TWIF (This Week in Fishing) May 14th - 20th

Saturday, May 14th:

The sun came out in earnest this morning. To say that it was a glorious beginning on the day would almost be an understatement. The air temperature to start the day was in the mid 50's with bright sunny skies. Unfortunately sometimes during those bright sunny days the fish don't always cooperate. Despite all that my time on St. Mary's Lake was very enjoyable. I paddled around with my tube and jig making casts. I ended up with four fish, split evenly between largemouth and chain pickerel.

Later the same day, after a soccer game for my son and a nice dinner I took the kayak once again. I drove over to Nan's Cove which boasts a very nice roll out kayak launch. Nan's Cove sits on the Patuxent River, which separates Calvert and St. Mary's Counties. I go over to the river more in the summer time for bottom fishing for croakers and spot. But I also like casting a small spinner bait, some call them a "Beetle spin." As I reeled it in I could feel small tugs from the baitfish. But as I went by one retaining wall I felt a better pull and reeled in a small white perch, my first of the season. I'll wait another week or so and then go back and see if the perch have really shown up.

Sunday, May 15th: Once again the sun was out this morning and I hit Lake Lariat. The wind came up as well but that just kept me moving, sometimes faster than I wished. I didn't get a whole lot bites and I had 4 or 5 bass spit the hook when I had them near the kayak. (I have to put some thought into that - I prefer a smaller jig so I can catch panfish as well as bass.) In fact my best fish of the day were the first and last of the day, a 12 inch largemouth and a 10 inch crappie.

After some fun with the family on Sunday I took the opportunity to take a little walk to a small pond. One of my former students is a Maryland Dept of Natural Resources officer now and he told me about a small pond on the "Bennett O. Hughes Memorial Tree Farm" property. It was about a 10 minute walk back to a small pond. It looked pretty typical for our area, but with loads of duckweed. I took to casting a 1/4 oz jig with a Powerbait grub. I ended up catching one bluegill and had a couple of other bites. I'll definitely go back again.

Tuesday, May 17th: Another mid week spell of fishing, much like the others the last couple of weeks; a private pond, casting a jig with a Bobby Garland monkey milk shad soft plastic, as well as a black and yellow grub from Zoom. Results were similar to other weeks as well with a couple of crappie and a largemouth being caught. The part that made things interesting was while I was reeling in my first crappie. When the fish was about 6 ft from shore, an osprey swooped down within 18 inches of the surface of the water in an attempt to steal my catch. It freaked me out! Not sure what I would have done if it had, but man what a story it would have been. Either way it was a pretty awesome sight to see.

Thursday, May 19th:

The last two days at school have been filled with testing. Senior finals, national assessments, I walked by one colleague and heard him mention "It feels very soul sucking" or in other words everyone is pretty drained. But as I got home my wife mentioned that it was a gorgeous afternoon and that I should head out. As I've said before "If my wife asks if I'm going fishing she might have inside information and the fish just may be biting." I took the kayak down to Lake Lariat and paddled around for just over two hours. I ended up with about a dozen fish, mostly black crappie. But I did get five species due to catching a nice 19 & 1/2 inch channel catfish. I've caught a few down there before and I always enjoy the fight while on the kayak.

Until next week…Tight Lines!