Toothy invaision

[attml]

Got out and fished a little while this morning hoping for some Rock in the shallows or some pickerel. Once again no rock but I did find some Severn gators. I hooked a total of 7 of the toothy critters including two pigs but wound up only landing one. All of them were very aggresive with some heavy duty head shaking (hence the reason I only landed one ). I am hopeful that it is going to be a good pickerel year as last year was a slow one for me!! Who wants to start the winter pickerel tournament on December
1st?

[J.A. Veil]

That is good to hear that you are catching pickerel, particularly after all rain we have had this week. It looks like you were using a beetle spin type bait.

[attml]

Thanks John! That just looks like a beetle spin - I caught them casting an umbrella rig I would never use a beetle spin for pickerel because they definitely don't work

[attml]

Figured I would try it again this afternoon since it was so hot this morning. No pickerel this afternoon but I did manage a fat perch that put up a good fight. It felt no less stout than the pickerel I had hooked up this morning and I was actually very suprised when I landed that instead of a pickerel! It is a flood tide right now all the way up over some break walls!

[deadlowtide]

Pretty work, ol' pal. How big was the hog? I haven't seen much over 22 this fall.

[attml]

Thanks Chris. Got it to within four feet from me and it was fatter and longer than any other ones I have caught this year. Definitely over 22 inches!

[J.A. Veil]

You are doing much better than me. I spent an hour and a half fishing the shorelines of the outer part of Weems Creek this afternoon by kayak. The water was not as muddy as I expected, but was extremely high -- above some of the lower bulkheads.

I did not get a single bite or follow in all that time. I have been in a dry spell recently and hope to break out of it soon.

[attml]

Sorry you didn't get into any John! I was suprised to get as many bites as I did in the morning! Most people will tell you that a fish won't hit after it has felt hooks but I am not convinced when it comes to pickerel! Seems like seven pickerel in the condensed area I was in was a lot!

It was definitely a high tide this afternoon! It was in my neighbors yard two houses down!!!!

[J.P. Williams]

Gentlemen--

Good stuff, Mark!!

Tide, you say? I had all six wheels in water launching [I]First Light[I] this afternoon. Got two 18" rock & a super-fat 12" white perch LTJ'ing between the Rt. 50 bridge & Round Bay. They all hit 1/2-oz. jigs w/ 5" Gulp! Alive jerk shads. The perch took the whole lure, with only the jig head sticking out of its mouth. What a ferocious predator!

Nice patches of fish around, but this was a quick trip to see what the river is doing, so I didn't stay with 'em. I stopped to talk w/ the guys with the tug & barge full of crushed granite that will go onto the upper & lower sections of Capt. Pike's Lump (aka the Bar & Grill) as part of a Corps of Engineers study of alternative substrates for oyster reef restoration. Ida held 'em up. They're going to start placing the material Monday. The crane has a GPS sensor at the tip, so placement will be precise (they have already side-scanned the bottom).

Ran a temp/salinity/DO profile in the 40' hole between Sherwood Forest & the Aisquith Reef, as I have been doing once a week since Labor Day. Last week, the river was stratified, w/ the bottom saltier (13.5 PSUs) than the surface (10.5 PSUs) but warmer (56)than the surface (54). DO has been OK since the temp fell into the low 60s.

Well, Ida had her effect. The temp (54) and salinity (10.5 PSUs) are uniform top to bottom. Now we know how much energy it takes to turn the river over. I'm sure our pickerel are breathing a sigh of relief for the lower salinity.

See you on the river.

Best, JPW

[goose70]

Got two 18" rock & a super-fat 12" white perch LTJ'ing between the Rt. 50 bridge & Round Bay. They all hit 1/2-oz. jigs w/ 5" Gulp! Alive jerk shads. The perch took the whole lure, with only the jig head sticking out of its mouth. What a ferocious predator!

I hope that you let that baby Perch loose to grow up into a Ben Oaks beast!

Interesting info about the turnover. Thanks for posting it. I hope to fish a little next weekend.

Thanks for the Pickerel report, Mark....I'm really looking forward to this year's gator season. The canoe has patiently waited for it all summer.