Super low water level in Severn today

[J.A. Veil]

I launched my kayak in Weems Creek (ramp shown below) about noon and paddled out to the main river. I can't recall seeing the water this low before. I saw quite a few sailboats leaning over on the keels. As I returned into Weems from the upriver side, the bar coming off the northern creek point extended out almost half way across the creek mouth -- it was less than 1 ft depth that far out, and I could not cut the corner even in my kayak.The 2-3 ft water level drop moved all the pickerel off of their normal hangouts. I ended up catching one gullible pickerel in a creek where I have not fished before. I then tried fishing in two other creeks where I have caught fish recently. I fished in many of the shoreline stretches that normally hold pickerel (these are also good perch spots in the warmer weather). In two hours of trying, I had two nibbles but no fish caught. I did take away an educational opportunity. Many of the pickerel I have caught this winter are hanging out on shallow shelves or flats between the shore and a drop off. The most productive of these have submerged branches and other wood. I was able to snap some photos showing the way the habitat looks (normally these shelves and flats are covered by 2-3 feet of water. Here are a few examples:This small spot predictably holds 1 or 2 pickerel. This location was a great perch spot last summer. I pulled 5 pickerel out of a 100-ft long stretch in 30 minutes here in Jan. This location often holds perch in the summer.This is a go-to spot for perch all summer, and produced a few early and mid-fall pickerel. Try to envision what these areas look like when submerged and find similar spots for yourself.

[240 LTS]

John,
Thanks for having you camera with you.
I do not fish down that way at all but it is still good to see and document unusual water levels.

Thanks again!

Jeff
240 LTS


.

[Chesapeake TJAM]

John-Thats cool. Who needs a fancy sonar when you have actual pics. When the water comes back in you know exactly where and how that limb/tree sits. Pretty cool. Thanks for sharing.
Mike

[axxell33]

Wow! I wanted to get out today, but just haven't been able to make it. Any ideas on what caused these water levels? Perhaps a combination of strong tides and some of the strong winds we had last few days?

I'm dying to get back into the water.. and it looks great. Nice and clean.. almost a greenish tint to it.

Weather is going to be sunny and 62 degrees tomorrow. If this keeps up, we'll be seeing a white perch spawn pretty early. I can't wait!

[J.A. Veil]

Any ideas on what caused these water levels? Perhaps a combination of strong tides and some of the strong winds we had last few days?!

Almost certainly the very strong winds on Fri and Sat pushed water out of the bay, dragging water from the tributaries with it. The Chesapeake Bay is a shallow estuary. We do have two tidal cycles per day, but the tidal movement can easily be overwhelmed by local or regional winds.

It will be interesting to see if the water sloshing back in makes for a very high tide today. I hope someone who lives near the water or who is out fishing today can report on that.

[axxell33]

Almost certainly the very strong winds on Fri and Sat pushed water out of the bay, dragging water from the tributaries with it. The Chesapeake Bay is a shallow estuary. We do have two tidal cycles per day, but the tidal movement can easily be overwhelmed by local or regional winds.

It will be interesting to see if the water sloshing back in makes for a very high tide today. I hope someone who lives near the water or who is out fishing today can report on that.

I'll walk over to the Marina this evening after work and take a look. If I had thought about it, I would have stopped by this morning on my way out.

[J.A. Veil]

I had a power plant rips trip that got cancelled today, so I took the kayak out again. This time I stayed in Weems Creek for 2 hours. The water level had risen to the point of being a "typical" low tide -- it was still low, but much higher than yesterday's epic water levels.

For the most part, the pickerel were not home in the places where I have been catching them. Even though the water was high enough to provide some habitat, the fish had not yet come back (or if they were there, they were not biting). I ended up catching 7 pickerel -- all but one were in areas in which I have not previously caught pickerel this year. I fished six of my regular spots and caught only one pickerel out of all those locations. That was an interesting result. One 50-yd stretch of shoreline that holds a few summertime perch but never before any pickerel produced 5 pickerel today!

[axxell33]

Water was still really low this afternoon. I stopped by the neighborhood beach and took a couple of pictures.

[J.A. Veil]

Brad -


I thought that water levels would have rebounded by now, but I guess not. I was on the Severn from 1:00 to 3:30 today. The water was very low when I started, and seemed to still be dropping when I returned. I actually had to get out of my kayak and drag it 50 yards through 2" of water to get into the area I wanted to fish.

Here is a graph of water levels at the Annapolis data station.

http://tidesonline.nos.noaa.gov/plot...nnapolis%2C+MD

[27 sailfish]

Cool idea taking pictures of the exposed structure.

FWIW: Headwaters at 4:00 pm were extremely low.