Skunked; mouth of SevernI

[Fishinfool]

No pics. I got skunked today. I trolled two rods at the Naval Academy jetty approaching high tide from @ 11:00 am with a half ounce and one ounce jig and 4 " white and chartreuse Gulps. Figuring the fish are now in deeper bigger water, I took a starboard turn at the corner and trolled south over an old oyster bed in @ 20 ' of water to the red marker at the mouth of Back Creek, and not even a bite. Made another starboard turn and headed back into Annapolis harbor for another pass at the jetty.

I stopped at a spot I've had good luck with bottom fishing and tried that with bloodworms. Nary a nibble from nary a dink! I keep a third rod pre-rigged this time of year with a Kastmaster in case of breakers, but the gulls were pretty laid back today. The good news is that the winds were calm most of the time, and Mondays this time of year are not too bad with boat wakes. In spite of the skunk, it was a beautiful day to be on the water.

So with that I'd spent the better part of 3.5 hours on either end of the high tide ( !:02 pm at Naval Academy) and with a barking lower back, called it a day.

Am I wrong, or have most of the fish headed to water in the 30 - 60 ' depth range? It seems the water temp is cooler earlier this year (upper 50's water temp?).

[sparky1423]

I fished the Severn Saturday with a few members. We headed north under the 301 bridge and found some mapped oyster beds. Our idea was fishing deeper waters, we were trolling the channel edges in 20-28 FOW. The fish finder was showing lots of marks but we were only pulling up dinks. On the way back to launch, I caught a 17" striper in 3 FOW...it was the last thing I would except this time of year. John V. states he is still catching keepers in the shallows and my almost keeper is proof, lol.

This summer I never left the Severn empty handed, but I have been struggling there in the fall.

[MD Dore]

I launched out of Jonas Green on Sunday a.m. and trolled up to Weems Creek without a single bite. I tried different baits and different colors -- all to no avail. Trolling in Weems Creek yielded the same result. The wind was pretty steady at that point, so I decided to stop at a sheltered spot in Weems Creek for a brief break. I threw a popper in about 6 feet of water and on the first cast . . . BAM! A 27" rockfish -- my only bite of the day. I certainly was happy with that keeper, but, even though I'm relatively new to fishing in this area, I was surprised there wasn't more action.

[Fishinfool]

I trolled the jetty's and shallows too around Back Creek, but it was mid-day and that's a really big shoal in there with very little structure. I guess I'll keep the popper handy as well.

[kayak456]

Fish are everywhere in the shallows right now and steadily hitting topwater... Why would you think they are in 60 feet of water?

[Fishinfool]

That's good to hear Andrew. Maybe November will be better. The water temp is in the high fifties, and water clarity is high now after the big northwest blow late last week. That usually drives the baitfish and therefore the fish to deeper water. Maybe not just yet.

Like Sparky1423, I have not had much luck with keeper rock in the shallows in the Severn since August, and I've been either hitting the water within a couple of hours of high tide, or around dusk when they are supposedly more active.

From your reports and others, the South and Magothy Rivers seem to be where more action is.

[Nitefly]

I went out Sunday morning on South River from Homeport for three hours. I trolled over a ledge and oyster bed where I had lots of action before and nothing doing that morning.