Although I haven't had much luck with them yet this year, a 2-3" curly tail grub, or twin tailed grub in white or chartreuse on an 1/8oz head can be killer, especially when things warm up. A beetle spin type spinner arm can be a good addition. I tear up perch up to 12" near the riprap by Solomons in September and October. I'm told bloodworms are a good bet this time of year.
as i sit here eating 2 11 inch+ WP i caught last night off the PLO pier, i can tell you from experience that bloodworms are working right now! Although i havent had any bonanza nights down on the pier, i have been catching at least one or 2 very nice perch each night this week...
I have been catching them down at the end of the pier, as far out as I can cast (i use relatively small setups, 7ft rods or less with up to 4 ounces of weight), so im not getting out there *all* that far. The pier has not been crowded YET (fingers crossed)...once the croaker start biting it will become a madhouse down there. In 7 trips to the pier in the last 2 weeks, i have caught 5 rockfish in addition to the perch, up to 27 inches, all on bloodworms.
I have found that the best time, at least this week anyways, has been between 6:15 and 7 PM, although i have not been able to stay later than 8:45 any night, so its possible they may be biting later as well.
i should be down there tonight, probably around 7 - 7:30, and hopefully pretty much every other night this week. i'll have a green hat on, be sure to say hi if you make it down.
Yes. I don't know if sandy bottom is important because perch can be caught in some marshy creeks where the bottom is probably muddy. When it's warmer, I usually find them in shallow water, but the bigger ones might be deeper, I'm not sure. In St. Jerome's they're pretty much all along the shoreline, but I've caught some nice ones by riprap and the piers.
Thanks guys. I got my game plan for Spring Stripers before May 15.
Well, one of the reasons I try to catch some WP is to use them as live baits for stripers as well as for dinner. I found last year that, trolling for Spring and Fall stripers was very hard. Usually, the winds were too strong to paddle for hours, especially, competing with boats miles off the shore. I have caught stripers on 10" croakers and WP on a boat, not on a kayak yet. This spring, I decided to catch small WP (hopefully 8”) or small croakers (9"+ to be legal) first before I hit the main body of the water.
To do this, I need to catch 2-3 WP quickly within an hour. All I need is 2.
The best place for live-lining in the spring for me is Potomac side water (between PLO and Piney Point) because the Potomac side is calmer (no problem with wind of 15MPH) and I don't have to paddle far out from the shore (1-2 miles, instead of 3-5 miles).
I will be using WP and croaker on a large circle hook. Unlike eels, I can not catch under-sized stripers on WP and croakers longer than 8”+.
If the wind is not too strong on Apr 18, I am planning to fish PLO. If the wind is too strong then I will fish in ST Jerome’s Creek.
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