TWIF (This Week in Fishing) July 2nd - July 8th

Saturday, July 2nd: One of the many hazards of being me is the inability of sleeping late. As a teacher, 180 days out of the year, I like to get to the school building between 6:15 and 6:30 in the morning. (School doesn't start until 7:40.) I like to get there and get materials ready for the day. What that does is most of the other days of the year I don't "sleep in" much. Like this morning I woke up at 5:20. Knowing it would take an almost miracle for me to go back to sleep, I got up, ate breakfast and decided to head out fishing.

Since I had the time I drove the 40 minutes down to St. Mary's Lake. At the launch I met up with two different guys on bass boats as well as another kayak angler. We exchanged pleasantries and I headed out across the lake. Since the green nymph worked as well as it did in Salisbury I decided to use it again. I paddled along the northern edge of the lake making casts along the shore. (I'm going to say something about this also.*) I didn't get many bites until I paddled into one finger of the lake. My second cast in this area produced the very nice redear sunfish pictured above. The very next cast produced an 11 1/2 inch largemouth. It's always fun to get bites on successive casts. I paddled around for about another 90 minutes catching 2 or 3 more redear as well as a small, 14 inch, chain pickerel. Six total fish with three different species amounts to a very nice morning.

* Now for the footnote: St. Mary's Lake encompasses approximately 250 acres. Again when I arrived this morning there were four anglers preparing to leave the launch, two by power boat and two by kayak. Not to brag but I was the last to arrive and the first to get on my way to where I was going to fish. So why did one of the guys in the bass boat end up within 100 yds of where I was fishing? I mean I paddled across the lake, he used his trolling motor and stopped within 100 yds of me. I didn't say anything out loud but I wasn't pleased. Well I wasn't pleased until I caught that first redear and bass with him fishing nearby. I know it's petty but it felt good catching something when he wasn't. There my rant is over. Thanks for listening.

Sunday, July 3rd: Is there a such thing as "too many fish?" Or should I say "Is catching a fish on every third cast too much?" That's what fishing was like today. I headed over to the Patuxent River, launching out of Nan's Cove. As I arrived another angler was loading up his kayak as well. To say that his boat was pretty loaded would be an understatement. For me I thought I had a lot of stuff, some day I'll do a little writing about what's on mine, but he had a little more. He paddled out and I loaded my boat. After that I really did get to talk to him at all. I guess he was out for solitude like I am sometimes.

Back to fishing: today I paddled out about 2 hours before high tide. That seems to be the magic time - two hours before high tide and fish until the tide goes slack. That's what I did and it paid off. I think I caught just over 40 white perch, all 9 inches or smaller.

But honestly speaking it was how I enjoy myself. I was using the same Beetle Spin lure with a small plastic tube. I'd cast it out and allow it to sink for 4 or 5 seconds and then reel it in slowly. The perch would hit it pretty hard and I thoroughly loved it.

I did have one hiccup on the day. At one point I got a line twist on one of the rods. Being braided line I had to cut the line while the bait, pieces of shrimp on a circle hook, was in the water. After the repair was completed I pulled the broken line in and found that I had inadvertently caught a small blue crab. It shows that it helps to sometimes have a bait on the bottom.

Now on another note as I was leaving the cove I spotted two other kayak anglers. As I approached them I politely said "Hey having any luck?" I then realized that I knew both of them. One was a former student, and took longer to recognize due to his hat and sunglasses, and both were former members of the National Honor Society I sponsor. It was great seeing them and hope to see Jacob and Zack on the water again.

Monday, July 4th: Happy Birthday America! I spent some time this morning, before the rains came, standing on the side of a small private pond in an attempt to catch a couple of fish. I started using a 1/8 oz jig with an orange Berkley grub. Nothing was happening so I picked up my other rod which had a Rebel Wee-Frog tied on it. On the first cast about three cranks of the reel I was hooked up with an 11 inch largemouth. I made a few more casts but nothing was biting, so I made a move down the shoreline.

I ended up making two more moves and at each spot I caught one fish, either a bass or a crappie. The best fish of the day, or at least what I think was the best fish, ended up shaking off right at the shore when my line got a little caught on some bushes at shore. All totaled I caught three bass and one nice crappie while out.

Tuesday, July 5th:

Last day of serious fishing in Maryland for a while today since we will be leaving for vacation soon. I'll take some light gear with me but I'm not sure how much fishing I'll get a chance to do. I made my way over to Gilbert Run this morning in hopes to catch a few as I did the last time. Unfortunately that really wasn't the case. I had real troubles finding fish and only managed one bluegill and one bass. With the heat and humidity that set in today I'm not terribly surprised that I didn't do as well but I was still disappointed. Since the heat seems to be coming in this week it will be nice to get away from it. Not sure how much I'll post while on the road so we'll have to see.

Friday, July 8th:

Man it's been a few days since I wet a line. With my family and I heading halfway across the country, it meant a quite a few hours in the car. Fortunately we didn't hit much traffic and had a very nice atop in Chicago to see my nephew and my wife's aunt. So it wasn't until about 6 pm today that I had the chance to cast a lure.
We're staying at the Festiva Resort in Wisconsin Dells. It has a small, probably 2 to 2 1/2 acre "lake." Hummingbird Lake, as it is called, is home to several bluegill as well as some largemouth bass, as far as I could tell. The bluegill are plentiful and swim right up to the shore as you approach. (It looks like they are used to eating the scraps of bread thrown in for the ducks.) I was also able to see fish guarding beds. I tried a couple of lures and was finally able to catch a small one with a ultra light crankbait. I saw a couple of bass swim by so I took another rod and tied on a 1/8 oz jig and put a black and yellow Zoom grub trailer on it. There was plenty of grass for the bass to hide in so I would make my casts into that area and let it fall. After a tug and a twitch I'd get a bite or a pile of grass on it. The bites for nice ones and I was able to catch three nice largemouth. It was a terrific start to our stay here. I'm hoping to get my sons interested since it looks like it might be pretty easy. Until later ... Tight lines!!