National Relaxation Day, August 15th

**Disclaimer: While this won't be my most verbose blog post, I thought I'd share the steps of making the new baits I tried out yesterday. I hope to point together a nice post about my summer in a week or so, just before the new school year starts.

According to the "Twitterverse" yesterday was #NationalRelaxationDay. I decided to spend some time at my "makeshift" fly vice. I wanted to give a couple of things a try. Here's how it went:

Step 1:
I used a number 2 Mustad straight shank hook and I laid some wraps of thread.

Step 2:
I took a piece of copper wire, recycled from a piece of coaxial cable, and bent a hook into it. I then tied it to the bottom of the hook as a catch for soft plastics.

Step 3:
I had seen a YouTube video on how to tie a weed guard on a hook so I tied on a piece of monofilament line, 30# test.

Step 4:
I decided to leave one there. But I also thought I'd try to put "eyes" on one. I used the black head off of a curly tailed grub. It's probably a little bug for the presentation but I figured why not?

Step 5:
At that point it was a matter of putting the soft plastic trailer on it. I used a 2 inch grub from Yum "Christmas tree" color. The colors do a nice job matching the minnows I've been using on river.

Of course saying that I tied a hook to hold soft plastics, I'm not sure if it qualifies as a "fly" or not. But as they say "The proof is in the pudding." That afternoon I headed to one of my favorite spots, a private pond in the middle of the county. A few casts, on a light rod with 6# test monofilament line, the bait got tapped a couple of times. After a couple more casts I reeled in a small largemouth bass. When I brought the fish up I saw that he liked the lure since it was almost all the way down his throat. (The photo at the top of this post!) After it was released I changed locations a little and caught another largemouth. I was hoping to get a crappie or two, but alas no luck.

The next day I took the kayak out on the river. Using the same bait, I made casts to a location that I know usually holds fish. On the third cast, I hooked up with a small striped bass, or what might have been a hybrid between a white perch and a striper. After photos, I released it and made a few more casts. Unfortunately I didn't check my line and it snapped on my next hook up. I tied the other version of the lure on, without the "eyes" and caught two or three white perch on it before moving to another spot.

There's something satisfying about making a lure yourself and then actually catching fish with it. Now I just have to make a few more...Always check your line as well as your knots. Until next time...Tight lines!!

Dorchester County Trifecta (August 5th, 2017)

Early in the summer, my family and I visited Cascade Lake in Carroll County which afforded me the opportunity to add that county to my list in my quest to “Fish Across Maryland.” This past Saturday I decided to try and get another. Since my wife and youngest son were away at “Basic Leadership Training” with his NJROTC unit, and my oldest son had to work, I woke up nice and early. I took the dog out for a walk and had a quick breakfast and then climbed in the car. Living in Maryland, most Marylanders know that you usually don’t travel east across the bay bridge unless you can get an early start. I ended up having no trouble at all and made good time towards Cambridge, just across the Choptank River. My original plan was to put in right in Cambridge at Sail Winds Park, but the evening before I check a couple of things online and decided to go to Secretary, MD. It is about 15 minutes northeast of Cambridge itself and it sits on the Warwick River, a tributary of the Choptank. I’m happy I did go to Secretary because as I cross the bridge into Cambridge I could see that the winds had kicked up whitecaps and I had no desire to fight them.

The boat launch I found was right off Second Street. It had plenty of parking for trailer as well as a very wide ramp. Knowing that I might be a little while loading up, to catch some minnows as bait, I decided to put the kayak in along the wooden walkway a little way from the ramp itself. I dropped the minnow trap in, loaded up the kayak, and then parked to car. It was now that I learned that I had only caught 6 or 8 minnows and I wanted more. I moved the trap to another location along the little cut in the marsh and climbed in the kayak and paddled across from the launch. There I made casts with a small grub on a 1/16 oz. jig. A couple of casts into the morning and I was hooked up with a familiar fish, a white perch (Morone americana).

I have caught loads of white perch back home, and had used white perch as the “qualifying fish” in one other county, Talbott County. Again, I had driven a little over 2 hours, and I wasn’t going to just load back up and be done, so I made a few more casts and caught a couple more. I then paddled back toward my trap and found that I had a good three dozen minnow to work with for a little while.

I made my way out into the main channel, under the small bridge, and was reminded why I was happy I hadn’t launched on the main river. The wind was blowing nicely and I had no problems moving. Of course, the paddle back, into the wind, was going to be a little tougher. I made my way east in the river, passing by a very nice set of townhomes.

In fact as I paddled past, a very nice older lady spoke to me saying that I looked like “I could use another hand.” I agreed and mentioned how nice the temperatures felt in early August (low 80’s instead of low 90’s) to which she agreed as well. I paddled a little further, just past the townhomes and thought I would try that area. I had a small circle hook on a bigger rod, spooled with 20-pound braided line. Just above the hook I had a small piece, 1/8 oz., piece of split shot. I put a minnow on my line and made a cast to about 10 yards from sure. As I reeled in the slack, I felt a terrific pull and it was game on. I began to reel, keeping the rod high, and noticed that I was being towed a little. The fish was staying down as I tried to lift the rod and reel in the line. At one point, I got a look at it before it dove back down. It was a good size, but unfortunately, I couldn’t quite tell what yet. I fought it a little more and finally got it to the surface. It was at this point I wish I had brought a larger cooler with me, or even a cooler on the kayak at all, since I had a 20-inch channel catfish in my net. Again, this was really 30 minutes into my outing and I didn’t want to turn around then, so I decided to let it swim away. I baited up again and made a few more casts. I felt the familiar “tap tap” of the perch pulling at my minnow, and I caught a dozen or so. I also hooked up with, about 5 minutes after the first one, another catfish, this one about 18 inches. Again, I wish I had a bigger cooler with me.

Now some folks refer to catching three different species of fish as a “grand slam.”: But being a baseball fan and knowing that a “grand slam” scores 4 runs, I like to refer to three different species as a “trifecta.” After about 40 minutes of catching perch, and the catfish, I moved a little further out into the channel, such as it was. I made a few casts, lost a few minnows, but eventually got hooked up again. This time the fish was staying more towards the surface of the water, but it was also able to tow, or at least turn, the kayak some. I fought it to the boat and had a 16 inch “rockfish” or striped bass.

Three species in one location really, the kind of fishing I really enjoy. Cast out a line, hold on and be a little surprised at what bites.

That brings my count of Maryland counties to 15 out of 24, just over 62%. I hope to get one more before school starts, but time will tell. Until then…Tight Lines!

Just as a side note on the ride home from Dorchester County, I stopped off at the Wye Mills Community Lake. I like to break up drives by fishing for about 45 minutes or so along the stream that flows out of the dam there. While there on Saturday, I did catch a “slam.” While there I caught a few bluegills, a white perch, a black crappie and a green sunfish = four species. In fact, I caught 6 different species on the day! I really enjoyed that day!!