ictalurus
08-09-2009, 11:57 AM
I couldn't make it to SPSP for the re-entry practice because I had a wedding to attend later in the day, but I had enough time in the morning to fish some place close to home. Several years ago, I heard the inlet of Herring Creek in Tall Timbers (near Piney Point) held nice stripers in the fall in the evenings, so I wanted to check it out. Between the riprap and marshy areas visible on Google Earth, it also looked like another good spot to try for some reds. I launched from Tall Timbers Marina ($5 paid at the restaurant) and fished from 9am to a little after 1pm, which was from peak ebb to early flood. St. Mary's County has a crabbing pier at the marina entrance with a small gravel lot and a bit of beach, which is where I launched from. There's also a concrete boat ramp. The marina offers rest rooms, showers, and a hose.
There were seashore mallows, which I had never seen before, blooming by the little beach:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/Ictalurus/116_3712.jpg
However, these were nothing compared to the mallows I would see later. ;-)
I headed for the inlet to fish the riprap:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/Ictalurus/116_3723.jpg
Sorry for the blurry picture. The wind was blowing against the current, so the water was a little confused, but it was easier than dealing with the inlet at St. Jeromes Creek at ebb. The inlet was shallower than I thought it would be--6-10ft with a slow drop off by the riprap, unlike PLO where it drops off a little faster. Also, there were big stones to hang up on several feet away from the riprap, so keep that in mind. The bluefish were much less common here than at PLO, and I landed a 14" striper on a white Gulp grub on a 3/8oz head. I lost a bigger, but still sub-legal, one at the boat just after that. A couple cownose rays showed up, and the striper bite turned off. Joe wasn't kidding when he said he doesn't catch much when they're around. I worked both sides of the inlet with the grub and rattletrap before trying 5 or so flounder drifts. I couldn't really get a good presentation with the wind and waves as they were, so I headed back inside the creek to work the marshy areas and creek arms before the current died. The salinity and temp were 12.4 (lower than I expected) and 83*.
The biggest marshy area:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/Ictalurus/116_3722.jpg
Most of this area is too shallow to fish from a Hobie at low tide. The water was only about 6" deep in most places, but it got a little deeper when the tide started coming in later in the day. The 2-3ft depth areas are pretty far from the grassy spots.
I started working the creek arm NNW of the inlet using a 2" white twin tailed grub on a spinner arm with a bit of fishbites on the hook. The current was rapidly dying, so I figured I needed all the help I could get. I caught a couple 9" white perch here and there, but the action wasn't very hot. The real surprise was the hot babe in a bikini wading around her pier crabbing with a net. :eek2::eek2: That was a sight I wasn't expecting. Her age was outside my slot limit, so I kept moving toward the back of the creek.
Something was chasing the silversides at the back of the creek, and I finally managed to scare up this guy next to a wooden seawall:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/Ictalurus/116_3729.jpg
Woohoo! My first red of the year. I caught one a little bigger than this last year on the same exact day.
Not far from there, I found a couple fat 9.5" perch:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/Ictalurus/116_3735.jpg
They were much thicker than the picture implies and put up a good fight. Interestingly, the perch were only by natural shoreline--fallen trees, grassy slopes, stumps, etc. I didn't have much luck by piers, seawalls, and riprap.
A little ways from where I caught the perch, I rounded out my patriotic trifecta with a little bluefish:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/Ictalurus/116_3738_r1.jpg
By this time, flood tide had begun, and the wind had died, so I headed to the inlet again. No luck with rattletraps, Gulp grubs, or multiple Gulp/bucktail drifts, so I trolled the #14 Pet spoon out to 25ft and around outside in the river. There are lots of piers and riprapped areas south of the inlet, and the area north of the inlet had beaches and piers. The 25ft zone was less than 100yds from the inlet. There wasn't much action going on out there on my fish finder or on the surface, so I headed back to the inlet. The current was moving faster, so I wanted to do a more rigorous set of flounder drifts.
While drifting, a boat full of bikini babes showed up. It was like I was fishing in a beer commercial. Fortunately, my red safety pimp hat drives women wild. :rolleyes: :pp
With the wind and current in sync, I had much better drifts. There are several small humps near the center of the inlet halfway between the beginning of the riprap and the inlet mouth. I had several hits here and lost a couple of the Gulp shrimp I had on the bucktail, but I didn't have any hookups. I suspect they were probably large croaker, which I've caught on that set up in the Patuxent. The boat traffic started picking up, so I couldn't really work those areas without being in everyone's way. The salinity on the incoming tide actually dropped slightly, which surprised me. I guess the restrictive inlet lets the water in the creek sit and evaporate, which increases the salinity a bit. The same thing seems to be the case at St. Jeromes. Anyway, I hit a couple of the docks on the way back to the launch with the 2" grub and spinner arm but only had small bluefish bite offs.
There's better fishing at Buzz's, better perch at Bluhaven, but Tall Timbers has the best scenery by far. :D I'll definitely try it again later in the season for redfish, but I'll wait for when the tide is higher and the current is better. It'll also be worth hitting in the fall for topwater striper action, too. However, there were always one or two boats fishing the inlet while I was fishing it, so it might get a lot of pressure when things really heat up. I didn't see anybody catch anything while I was there. All the boaters and fishermen I encountered were courteous and friendly, and the inlet is wide enough for two 30-40ft boats to pass each other and still have plenty of room for a dopey kayaker to get out of the way. The area in the river outside of the inlet seemed pretty featureless, at least in the areas I trolled, so I'm not sure the bottom fishing would be very good. It would be about a mile from the inlet to get to a decent drop off according to the charts. The slope is pretty gradual. There weren't any people fishing the area outside of the inlet, so Cornfield Harbor and Piney Point are probably better bets for flounder and bottom fishing.
