Better grade of croaker, Solomons, 6/10

[ictalurus]

I hit the water at 5:30pm, which was just after max ebb. I actually remembered my bait shrimp this time. :clapping2: They were kind of raunchy and mushy from having been thawed and frozen so many times. doh

I headed across the Patuxent to the Green Holly Pond area. I heard in the past that there were bigger croaker over there, and I had never been over there. I trolled my redhead Stretch 15 over there with no bites. I fished that area from about 33ft to 8ft and picked up 5 croakers in the 9-11" range and 2 in the 12-13" range. All were caught on shrimp. The bigger croakers were in the 7-10ft deep areas.

I started back toward Solomons at about 7pm. It was about slack tide, and the bite had died. On the way back, I trolled a silver pet spoon with a blue prism sticker and yellow feather. In about 40ft of water, I saw a big school of something on my sonar that was so dense the signal didn't hit the bottom. It looked like there were bluefish marks around it, so I jigged a bucktail around and cast the trolling spoon through it, but there were no takers.

I fished the shallows between the CBL pier and the Sandy Point day marker in about 8ft of water from about 7:45 to 8pm (early flood) and picked up 2 more 12-13 inchers and one that was 11"+ in fairly short order. I missed several fish. Circle hooks on my bottom rig work great with my distraction technique. I caught the 12-incher while photographing the 13-incher. Check out the sequence:

The 13-incher:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/Ictalurus/112_4945.jpg

The hook set:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/Ictalurus/112_4946.jpg

Reeling:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/Ictalurus/112_4947.jpg

The 12-incher:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/Ictalurus/112_4948.jpg

The distraction technique also worked pretty well over by Green Holly. I caught several fish while digging in my cooler for my dinner, eating, or putting fish in the cooler. Now, if I could only successfully fish two rods at the same time... :scratchchin3:

The water temperature was 74-75*, and the sunset was pretty nice (a short exposure made it look really dark):

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/Ictalurus/112_4949.jpg

I think the bite was really turning on with nightfall and increasing current speed, but I had to go in. I've been wondering why I haven't caught many big croaker since moving to Maryland. When I lived in Virginia, I wouldn't keep anything under 14-15", but I haven't caught many that big here. Maybe I'm not fishing shallow enough. I could wade out almost 70 yards before hitting the channel where I used to fish at Gloucester Point. The places I fished on the Eastern Shore were pretty shallow, too. At least it seems I'm getting closer to that mark.

Anyway, it was a pretty awesome evening to be out, and I'm looking forward to getting a couple of meals out of the 4 fish I kept.

[mbla]

Congrads, nice looking Croakers there ictalurus!
I'm gonna try and get out tomorrow, thanks for the report..
M.

[ictalurus]

They weren't that big length-wise, but they had really nice fillets. I'll get a couple two-person meals out of them. Let us know how you do if you get out tomorrow.

[moc]

Good Job on the catch and the photos. Where do you advise launching from at Solomons? I have always just payed the bucks and use the boat ramp under the Rt 4 Bridge, especially after the blocked off the area on the sand near the pier.

[ictalurus]

That's kind of a crock that fishing from the pier is free, but you have to pay to launch a kayak. You're not taking up any more parking places than pier fishermen, and you're not putting wear and tear on the ramp.

I uploaded a map of two launch places. I generally wheel my kayak from my parking place at the lab and launch at "Solomons launch 2". Coming from Rt4 onto Solomons, take a left onto Williams Street after you pass the house on the left with the rose bushes and concrete geese wearing funny outfits. It's a gravel launch. You can probably park next to the fence there and be OK, but don't go through the gate on the right near the gravel launch. That's the watermens' area, and the gate gets locked sometimes. You can also park by the river at the area I marked "parking" on the map. It's not as far as it looks on the map.

If I'm fishing the bridge or the other side of the Pax, I launch by the little beach that's across the street from the big church. It's the first parking lot on the right as you're coming onto Solomons. I marked it "Solomons launch 1". You'll have to lift your kayak over the little seawall (less than 2ft tall) and put your yak down on the sand, but it's not bad. That area is a little public beach, so I'm not sure how crowded it is on weekends. There's a kayaking club that launches there on Thursday evenings, so I'm not the only one that uses it.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

Solomons map:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/Ictalurus/Solomons_launches.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/Ictalurus/Solomons_launches.jpg

[moc]

Thanks for the info. This is a big help. Now I can avoid the old woman on the golf cart who tries to make kayakers pay to use the peir area and sandy beach. Maybe I will see you on the water there sometime. I am in a Orange Tarpon 120 or a green 16 foot canoe with a trolling motor.

[Friday]

I remember years ago Bill helped me out finding nice kayak-fishing places. I still have unfishnished business in the area. That is finding a good sized flounder.
Thank you Bill, for the all the help you provided in the past. I have been trying to pay forward as much as possible.

Joe

[ictalurus]

No sweat, Joe. I get a lot out of reading your posts, which is usually part of my Monday morning routine. I'm glad I can help people find launch locations. I always try to fish when I go on vacation, and finding access to the water is usually the hardest part.

If it stays dry like this, you might get your monster flounder. I'm hoping for a keeper redfish from Point Lookout or St. Jeromes.