Severn Top Water

[dsiekman]

Fished Saturday morning on the outgoing tide. I was on the water by 6:45 and was greeted with my first top water keeper on about the third cast. He was in less than 2' of water. 20" and put up a great fight including a couple of runs and a really nice jump. I'll be having him for dinner tomorrow. I missed two more in the next five minutes and it was all over. Not so much as a nibble for the next hour and a half. He hit a very small white xps lure with red mouth.

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[J.A. Veil]

Good catch Doug. I have heard of several 20-21" rockfish getting caught throughout the Severn last week. A few slightly larger ones (up to 24") were reported, but nothing huge yet.

[dsiekman]

Thanks, John! Congrats on being a pro staffer! I'm hoping to get out a lot more over the next month. Need to stock the freezer. My usual haunts and tactics have been unproductive since the season opened. I'm not sure what is making this year so much different, but I will say that top water was much more exciting than trolling! The wife and son are out of town next weekend so I'm planning on getting in some quality numb butt time.

[Polar Rock]

Nice Work Doug.... I was out on the boat Saturday morning... saw a couple kayaks around Cedar Point... wondered if it was you. I spent a total of 12 hours on the river with friends and my sons on Friday and Saturday with only 5 in the 20-21" range. Had to work long and hard for those fish. I am thinking of towing the kayak behind the Polar...down to a couple of creeks... in the near future. Would you be up for that?

[dsiekman]

Nice Work Doug.... I was out on the boat Saturday morning... saw a couple kayaks around Cedar Point... wondered if it was you. I spent a total of 12 hours on the river with friends and my sons on Friday and Saturday with only 5 in the 20-21" range. Had to work long and hard for those fish. I am thinking of towing the kayak behind the Polar...down to a couple of creeks... in the near future. Would you be up for that?

Thanks, buddy. Yeah, I saw you head out as I was launching. It was fast and furious and then nothing. I think if I'd been using a slightly larger lure I would have gotten at least one of the other two misses. The hooks on that lure were pretty small. Next time. I'll post a couple picks here in a minute.

I'd love to check out some new water. Let me know when you're thinking about it.

[Nitefly]

dsiekman, what do you look for in places to cast top water? I haven't had any luck yet with Stripers on the surface or any over 17" heh.

[dsiekman]

Dumb luck in this case. I am not much of a top water fisherman, but my usual tactics were not working. I had seen a lot of surface activity so I started casting to submerged cattails that were outside the mouth of a small cove. It was an outgoing tide so I thought there was a possibility of small bait being pulled out of the cove with predators hanging just outside the mouth...like a buffet. From what I've read, heard, experienced, etc., I understand that Stripers are ambush predators and will try to expend as little energy as possible for a meal. Keeping that in mind, I try to fish the appropriate side of structure depending on tide. For instance, there were a number of boats fishing the outgoing side of the Cedar Point flats. I had also noticed that the water was a little cooler than the last time I was out, so I was assuming the more active fish would be shallow where the temps are still a little warmer. Then again, this may all be completely wrong and I just got lucky and found a dumb/angry fish. When the two choices of tactics are to mimic live bait or irritate the fish until he gets mad and bites, I always seem to do better with the latter...

As a side note, all three hits were almost instant. Lure hit the water, line came tight, one quick pop and BAM. That leads me to believe it probably landed right in front of the fish.

[dsiekman]

Dinner is served. Prosciutto wrapped rockfish fillets in a rosemary brown butter sauce with roasted fall vegetables. Yummy. image.jpg

[RN2014]

Looks absolutely delicious!

[Southerly]

congrats! the age old mystery - which way did they go when they leave?

i have some friends on Severn and got a report yesterday of fish to 26" with pic. but that was by power boat.

[Fishinfool]

Great report and comments as usual Doug.

BTW, a high school friend I saw over the weekend caught four keepers up to 25" on Saturday live lining small spot and perch he had caught. Used a Carolina rig with a half ounce or one ounce (can't remember) in-line sinker. Amazingly, he caught them off another friend's pier near the community beach that fronts Round Bay. So, next time if you can still catch any spot or even small perch, it may still pay to have one rod live lined. Steve

[dsiekman]

Looks absolutely delicious!

Thanks, it was! I hate to admit it, but I didn't finish the prosciutto. The fish, however, was gone!

[dsiekman]

Great report and comments as usual Doug.

BTW, a high school friend I saw over the weekend caught four keepers up to 25" on Saturday live lining small spot and perch he had caught. Used a Carolina rig with a half ounce or one ounce (can't remember) in-line sinker. Amazingly, he caught them off another friend's pier near the community beach that fronts Round Bay. So, next time if you can still catch any spot or even small perch, it may still pay to have one rod live lined. Steve

Thanks, Steve. Good intel. There were a lot of power boats out fishing that area Saturday morning. I wanted to keep going but had this guy in the boat and no way to keep him cool. I was marking lots of fish, so I know they are around. This is about the time I started getting into lots of them trolling last year. I may give that a try, too.

Unfortunately, I am a terrible spot fisherman. I can catch WP all day, but I've only caught maybe a half dozen spot in my life. Maybe I'll troll some fish bites on my way out next time and see what happens.

[Fishinfool]

Real bloodworms, just the tips on small hooks bottom fished near structure are the best bait for spot; assuming you don't mind driving, paying, and then having them go bad and stinking up the joint.

[dsiekman]

Real bloodworms, just the tips on small hooks bottom fished near structure are the best bait for spot; assuming you don't mind driving, paying, and then having them go bad and stinking up the joint.

uuuggghhh...I HATE bloodworms. They give me the creeps. Most any other bug, spider, or animal I can deal with, but there's just something about those things that send chills up my spine.