Father's Day Perching

[goose70]

My wife encouraged me to go fishing for father's day, and my 7-year-old son overheard that I'd be going. I figured it would be too early for him, but he really wanted to go. I told him that I'd love to have his company if he was up and dressed by 5:15am.

At 4:45am, I awoke to see him standing next to my bed, dressed and ready to go. I guess the apple doesn't fall far...

I'm really glad he did, because it turned out to be the best father's day gift I could have received. We borrowed my dad's Grady (not quite a Parker, but what is?) and ran to a small tidal pond just before Round Bay. To echo all of the other reports, it was loaded with white perch. Grass shrimp worked at first, of course, but after we ran out we found plain grubs and Mini-'Traps to work just as well. Most fish were solidly between 9"-10", although we caught a handful of 7"-8" fish. We kept six for dinner and were back at the dock by 7:45. I was then rewarded with a glorious nap.

The other great news is that we saw a lot of peanut bunker and found all sorts of grass shrimp, small crabs, mummies, needlefish, pipefish, hogchokers, silversides and other species in our bait net with each scoop. The water vis wasn't terrible, either, and SAV was growing in a few spots where I don't recall seeing it before. In fact, the pond/cove we fished has been a dud in past years, so it's great to see the Severn really popping to life all over this year.

A few pics:

[rem1224]

Jeff - - what at great way to spend Father's Day. Your son looks right at home in the Captain's seat. My boys are much older and getting them out of bed before 9:00AM most days can be a challenge now.

Nice to hear some good news on the Severn water quality and variety of marine life - - maybe there is hope for the future of the bay yet.