Tweet
Yesterday afternoon my son and I tossed flies at Magothy River picks.
We fished in Cockey Creek and Cattail Creek on a rising tide.
The water clarity was excellent as was the weather. Sunny with moderate cloud cover and low wind. It was a beautiful day to be on the water.
However, the bite was almost nonexistent. I had only two hits during the outing and my son had one. We boated those three fish. Each was over 20 inches. My first pickerel was 21 inches and my son’s was 22. Nice catches on the fly.
Then I met this fish in Cattail Creek:
P1060738.jpg
The picture is not as clear I would like but it reached slightly over 25.5 inches on my Hawg Trough. I have caught many picks in our tidal creeks and in Eastern Shore ponds between 22 and 24 inches, but I have never caught one that large before on any tackle.
The fish was tight to shore near a bulkhead in shaded water under an overhanging tree. I had lofted a side-armed cast under the branches and started my retrieve - strip, strip, pause. The fish hit on the pause as they often do.
Being in the tight quarters of a heavily populated creek presented a problem. The pickerel took off toward a nearby docked boat pulling my kayak with it. But I applied enough pressure to turn it away from the boat, just sparing my kayak's bow from collision with the boat’s hull. In open water I got my net under it after several minutes. The fish never jumped, the bigger ones usually do not. And when I saw its head rise from the water, I knew I had hooked my personal best pickerel.
It slammed this streamer fly:
P1060743.jpg
An articulated crystal bugger with bead head eyes and marablu tail tied on a Mustad 3366 hook in size 2/0.
Normally when I catch a pickerel on the fly, they are hooked in the corner of their mouth. This fish inhaled the fly. It was deep in its throat but fortunately in flesh, not its gills. My forceps were too short to reach the hook in such a large fish but I also carry needle nose pliers and I was able to remove the fly with them and release the fish without shedding any of its blood.
That was not the case for me, however. The fish got its revenge before flipping me off with its tail as it departed from my kayak:
P1060741.jpg
That is why I carry antiseptic ointment and Band-Aids when I fish.
Here is a photo of the fish just before I released it:
Resized_20221022_123533.jpg
I used a 9-foot 7-weight rod with intermediate line and a 4-foot leader of 30-pound test mono.
So, yesterday provided a memorable kayak fishing outing even though the bite was poor. The big pickerel will certainly help to cement that session in my memory. But the fall itself, with its moderate temperatures and colorful leaves is a great time of year to enjoy what kayak fishing has to offer.
We fished in Cockey Creek and Cattail Creek on a rising tide.
The water clarity was excellent as was the weather. Sunny with moderate cloud cover and low wind. It was a beautiful day to be on the water.
However, the bite was almost nonexistent. I had only two hits during the outing and my son had one. We boated those three fish. Each was over 20 inches. My first pickerel was 21 inches and my son’s was 22. Nice catches on the fly.
Then I met this fish in Cattail Creek:
P1060738.jpg
The picture is not as clear I would like but it reached slightly over 25.5 inches on my Hawg Trough. I have caught many picks in our tidal creeks and in Eastern Shore ponds between 22 and 24 inches, but I have never caught one that large before on any tackle.
The fish was tight to shore near a bulkhead in shaded water under an overhanging tree. I had lofted a side-armed cast under the branches and started my retrieve - strip, strip, pause. The fish hit on the pause as they often do.
Being in the tight quarters of a heavily populated creek presented a problem. The pickerel took off toward a nearby docked boat pulling my kayak with it. But I applied enough pressure to turn it away from the boat, just sparing my kayak's bow from collision with the boat’s hull. In open water I got my net under it after several minutes. The fish never jumped, the bigger ones usually do not. And when I saw its head rise from the water, I knew I had hooked my personal best pickerel.
It slammed this streamer fly:
P1060743.jpg
An articulated crystal bugger with bead head eyes and marablu tail tied on a Mustad 3366 hook in size 2/0.
Normally when I catch a pickerel on the fly, they are hooked in the corner of their mouth. This fish inhaled the fly. It was deep in its throat but fortunately in flesh, not its gills. My forceps were too short to reach the hook in such a large fish but I also carry needle nose pliers and I was able to remove the fly with them and release the fish without shedding any of its blood.
That was not the case for me, however. The fish got its revenge before flipping me off with its tail as it departed from my kayak:
P1060741.jpg
That is why I carry antiseptic ointment and Band-Aids when I fish.
Here is a photo of the fish just before I released it:
Resized_20221022_123533.jpg
I used a 9-foot 7-weight rod with intermediate line and a 4-foot leader of 30-pound test mono.
So, yesterday provided a memorable kayak fishing outing even though the bite was poor. The big pickerel will certainly help to cement that session in my memory. But the fall itself, with its moderate temperatures and colorful leaves is a great time of year to enjoy what kayak fishing has to offer.
Comment