TWIF (This Week in Fishing) April 30th - May 6th

This week's fishing adventure began Saturday morning around 9:00 on St. Mary's Lake about 40 minutes south of here. Overcast skies, a slight breeze and air temperatures in the mid 50's, I thought conditions were terrific for a morning of fishing. I had three rods rigged three different ways but went with the trusty tube and 1/32 oz jig. It paid off with a little over a dozen fish, mostly largemouth bass. I was able to catch five different species, including a small chain pickerel as well as a small, maybe 5 inch, yellow perch. That's the greatest number of species ever at this location.

Sunday morning: May is here and the rains came with it. I had planned on putting the kayak on the water but with the showers we received made that a moot point. Anyway that didn't deter my desire to wet a line. I started at a small private pond, one I've mentioned before. I decided to try an orange Powerbait grub on a 1/8 oz jig. It paid off with a couple of bass, both about 14 inches. On the ride home I tried another pond a couple of my students told me about. I had a few nice takes, but only got one to shore, a nice crappie.

After warming up at the house for a little bit, I decided to drive up to Sewell Branch, the small creek in the middle of the county. It's my one spot in Calvert County where I can target chain pickerel. And today I was able to get two really nice ones. Casting to old trusty silver and speckled Arkie tube I hooked into a 22" and 23" fish. Not one between 22 and 23 inches, but two different fish.

Tuesday, May 3:

Middle of the week and getting a chance to fish is always fun. The convenience of Tuesday's attempt was wonderful. My youngest son had a track meet in Charles County. Literally across the street from the school is Tilghman Lake Park. It has a pond, with a small pier that stretches out about 60 ft or so into the water. I had a small yellow and black Zoom grub tied onto a 1/32 jig. I made some casts along the edge of some vegetation and reeled in slowly. On the third or fourth cast my lure got hit close to the pier. I made sure it was hooked and reeled in a small black crappie. It was the first fish I've caught at this location so I was pretty happy. More later I hope.

Friday, May 6th: To say that it's been wet in our area is an understatement. We've had rain each day this week and you can really tell when you look at the smaller bodies of water. The water itself is almost a mocha color which really has made fishing kind of tough. Standing on shore you better be throwing something with some flash if you want to attract any attention. Today while my oldest son was at swim practice I hit a private pond with a Panther Martin "Vivif Style Spinner Minnow." Imagine a normal inline spinner but with a soft plastic swimbait as a trailer. The blade did the trick as I was able to catch a nice largemouth as I swam it along the shoreline. Hopefully the rains will stop soon and I can get the kayak back out. Until then … Tight lines!

TWiF (This Week in Fishing) April 23rd - April 29th

Saturday April 23 Fishing took a backseat for a little while today. I spent the morning between a roadside cleanup with the National Honor Society I sponsor and some yard work that needed to be done. But around 3:30 or so I gave the creek at Sewell Branch a try. I tried an inline spinner, as well as a smaller Rapala jerkbait. Not much luck, but I did "catch" one small bluegill. Actually foul hooked him so does that even count as a catch? More tomorrow.

Sunday, April 24th: after church in the morning I grabbed the kayak and headed down to Lake Lariat. Bright blues skies, a slight breeze with temperatures in the mid 60's or so, it was gorgeous. Casting the same small jig and tube as usual I was able to catch quite a few panfish. I ended up with about two dozen fish in total, with most of them being bluegill and crappie. In fact while I was snapping a photo of one nice crappie my bait was in the water and another smaller crappie took it and ran. I did manage to get a "slam" when the last fish I caught was a very pretty red ear sunfish.

Some people like to call them "shellcrackers" since they predominantly eat small snails and mollusks. Until later in the week...

Tuesday- primary Election Day in Maryland and my school system had inservices. With a little later start I tied a Rebel Pop R onto one of my rods and headed to a small private pond. Casting along the shoreline paid off as I caught a nice largemouth as he hit the lure once and then inhaled it on the second hit.

It was like reeling in a drift sock since the bait was sideways in his mouth.

Later Tuesday, after my meetings were completed, I took the kayak down to Lake Lariat. We had a pretty strong breeze so fishing was a little difficult. (I was wishing the entire time that I had an anchor.) I made my way along the bank and caught another good number of panfish. Nothing really big, but it was time on the water which is always fun.

