pier, I've been trolling slowly using and 1/8 oz jig head and a chartreuse gulp. I've caught a couple of nice keeper croakers @ two weeks ago, and last week I had a big strike in the creek we've talked about. Whatever it was sheered off my entire rig at the of 20 lb braid. Must have been a larger blue cruising under the peanut bunker.

You're giving me hope, only a matter of time.

[Mark]

Fishinfool,

Regarding stripers in shallow water, I think it’s not uncommon when the tide is moving. Some definitely feed close to the rip rap so don't be afraid to toss your lures right to the edge of the rocks or position your kayak so you can cast parallel to the rocks. Use a fast retrieve.

Perhaps stripers' affinity for such places is why they are also known as rock fish.

Good luck,

Mark

[Fishinfool]

Thanks Mark!

[J.A. Veil]

Oh, yea! Interesting that he was in shallower water on an incoming.

Most of my river rockfish fishing is in shallower water except for the winter. During the summer and fall, I often troll light lures in the main river as I paddle from creek to creek. I rarely get any bites in the deeper water unless there happens to be a large mass of schoolie rockfish there, and then the catching is fast and furious (but the fish are small). Occasionally I see good screen marks near the bottom in deeper water (>20 ft) but I don't normally carry heavy enough rods or jigs to get down that deep. Ironically, yesterday I did have one heavy rod with me, but never saw the good screen marks. Last winter, I caught stripers to 26" on the debris pile near Jonas Green. The water there is 20-30 ft deep. I jigged 1-oz jgheads and BKDs.

During May, I caught stripers 18" to 26" trolling medium and medium heavy rods with heavier jigheads or Storm shads in water depths of 10-18 ft in the lower portion of the river (downstream from Jonas Green). This is the same way I fish the Susquehanna Flats. I imagine hard plastic swimming plugs would catch well under these conditions, but I rarely pull them.

Over the last few weeks, I caught a few stripers near the mouth of the river, but also got several keepers inside or immediately outside mid-river tributaries. All of the recent trolling has been light rods with 3/8-oz jigheads and 3" to 4" paddletail plastics or Gulp swimming mullets and ultralight rods with small spinners. Yesterday's fish was the only keeper rockfish to come on the spinnners -- all the others have come on the plastic or Gulp.

Get out there and keep trying. The more lures you get in the water covering more areas, the more you improve your odds of finding fish. There are definitely some dumb and hungry fish just waiting for your lures.

[Fishinfool]

Yep, I will get out when I am able, and thanks again for the techniques and encouragement.

As I mentioned to someone in a private thread, I broke down and bought a 3.5 diameter 3/8 inch cast net which I hope to try this weekend. I saw many schools of peanut bunker boiling up early last Sunday. It only makes sense that a slightly larger fresh and natural bait could make a difference in targeting both keeper rockfish and maybe blues too. They are there for sure, and you and others have proven that.

[J.A. Veil]

I have never attempted to catch live menhaden for bait. I don't know how well small menhaden survive being netted and removed from the water before reusing. You certainly could end up with lots of peanut bunker as recently-dead bait, but don't know if they will remain alive long enough to use them as live bait. I also don't know if the recently-dead baits are equally attractive to rockfish as are live baits. Perhaps some of the other members have experience with that.

As I mentioned to someone in a private thread, I broke down and bought a 3.5 diameter 3/8 inch cast net which I hope to try this weekend. I saw many schools of peanut bunker boiling up early last Sunday. It only makes sense that a slightly larger fresh and natural bait could make a difference in targeting both keeper rockfish and maybe blues too. They are there for sure, and you and others have proven that.

[MetroMan]

Are peanut bunker really that fragile? We used them in ocean city for flounder last year. They survived right along with the baby spot after being cast netted, and put in the bait well

[kayak456]

fishinfool, i forgot to add in my repsonse to your pm that you CANNOT use a yellow plano 1 gallon minnow bucket for the menhaeden. you will need a 5 gallon bucket with a lid and a bubble box airator, it hols about 25 small menhaeden.

i didnt know you only got a 3.5 cast net. it will work fine but i use a 10 footer.

i carry 3 5 gallon buckets with me when i use menhaeden and fill all of the up, since i usually fish 5-8 rods with live menhaeden i go through alot of them because of blues & crabs before mr rockfish finds hims

sorry i forgot to add all of that