Sunday 7/8 perch jerkin and a rat red surprise!

[SteveL]

This morning my 14 yr old son and I launched out of Truxton Park on Spa Creek at 6:30 for a morning of Severn River white perch fishing. We found plenty of perch in most of the shady shoreline areas we fished, and we put plenty in the cooler.

In a creek north of the Rt 50 bridge my son caught an 11 inch red drum, a small "rat red" and it was his first-ever redfish. The fish had a single "eyespot" at the base of its tail so it had the classic red drum look. It was very cool to see the fish in the Severn and it fits the pattern of small red drum showing up in good numbers in the Pax and South rivers recently. He also caught a 4 inch blue fish so we had three species for the morning.

We used our super secret perch lures--beetle spins with 1/16 oz jigheads and 2 inch gulp twister tail grubs fished on ultra light spinning gear.

[J.A. Veil]

Thanks for the report. I know someone else who caught a juvenile red drum in the Severn today. I really want to get one myself.

[tacklemake]

I will be on the reef tomorrow and I will let you know..woody

[SteveL]

Woody,

The red we caught was in a creek on a steeply sloping sandy bottom in 4-5 ft of water near lots of shoreline structure (fallen trees and old logs) and near deeper (10-12 ft) water. I have found them in creeks off the Pax in other years in similar conditions. One of the fish I caught on the Pax spit out a softshell crab when I got him to the boat; I suspect these rat reds are feasting on softies, grass shrimp, and minnows in the shallows, just like the white perch.

[goose70]

Good work. Near Yantz creek I caught a few puppy red and black drum over a several year period ('05-'08 I think). I started calling the place "puppy drum point," but of course that name jinxed it and I haven't caught one since. I'm glad to see that they're back, and from the reports, maybe back stronger than ever.