Whohoo! It's Friday and I have been blessed. I was asked last week if I'd be able to do some announcing at a school softball game. Due to the cool and damp weather the game was postponed which left me with taking my oldest son, walking the dog and an empty afternoon. Of course I took the kayak down to my current favorite spot, Lake Lariat. I spent a couple of hours paddling around the lake casting along the shoreline. I figure it's close to time for the fish to really start spawn because I caught a few bass but not any big ones. I also caught quite a few panfish, some really nice crappie and bluegill. One of the last "species" I caught was a "red eared slider." To the fish nerds out there - we know that isn't a species of fish, it's actually a turtle.

He grabbed onto my tube and really had it stuck in the roof of his mouth, as you can tell from the photo. Not wanting to harm him, I grabbed my pliers and grabbed hold of the jig. That caused him to bear down even more and even draw his head into his shell. But I've seen what can happen so I did my best to remove the hook.

Fortunately I was successful in getting it out, and he swam off. I've seen dozens of turtles while I've been on the water in that area. Today was the first time I hooked one. I guess I can add it to the species list. Until next week... Tight lines!

Also for those keeping score at home - which means ME - I have caught 375 fish so far in 2016 with the greatest percentage (37%) of them being black crappie. I've also caught ten different species as well. (I told you I'm a real "fish nerd.")

TWIF (This Week in Fishing) April 16th - 22nd

Saturday and Sunday of this last week were spent in Salisbury visiting with family. Loads of time spent helping my sisters at their homes as well as at my mother's. We also celebrated my youngest nephew's birthday. Timmy turned 8 and loves baseball. He also enjoys going fishing with Uncle Dave.

For his birthday my wife and I gave him a "Rocket Fishing Rod." Fun to use, and hopefully it will cure his tendency to cast to close to over hanging tree limbs, he enjoyed using it. Alas we didn't get any bites, but that won't stop us the next time.

My fishing adventures on Saturday and Sunday of last week were spent in the mornings. I paddled around Leonard's Mill Pond for a couple of hours each day casting the same Arkie jig head. I had it rigged with a 2" green bodied and white tailed tube as well as a silver tube. I caught several panfish, mostly crappie dressed up for the prom. But my biggest surprise came when after one cast I reeled in a close to 9" golden shiner (Notemigonus crysoleucas).

I had never caught a shiner before, but knew that they were found in Leonard's Mill. To me size of a catch isn't important, I'm more interested in diversity; now I can add another species to my list.

Fast forward to Wednesday evening the night of my son's soccer practice. After dropping him off I took the 5 minute drive down the highway to Sewell Branch. A short trail leads from the parking lot of a car repair shop to a creek. Probably only 20 or so feet across, I made casts using a green and yellow inline spinner (a rooster tail). It got bumped a couple of times, and I hooked up once but alas no luck in getting it to shore. In other words SKUNKED!

The week ended with a few passing showers so my youngest son's soccer practice was cancelled. My oldest was still heading into town for swim practice. That meant I could head back to Sewell Branch for another try. I started with a small jig but didn't get any takes, I decided to switch to a chartreuse inline spinner, or Rooster Tail.

I made a few casts and did my best to retrieve it slowly. On the fifth or sixth cast it got hit and HIT HARD! After making sure the hook was set I did my best to make sure the drag wouldn't fail me. I fought the fish for a couple of minutes and then brought it onto shore. When I was all finished I was privileged enough to reel in a nice 18" chain pickerel. A very nice way to end the week of fishing.

Tight lines!

TWiF (This Week in Fishing) for April 9th - 15th

Week number two in This Week in Fishing began kind of crazy. Saturday morning, April 9th, I woke up and spoke to my wife who said "You heading out for a little while?" My answer was sure since the weather that day was supposed to interesting. I hit the lake on the kayak and spent a couple of hours casting the same little Arkie jigs with a blue and silver tube. It paid off pretty well with a handful of black crappie and bluegill. I released all of them figuring that they were in preparation for spawning and why break up the honeymoon - right? As I drove home that morning the "interesting weather" started in earnest. My wife said that they had received a little hail at the house. By the time I was home and unloaded, we were starting to receive grapple, which turned into really big flakes of wet heavy snow. Within 45 minutes our deck was covered.