Here's Mrs. ictalurus and I swing dancing at the wedding reception later that afternoon:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/Ictalurus/116_3796.jpg
I thought the ghost effect was cool.
There were seashore mallows, which I had never seen before, blooming by the little beach:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/Ictalurus/116_3712.jpg
However, these were nothing compared to the mallows I would see later. ;-)
I headed for the inlet to fish the riprap:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/Ictalurus/116_3723.jpg
Sorry for the blurry picture. The wind was blowing against the current, so the water was a little confused, but it was easier than dealing with the inlet at St. Jeromes Creek at ebb. The inlet was shallower than I thought it would be--6-10ft with a slow drop off by the riprap, unlike PLO where it drops off a little faster. Also, there were big stones to hang up on several feet away from the riprap, so keep that in mind. The bluefish were much less common here than at PLO, and I landed a 14" striper on a white Gulp grub on a 3/8oz head. I lost a bigger, but still sub-legal, one at the boat just after that. A couple cownose rays showed up, and the striper bite turned off. Joe wasn't kidding when he said he doesn't catch much when they're around. I worked both sides of the inlet with the grub and rattletrap before trying 5 or so flounder drifts. I couldn't really get a good presentation with the wind and waves as they were, so I headed back inside the creek to work the marshy areas and creek arms before the current died. The salinity and temp were 12.4 (lower than I expected) and 83*.
The biggest marshy area:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/Ictalurus/116_3722.jpg
Most of this area is too shallow to fish from a Hobie at low tide. The water was only about 6" deep in most places, but it got a little deeper when the tide started coming in later in the day. The 2-3ft depth areas are pretty far from the grassy spots.
I started working the creek arm NNW of the inlet using a 2" white twin tailed grub on a spinner arm with a bit of fishbites on the hook. The current was rapidly dying, so I figured I needed all the help I could get. I caught a couple 9" white perch here and there, but the action wasn't very hot. The real surprise was the hot babe in a bikini wading around her pier crabbing with a net. :eek2::eek2: That was a sight I wasn't expecting. Her age was outside my slot limit, so I kept moving toward the back of the creek.
Something was chasing the silversides at the back of the creek, and I finally managed to scare up this guy next to a wooden seawall:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/Ictalurus/116_3729.jpg
Woohoo! My first red of the year. I caught one a little bigger than this last year on the same exact day.
Not far from there, I found a couple fat 9.5" perch:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/Ictalurus/116_3735.jpg
They were much thicker than the picture implies and put up a good fight. Interestingly, the perch were only by natural shoreline--fallen trees, grassy slopes, stumps, etc. I didn't have much luck by piers, seawalls, and riprap.
A little ways from where I caught the perch, I rounded out my patriotic trifecta with a little bluefish:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/Ictalurus/116_3738_r1.jpg
By this time, flood tide had begun, and the wind had died, so I headed to the inlet again. No luck with rattletraps, Gulp grubs, or multiple Gulp/bucktail drifts, so I trolled the #14 Pet spoon out to 25ft and around outside in the river. There are lots of piers and riprapped areas south of the inlet, and the area north of the inlet had beaches and piers. The 25ft zone was less than 100yds from the inlet. There wasn't much action going on out there on my fish finder or on the surface, so I headed back to the inlet. The current was moving faster, so I wanted to do a more rigorous set of flounder drifts.
While drifting, a boat full of bikini babes showed up. It was like I was fishing in a beer commercial. Fortunately, my red safety pimp hat drives women wild. :rolleyes: :pp
With the wind and current in sync, I had much better drifts. There are several small humps near the center of the inlet halfway between the beginning of the riprap and the inlet mouth. I had several hits here and lost a couple of the Gulp shrimp I had on the bucktail, but I didn't have any hookups. I suspect they were probably large croaker, which I've caught on that set up in the Patuxent. The boat traffic started picking up, so I couldn't really work those areas without being in everyone's way. The salinity on the incoming tide actually dropped slightly, which surprised me. I guess the restrictive inlet lets the water in the creek sit and evaporate, which increases the salinity a bit. The same thing seems to be the case at St. Jeromes. Anyway, I hit a couple of the docks on the way back to the launch with the 2" grub and spinner arm but only had small bluefish bite offs.
There's better fishing at Buzz's, better perch at Bluhaven, but Tall Timbers has the best scenery by far. :D I'll definitely try it again later in the season for redfish, but I'll wait for when the tide is higher and the current is better. It'll also be worth hitting in the fall for topwater striper action, too. However, there were always one or two boats fishing the inlet while I was fishing it, so it might get a lot of pressure when things really heat up. I didn't see anybody catch anything while I was there. All the boaters and fishermen I encountered were courteous and friendly, and the inlet is wide enough for two 30-40ft boats to pass each other and still have plenty of room for a dopey kayaker to get out of the way. The area in the river outside of the inlet seemed pretty featureless, at least in the areas I trolled, so I'm not sure the bottom fishing would be very good. It would be about a mile from the inlet to get to a decent drop off according to the charts. The slope is pretty gradual. There weren't any people fishing the area outside of the inlet, so Cornfield Harbor and Piney Point are probably better bets for flounder and bottom fishing.
Here's Mrs. ictalurus and I swing dancing at the wedding reception later that afternoon:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/Ictalurus/116_3796.jpg
I thought the ghost effect was cool.