Weems Creek Report 10/26/2013

The winds were expected to be 8 to 15 mph today. so I decided to fish Weems Creek, since it offers some protection from with wind. High tide was at 11am, so we would fish the incoming tide with low tide occuring at 5:50am this morning. The day was sunny with temperatures in the morning around 37 to 40 degrees with a high temperature of 57 degrees during the day. Naturally the weather changed, with low winds in the morning around 4 mph (excellent), but the top end would reach 17 mph gusting to 23 mph later during the day (bad).

I met Coop1486 (Dana) at the Wawa on route 50 at 6:30am. After picking up some supplies, we let Wawa at 7:00am to head to Weems Creek to meet Jeremy (Sparky) at the ramp. We all launched after 7:40am. It was daylight. Jeremy headed to the mouth of Weems to troll for rockfish and then to the oyster beds in the main stem of the Severn River. Coop and I tested the waters around the bridge to the left of the ramp, some of the shorelines, and the piers. We did not get a bite, so we decided not to waste time and head to the mouth of Weems to fish the sandbar and troll around the route 50 bridge. The winds were surprisingly light. Perhaps 3 to 4 mph. It would remain calm until 10:30am when we could feel the wind slowly increasing. None of use were catching any fish until Sparky located some breaking two creeks up river over an oyster bar. I saw some birds diving and some fish splashing on the surface and I trolled 3 rods thru them. All three of my rods were hooked up at once...yahoo. Coop trolled in behind me and hooked up with one two. Jeremy was trolling 4 rods and he also hooked up. For most of the morning I would troll that oyster bed hoping for a keeper fish. Unfortunately, no keepers would be had by us today. We did get pullage, which is always fun.

Jeremy said the winds were increasing so he went back into Weems to troll towards the ramp where he hooked up with a 17 inch rockfish before the ramp. Coop wanted to check out the creek right above Weems next to the route 50 bridge. I got three nibbles in there. Two of them were small perch, but the other may have been a pickerel. It hit hard and took off my white Gulp off of my 1/8 ounce red jig head. The drift was moving fast in this creek, so we decided to head back to the ramp. As we approached the mouth of Weems, we could see whitecaps. Oh oh, it is going to be a tough ride back to the ramp. The current was strong and we had to fight 1.5 foot waves and plenty of salty spray on our way back to the ramp. I tried to hug the shoreline where the current was a little less. I made it back to the ramp first, then Coop landed his kayak 5 minutes after me.

A the end of the day I caught all of my fish trolling. One 9 inch white perch and 8 rockfish measuring 12 to 16 inches. I caught two on my make shift Sparky rig with a trailing 1/4 ounce feathered Spankin Stripers shad dart. I caught two on my salt and pepper paddle tail on a 1/4 ounce red jig head on a gold spinner, and I caught 4 rockfish on my 1/8 ounce jig head tipped with a white Gulp swimming mullet.

Since it was only noon, we decided to grab a pizza and checkout another Annapolis Launch at the Truxton Park ramp into Spa Creek. This was a very protected location from the looks of it. I may have to try it out in the future. The ramp is located at Truxton Park Rd, Annapolis, MD 21403.

[Goody]

Good job guys.

[sparky1423]

Most of my dinks were on the tandem road runner rigs. One rig was 1oz road runner and 3/8oz hyper stryper in chartreuse/white. The other rig was a 1/2 road runner and a 1/4 generic bucktail. The 17" rockfish hit a rapala white shad shallow running crankbait in 3 FOW.

These fish have me stumped. Here I am concentrating on deeper waters and catching an unexpected almost keeper in knee deep water??? The markings in the deep water were so inviting, surely some schools of bait fish are schooling up to head in the bay.

[J.A. Veil]

Jeremy -

I caught 2 or 3 keepers on each of my last three Severn trips. All of them were caught in 2 to 6 ft depth (and one 20.5" fish may have been as shallow as 1.5 ft). That doesn't mean they can't be found elsewhere -- but I am fishing 90% in the shallows. That will change as the water cools too. One of my favorite deeper jigging spots in the Severn has been completely unproductive on the last 3 visits, but it will turn on soon.

[Mark]

Excellent report and photos!

[RockFlag&Eagle37]

MOC, did you head over to Truxton in the 2pm range? I was loading up at that point, two SOT ontop of a small black SUV.

I trolled out of the creek toward the Severn from about 11-1230 or so, stopping to cast toward shore every once in a while. I zig zagged across the creek from time to time as well. I was fishing with various sized ratltraps, some paddletail and swim shads and little beetlespins. Not a single bite. I headed out to try and go fish along the rocks and walls near the Naval Academy but by the time we came around the corner near the Eastport Bridge and the Chart House, the wind was ripping and the boat traffic was heavy. We turned around and incredibly slowly paddled back into the wind, to the launch. Long day, no fish but it was pretty and the exercise was abundant. That will probably be my last fishing trip by kayak for the year, hunting season is in and it'll be time to turn that kayak into a duck hunting machine.

I do like the launch, however. I've launched there a few times. However, previously it was free (or so I was told) for any cartop boats but a new sign down there states that anyone launching there, trailer or not, must pay the daily $5 fee. Of course I read that sign on the way out, not the way in. I was fortunate to not get a ticket but just a heads up!

[moc]

MOC, did you head over to Truxton in the 2pm range? I was loading up at that point, two SOT ontop of a small black SUV.

I trolled out of the creek toward the Severn from about 11-1230 or so, stopping to cast toward shore every once in a while. I zig zagged across the creek from time to time as well. I was fishing with various sized ratltraps, some paddletail and swim shads and little beetlespins. Not a single bite. I headed out to try and go fish along the rocks and walls near the Naval Academy but by the time we came around the corner near the Eastport Bridge and the Chart House, the wind was ripping and the boat traffic was heavy. We turned around and incredibly slowly paddled back into the wind, to the launch. Long day, no fish but it was pretty and the exercise was abundant. That will probably be my last fishing trip by kayak for the year, hunting season is in and it'll be time to turn that kayak into a duck hunting machine.

I do like the launch, however. I've launched there a few times. However, previously it was free (or so I was told) for any cartop boats but a new sign down there states that anyone launching there, trailer or not, must pay the daily $5 fee. Of course I read that sign on the way out, not the way in. I was fortunate to not get a ticket but just a heads up!

That sounds about right. Coop and I went over to find the boat launch at Truxton. We were in two separate SUV's, one with a red Hobie Revo and the other with a Blue Outback. We sat at a picnic table there to eat our pizza.....starved.

[Capt C-Hawk]

There was a park employee there back in the summer. My PA is on a trailer so I use the ramp. He said if I could beach launch I could beat the fee. That may have changed also, but a lot of cars park in that lot for other park uses, so if there's no trailer how would they know? I still need the ramp. Gonna try for some pickles soon, they were more than willing in Spa last year.