Better Severn news

[J.A. Veil]

Mark and I launched from Jonas Green at 8:00 am this morning. I had not been on the river in over a week, but had read several gloom and doom reports while I was away. I had a few shallow water perch spots to check out to see what was going on. We launched to very high water level at the beach with minimal wind. We paddled a while to get to a tributary where Mark had not fished previously. We each took a different shoreline of a cove. He got the skunk off of his kayak almost immediately, and I followed a moment later with my first fish. We continued fishing different stretches of shoreline for the next few hours. Some places I expected to produce did not, but we found fish in other spots where I had not expected them.

I will let Mark report his own catch. I managed 13 perch today -- all but one caught on a Bignose spinnerbait and an ultralight rod. The largest perch measured 11". This was much closer to what I expect for summertime perch fishing in the Severn. In addition to those 13 perch, I had quite a few other bites or nibbles that did not stay on the hook very long. My best single spot was a large tree whose branches overhung and touched the water surface. I flipped the spinnerbait through a gap in the branches into the shaded area and caught 4 perch in rapid succession from the same location.

The water in the tributaries was calm but was browner than I would have expected. The further into a tributary we paddled, the browner the water got. Other than the colored water, conditions looked good. The horned pondweed that had bedeviled me for the past month was not obvious today. We saw lots of baitfish in the tributaries -- minnows in shallow water and peanut bunker in small pods in open water.

As we returned to Jonas Green in late morning, we faced an onslaught of boat wakes that made crossing the channel an extra adventure.

Get out there and find some perch. If your usual spots are not producing, try some new spots. I do much better in grassy or wooded shorelines in the tributaries than I do in open water or in the mainstem of the river. Every fish I caught today was in shallow water less than 10 ft out from the shoreline. If you are fishing in mid-day or in strong sun, look for shaded areas. Get out a map before you leave home and try to identify some new spots that are within a reasonable paddling radius from your launch spot.

[Mark]

As John said we left the big water to the weekend power boats and headed up some offshoots of the main river. There are many areas to explore and each looks fishier than the last.

On my third cast I hooked this pickerel:

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Expecting to target only perch today I had left my fish grippers in the van. That was a bad idea. I pulled this toothy guy over to my boat and used my pliers to remove the hook while the fish stayed in the water. John later told me how to grip pickerel behind the gills. But I wasn't about to experiment on my own, so the pickerel went on its way without visiting my Hawg Trough. It hit a 1/8 oz. jig-spinner combination with a chartreuse 2 inch Mister Twister grub.

Wouldn't you know it, my next fish was another pickerel caught less than 20 feet from the first one.

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This one hit a 2 inch white Mister Twister grub on new 1/8 oz. jig since the first pickerel straightened my original jig. It was slightly smaller than the first one but it pulled harder. I used the same release method.

I next picked up a small white perch on yellow 2 inch Mister Twister grub on a regular 1/8 oz. jig head. It did not merit pixels. In fact, I caught 4 perch today and none was bigger than 8 inches. So I took no perch photos.

But I think this next fish deserves a look. I caught it right next to the shoreline near a downed tree. I believe it's a pumpkin seed. I did not know that they were in the Severn's tributaries.

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I think its markings are stunning. I caught two of them, each on a yellow Rooster Tail spinner cast from an ultralight 5.5 foot spinning rod.

So that was it for me. Eight fish and three species. A good day.

Here's John in full sun protection mode heading out to the main river:

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Most enjoyable for me today was the fact that I did not have to battle wind and current like Raptor and I did in Kent Narrows a few days ago. Those conditions were brutal. Today was a peaceful experience with light tackle. A good change of pace.

We met a fellow kayak fisher on the way back to Jonas Green and he joined us as we crossed the big river. (Safety in numbers in riding the wakes of the big boats!) His name was Chris and he was from Alexandria, VA. He was unaware of Snaggedline so John gave him the particulars. I hope he tunes in and joins the forum.

[bignose]

Glad to hear that my spinner jigs are still producing fish for you.

Today, I was finally able to get a little canoe time out on a tributary of the Magothy.
I only fished for an hour but caught a bunch of mostly 5-6 inch White Perch on the "usual".
I also caught a couple of Yellow Perch, one of which was a real honking big fish, maybe 13" long.
The water color was quite turbid, with less than 1 foot of visibility and as mentioned above, the tide was very high.

It was good to get back out.

Those Pumpkinseeds are certainly pretty, along with Green Sunfish, they are prettiest of the little guys.
Too bad they fade when kept in an indoors aquarium, plus they are very territorial and beat the heck out of each other.

[Fishinfool]

Nice to see a good report out of Jonas Green!

I am meeting up with Doug S early tomorrow to try a part of the River I grew up fishing on, but had not fished since about the mid seventies! I'll be interesting for sure!

[J.A. Veil]

It did not merit pixels.

I like this. It is a new put-down for the digital age.