Severn tributaries almost fishable

[J.A. Veil]

I was going stir-crazy this afternoon and decided that I would try fishing two Severn tributaries. I launched at Jonas Green at 1:30 to a completely ice-free river. I spent 45 mins in one tributary. It was 3/4 covered with ice. I worked the other 1/4 of the surface that was open with live minnows. I did not get a bite.

I tried a second tributary that was also 3/4 covered with ice. As before, I had no bites. In both tributaries the sections that held pickerel in early Jan (the last time I was on the Severn was Jan 12) were inaccessible due to ice cover. The open water was found on the northern shorelines (where the afternoon sun hit directly) and near the mouths of the tributaries that had higher tidal current flow. Along some of the edges of the ice cover, the ice was thin skim ice. But in other places the ice was thick enough that I could not break it with my paddle.

It felt good to be back on the water. I was disappointed to get no pullage today. I plan to try two other Severn tributaries tomorrow afternoon.

[Shady]

I was wondering how it was looking out there. Thanks for the report

[bgriff]

Hey John,
How did Weems Creek look? Or more importantly to me the Tucker Street launch? Todays warm weather had me itching to get out there, but I chose to stay home and organize some tackle and such.

[J.A. Veil]

Hey John,
How did Weems Creek look? Or more importantly to me the Tucker Street launch? Todays warm weather had me itching to get out there, but I chose to stay home and organize some tackle and such.

I drove by Tucker St at 8:00 am on Sat. There was skim ice next to the ramp reaching out at least 50 ft. When I was heading home from Jonas Green about 4:00 pm, I drove across the Ridgeley Ave bridge over Weems (the bridge closest to the ramp). Everything downstream from the Rowe Blvd bridge appeared to be open at that time. Above the Rowe Blvd bridge, most of the area was ice covered. I could not tell how much open water was along the northern shoreline. I plan to check things out tomorrow afternoon in Weems and one other tributary.

[bgriff]

I drove by Tucker St at 8:00 am on Sat. There was skim ice next to the ramp reaching out at least 50 ft. When I was heading home from Jonas Green about 4:00 pm, I drove across the Ridgeley Ave bridge over Weems (the bridge closest to the ramp). Everything downstream from the Rowe Blvd bridge appeared to be open at that time. Above the Rowe Blvd bridge, most of the area was ice covered. I could not tell how much open water was along the northern shoreline. I plan to check things out tomorrow afternoon in Weems and one other tributary.

Thanks for the update John. It looks like the tides should be favorable tomorrow. I'm going to try and get out mid morning and see if I can get another pickerel to post on the board. Hopefully the warmer weather has got them hungry.

[J.A. Veil]

I fished Weems for 2.5 hours this afternoon. Unlike yesterday, I was able to get to the spots I wanted to fish. However, just like yesterday, the fish were not biting where I was casting. I had no bites at all.

Above the two bridges, Weems was about 50% open. Downstream from the two bridges, it was 90% open. The water was remarkably clear -- I could see bottom in at least 4 ft depth. This is a good time to paddle around to see what the bottom looks like for fishing in the warmer times of the year.

[alabamaangler]

Fished Carrs creek on Saturday and both spots we wanted to go to were still frozen. We ended up fishing closer to the mouth with small swim baits and Beatle spins... No luck for us either. I thought with the warm weather this past week the creeks would be open, but not quite yet.

[SpareChange]

Fished for about 1 1/2 hrs in a cove near Jonas Green Sunday afternoon that was 50% open. Caught a nice 21 3/4" pickerel on my second cast, thought it was going to be some fast action, but it turned out to be very slow. Caught another pickerel about an hour later that was a fat 23 3/4" fish. It was nice to get back out on the Severn after a month of iced over creeks.2-23-14 21.75.jpg2-23-14 23.75.jpg

[J.A. Veil]

Nice going. Those are the only pickerel I have heard of from the Severn in a month.

Fished for about 1 1/2 hrs in a cove near Jonas Green Sunday afternoon that was 50% open. Caught a nice 21 3/4" pickerel on my second cast, thought it was going to be some fast action, but it turned out to be very slow. Caught another pickerel about an hour later that was a fat 23 3/4" fish. It was nice to get back out on the Severn after a month of iced over creeks.[ATTACH=CONFIG]11002[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]11003[/ATTACH]

[kayak456]

We are goin tommorow I'll write how we did

I caught about 75-100 minnows today and I got them in the basement sink waiting to be eatin by a yellow perch or pickerel tommoriw

[Mark]

SpareChange,

You did very well.

We're you using live bait or lures?

Thank you,

[SpareChange]

I was using soft plastics about 4 inches long and a mepps spinner algia 5

[Mark]

Thank you.

I think most recent pickerel catches reported here (and there have been few) have been with live bait.

Congratulations.