It snowed for about an hour and a half. The snow stayed around for about an hour or so, and then the sun came out and "Poof" it was gone.

Sunday, April 10th, I put the kayak on the car and headed to St. Mary's Lake in Callaway, MD. It's more of an investment in time due to the about a 35 minute drive. I've fished there multiple times, but hadn't put the kayak in the water on the lake since last fall. Again I spent the better part of two hours casting that small jig and tube without a whole lot of luck. With the cold front that past through the day before, I really believe that the fish had moved off the shoreline to a little deeper water. I did manage to entice one small chain pickerel to taking my lure, as well as one largemouth, only about 9 inches long.

I did spend a little bit of time near some submerged trees casting a small crankbait. It got hit pretty hard once and I fought it to the surface. It was another, much bigger, pickerel, but alas I didn't get it to the boat. A couple more cast and I felt it got hit once again. I figured it was some branches but when I got it back to the kayak I found this little guy on the front treble hook.

My tubes that I had been using were about the same size so I switched back to one, but alas no luck.

Before the ride home I spoke with my wife and she was attending a school play with my oldest son and my youngest was watching the Orioles win their fifth straight game to open the season, so I stopped off at the Lake Lariat again and was able to catch a couple of nice crappie as well as a few smaller bass.

Fast forward a few days into the next weekend, or at least the beginning of the weekend. After school on Friday I headed down to Salisbury to see family. Strapped to the top of my car was the kayak. I arrived Leonard's Mill Pond around 5 pm or a little after. It was a terrific afternoon and I had plenty of sunlight to use as I paddled around the shoreline casting that same small jig. I caught several crappie as well as bluegill. I also landed a nice, probably 2 lb largemouth as a 14 in. chain pickerel. That gave me four species - or what I like to refer to as a "slam." My weekend of fishing is Salisbury would continue but I'll write more about that in next week's TWiF! Tight Lines…

A Change in Direction

First and foremost I have to say that I have not been very good at updating this site at all. My original goal was to try and "Fish Across Maryland" and that still holds true. But with everything that is going on back home in Salisbury I really can't see myself driving around the state to just try and fish. Some day I will accomplish that goal but it will just take considerably longer than I originally planned.

Secondly I'm not much of a writer really. This was going to be an attempt at chronicling my adventure or my quest. Since my quest has been brought to a bit of a standstill right now, I haven't had a lot to say. My fishing has continued. In fact last year was my best yet. I caught close to 1100 different fish, or at least I think they were all different ones. I fished in spots I never fished before and I had a great time being a nerd about it. (I really mean that - you should see my spreadsheet.)

But now I'm almost at a loss for words. What is there I can say? I still have a desire to fish. I enjoy trying different spots. And I'm still a nerd about it. So here goes. I am going to try to bring back a favorite from my childhood, with a little twist. I can remember Saturday afternoons waiting to be able to watch TWIB (This Week in Baseball). I always enjoyed the defensive plays they showed, especially when they featured my favorite players from the Baltimore Orioles. Well I am going to try to start "TWiF" - This Week in Fishing. I'm planning on trying to record where I went, what I used and what I caught. I'm even going to include times I get "shut out." If I am throwing a line into the water I am going to "log it" here to keep myself honest.

Now a blog post wouldn't be complete, especially one about fishing, without a photo of a catch. Easter Break is about two weeks old now, but this was probably my best catch during that time.

It is a rainbow trout that I caught in the stocked pond at the BlueRidge Resort in Banner Elk, NC. We stayed there for just under a week and really enjoyed ourselves. Each day I took some time trying to see what I could catch. This guy was the first of only two fish I caught that week, one the first day and one on the last. I caught him on a Rapala Ultralight minnow just before sunset. It was windy and cold but getting him to shore made the time pond side worth it. Until next time … Tight Lines!

Ninth County in Fish Across Maryland

Once again it's been a while since I have done any writing. Summer is for fun, but if I want to true to myself, summer needs to be about chronicling my fishing adventures.

Last week I took the opportunity to head up to Wayson's Corner, Maryland to use the boat launch that leads to Jug Bay, on the Patuxent River.

