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Two weeks ago, I made a post bemoaning my inability to find stripers in the Severn in the spots that produced well last April http://www.snaggedline.com/showthrea...-in-the-Severn. It turns out the the cool weather delayed the fish from showing up where I had expected them a few weeks back. After 4 consecutive trolling skunk trips in the Severn, my lucked changed today.
When I arrived at Jonas Green about 9:30 this morning, the wind was blowing directly downstream with 1 ft waves. I debated about cancelling the trip, but elected to go ahead and fish. I was using the Native Slayer Propel today. It was easy going down-river, with the outgoing current and wind at my back. I decided to try one of the target areas that produced well for me last spring. I deployed 4 medium spinning rods with various paddletail plastic lures. The lure on the right (Specialized bucktail with 4.5" paddletail in electric chicken color) caught the big fish and two of the other three. Last winter I bought several packs of those electric chicken Saltwater Sally lures in the clearance bin at Bass Pro for $0.99. They already more than justified their cost today.
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I had nearly finished my first pass through the 200-yard long target zone when one of the rods shook violently. I removed it from the rod holder and knew it was a solid fish. A few minutes later, I had a plump 26" fish in the kayak. That matched my best Severn rockfish ever, and also matched my largest kayak-caught fish from last year. This was not one of the massive spawning fish recently found on the flats by several of our members, but was a very solid Severn fish.
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After hooking, photographing, and releasing that big fish, the wind and current carried me nearly a half mile down-river before I finished untangling the lines that got crossed. I worked the target zone a few more times but caught only one more small striper.
I headed back upstream pedaling into the wind. I made it several miles upstream before getting tired. Then I turned and pedaled easily with the current and wind back to the park. I managed 4 stripers today -- 2 downstream from both bridges, 1 upstream from both bridges, and 1 in between the bridges. After getting 4 Severn skunks in a row last month, I am quite happy to catch those fish in the river today.
Here is an observation that I have not fully thought through yet. All four fish were caught when I was moving in the downstream direction. Both the wind and the outgoing tide were moving in that way. I tried to keep my trolling speed between 2.5 and 3 mph. But that speed was the speed over bottom. The current was moving in the same direction at a fast pace, such that my speed through the water was probably between 1.5 and 2 mph. When I moved upstream, I was going against the current. My GPS showed that I was moving upstream at 2.5 mph over bottom, but my actual speed through the water was 3.5 or better.
The water quality (color, clarity) were quite good. But there was quite a bit of small plant debris (Phragmites stems, branches, leaves, etc) in the water that frequently fouled the lures. I did a lot of reeling in to remove debris. But there was no evidence of muddy water in the main stem of the river.
005.jpg
When I arrived at Jonas Green about 9:30 this morning, the wind was blowing directly downstream with 1 ft waves. I debated about cancelling the trip, but elected to go ahead and fish. I was using the Native Slayer Propel today. It was easy going down-river, with the outgoing current and wind at my back. I decided to try one of the target areas that produced well for me last spring. I deployed 4 medium spinning rods with various paddletail plastic lures. The lure on the right (Specialized bucktail with 4.5" paddletail in electric chicken color) caught the big fish and two of the other three. Last winter I bought several packs of those electric chicken Saltwater Sally lures in the clearance bin at Bass Pro for $0.99. They already more than justified their cost today.
006.jpg 003.jpg
I had nearly finished my first pass through the 200-yard long target zone when one of the rods shook violently. I removed it from the rod holder and knew it was a solid fish. A few minutes later, I had a plump 26" fish in the kayak. That matched my best Severn rockfish ever, and also matched my largest kayak-caught fish from last year. This was not one of the massive spawning fish recently found on the flats by several of our members, but was a very solid Severn fish.
001.jpg
After hooking, photographing, and releasing that big fish, the wind and current carried me nearly a half mile down-river before I finished untangling the lines that got crossed. I worked the target zone a few more times but caught only one more small striper.
I headed back upstream pedaling into the wind. I made it several miles upstream before getting tired. Then I turned and pedaled easily with the current and wind back to the park. I managed 4 stripers today -- 2 downstream from both bridges, 1 upstream from both bridges, and 1 in between the bridges. After getting 4 Severn skunks in a row last month, I am quite happy to catch those fish in the river today.
Here is an observation that I have not fully thought through yet. All four fish were caught when I was moving in the downstream direction. Both the wind and the outgoing tide were moving in that way. I tried to keep my trolling speed between 2.5 and 3 mph. But that speed was the speed over bottom. The current was moving in the same direction at a fast pace, such that my speed through the water was probably between 1.5 and 2 mph. When I moved upstream, I was going against the current. My GPS showed that I was moving upstream at 2.5 mph over bottom, but my actual speed through the water was 3.5 or better.
The water quality (color, clarity) were quite good. But there was quite a bit of small plant debris (Phragmites stems, branches, leaves, etc) in the water that frequently fouled the lures. I did a lot of reeling in to remove debris. But there was no evidence of muddy water in the main stem of the river.
005.jpg
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