TWIF (This Week in Fishing) June 18th - 24th

Saturday, June 18:

With having such wonderful weather today I spent the main part of it with my wife and sons. But as we were beginning to think about evening plans I mentioned that I want to drive down to Lake Lariat. I put the kayak on the water around 5:30 and began to paddle around. I had a small green critter from Johnson's on a 1/32 oz jig. I was able to catch a couple of fish, a bass and a bluegill, with it before I had a serious line wrap on the spinning reel. I ended up having to cut the line and retie the jig. Upon doing so I decided to give another bait a try. I pulled out a small, inch and a half, black bodied with pink tail grub from Portco. I found them last year and had some success with them. I figured let's see how they do. Using it I caught a few more, smaller, largemouth as well as a couple more bluegill. It wasn't until I was on my way back to the launch, about 3 hours later, that I was able to catch my third species, a small black crappie.

Not sure what the rest of the week will hold, but I do know that I need to find the leak in my kayak. After each trip recently I've had to pour out at least a gallon of water that has gotten into the haul. Hopefully I can find it tomorrow.

Sunday, June 19th:

Woke up today, Father's Day, and had breakfast. My wife asked what I wanted to do and mentioned that I could go fishing if I wanted. You don't have to say it twice. So I loaded up and headed to St. Mary's Lake. Once there I paddled across to an area which seems to have fish. I had a few nibbles on the jig and green nymph but nothing took it hard. I made my way into one finger of the lake, protected from the wind and gave the "Frog R" a cast. About half way back to the kayak, a 13 inch largemouth grabbed hold and wouldn't let go. I paddled around some more with very few bites until I went past one shoreline that again always seems to hold fish. I made a cast with the jig and hooked up with the very nice redear sunfish in the photo. All totaled fishing was pretty slow with only catching two more bass.

The side note from Saturday has been addressed. Upon getting home I put the kayak on the rack and added quite a bit of water. I found that I had two cracks beside the scupper holes in the front.

I bought some sealant and applied it. Now I need to wait a day or so to see if it works. If not I may be trying "Flex Seal." You know the stuff from the tv commercial.

Monday, June 20th:

The first "official" day of summer is here. With my oldest son getting together with a friend this evening, I put off going fishing until later in the day. In fact I didn't get on the water until after 6 pm. I was really happy I waited since most of the heat of the day had diminished by then. I drove Michael down to the "Ranch Club" for his date. That meant I headed over to Lake Lariat for 2 & 1/2 hours. Things were relatively slow with just a few smaller fish being caught. I did manage four species with catching a small channel catfish as the first of the day. I also caught a few bluegill, crappie as well as a few bass. I even got one of the bass on the Rebel Frog R which is becoming a favorite lure of mine. We'll see what tomorrow holds...

Wednesday, June 22:

Well you can see that "tomorrow" didn't hold a thing since I skipped a day of fishing. But today I headed over to Gilbert Run Park in southern Charles County. I haven't done a lot of fishing there, since it's about a 40 minute drive. But in the interest of full disclosure it takes the same amount of time to drive to St. Mary's Lake. Anyway I put the kayak in and spent a couple of hours casting like usual, around the shoreline, looking for fish. Using the green nymph and a black and white tube I was able to catch a few. Three species but I only caught four fish in total.

Later in the afternoon on Wednesday I saw a "tweet" from the Fishnerds. If you enjoy fishing and haven't given their podcast a listen I think you really should. Their "tweet" mentioned taking a "fishselfie" while wearing on of their hats. As luck would have it I had my beanie in the car as I took my youngest son to soccer practice. I hit a local pond and tried several baits, the Wee-frog, the Frog R as well as as medium diving crankbait. None of them worked. I decided before leaving that I'd try a 1/8 oz jig with an orange grub trailer, from Berkley. That was the bait that paid off for this wonderful picture.

Thursday, June 23rd:

Thursday's fishing began with a debate on what to try first. I needed to drop off the dog for an appointment so I really couldn't start bright and early. So I decided to give another small pond a try. I had the 1/8 oz jig from the day before and thought I'd give it another try. It paid off with a nice crappie as well as a couple of bites that I didn't get to shore. Next time right...

Later in the day I took the kayak over to the Patuxent in search of white perch. The tide was falling so I stayed within Nan's Cove and caught just over a dozen small ones. But more importantly, and I apologize for tooting my own horn, I took some time to pull a couple of things out of the river itself. I found a bucket floating on the shoreline as well as an old tire sitting in the mud.

Not minding getting dirty I climbed out and put them both, along with an old plastic bag, on the front of my kayak and took them home. In all honesty I'll use the bucket with my National Honor Society group's efforts in roadside cleanups so it's the ultimate in recycling. Pull it out of the environment since it was trash and reuse it when picking up other trash.

Friday, June 24th:

To close out this week in fishing I headed down to Lake Lariat after my son's swim practice. As I paddled around I saw loads of bluegill hitting small flies that were on the surface. But wouldn't you know I couldn't get any of them to take my top water cricket. I did catch a couple on the green nymph. I hooked one fish, not sure what, that broke my line off in an area with a fallen tree and its branches. I replaced the nymph with a silver tube which helped me catch a few small crappie as well as a couple of small bass. There was one spot on the lake where I always seem to catch panfish and it's where I caught a couple of crappie today. Well between casts that brought in crappie I hooked up with the yellow perch you see in the photo. I have to say that I really like the diversity in Lake Lariat and I hope it stays healthy. Until next week... Tight lines!