At this point the Patuxent River serves as a divider between Prince George's and Anne Arundel County. Having already caught fish in Prince George's County, I was planning on getting onto the river and paddling north and east to assure myself that I would be in Anne Arundel County. The tide was going out, so I was wondering if I would be able to find areas that might hold fish.

The paddle up the river was quite pretty.

I saw several heron as well as osprey as I paddled. Occasionally I came to a spot where the water was working its way around fallen timber and other debris along the shoreline. It created some eddies and I thought that there could be a chance of catching something in one of them. I made casts with a double drop leader into the areas. I was fishing with some cut shrimp, which I know that white perch, croaker and sometimes catfish like. I would allow myself to drift down stream a little before reeling in and repositioning. Unfortunately during one of my drifts I became snagged and had to try and free it. I say "unfortunately" because I was unable to free the snag and my line snapped off. Luckily I had another set up that I could use.

I paddled up a little further and found another spot. I made a cast and let it sink to the bottom. I felt a tap, and then another. I gave it a yank, but no luck. I missed it. I put on another piece of shrimp and made another cast to the same area. Tap! Tap… YANK - and I was hooked up. (Of course I say that like it was some monster fish.) I reeled in and found that I had caught an about 14 inch channel catfish.

After a picture or two I released him or her and tried for a couple more. But it was getting pretty hot and I was running low on water, so I headed back to the launch. As the title says that brings the count to NINE counties in the state of Maryland. Of course that also brings me to the fact that I have caught fish in all of the counties close to home. Now my adventure becomes a little more serious. Until next time … Tight Lines!

A Marylander heads South

Once again it has been a couple of weeks since my last update and I apologize. It's not because I haven't got anything to write about; it's more like I've been aimlessly going around with not much of a direction. To be completely honest I had another spell like this in a different obsession, geocaching, and it didn't hurt things too much. But this isn't about geocaching - it's about fishing!

My family and I just spent a week on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Each year, for the past about 20 years, my family has rented a house down there and spent a week during the summer. For the past couple of years I have tried to get some fishing in while down there. This year we got a place in the "Villages of Ocean Hills." There we stayed in a house called "Lillie's Lakefront" and man we were just that. About 15 feet from the back fence of the pool deck was Crystal Lake. The lake stretched probably a half mile or so north to south and was about 200 feet across at its widest. A couple of times while I was on my kayak I tried to touch bottom with the paddle, but unless I was within 10 feet of the shoreline my paddle wasn't long enough to touch. The first morning we were there I set out paddling with a Rebel Pop-R tied onto one of my spinning rods. I was making my way around the western shoreline when I made a cast. About four or five "pops" into my retrieve I had a blow up, and the fight was on. I brought him or her into the boat and had a nice 3.5 lb largemouth.

That's how each morning went really; I'd try the Pop-R or maybe a crankbait and I would catch two or three really nice bass.

Of course as a complete "Fish Nerd" I was wondering what these nice bass were eating to get so big, so I was also bringing along a smaller spinning rod outfitted with a small jig and grub style bait. It usually works very well on crappie, bluegill or other smaller fish, but I couldn't get anything to really bite. But one afternoon while I was paddling around I saw a family standing along the shoreline. "Pappi" as he was called was bringing in a minnow trap. He asked if I was having any luck, and I asked the same thing. I also mentioned that I was wondering what the "forage" for these bass was, and he graciously allowed me to look in his trap. I found small bait fish, looking like very small bluegill or even perch. My suspicion was proven correct a day later when I hooked up with a very nice 1.5 lb, 12 inch yellow perch.

This was the first one of the species I had ever caught and I was really excited. Interesting to me at least was the fact that the fish bit on a crankbait that resembled a smaller perch. I guess as long as it was smaller that you you can eat it.

Now my family and I were at the Outer Banks, the beach - so we had to spend some time there as well. While my sons played in the waves, I had to give a little surf fishing a try. Each year I try, it takes a day or so to really figure out the tides and when the fish might be biting (or at least for me it does). But I eventually figured it out and using some bloodworms, and cut shrimp I was able to make shorter casts, just beyond the breakers, and hook up with a few spot, Atlantic croaker and southern kingfish.

Size to me doesn't matter, I was happy catching anything in the surf. Although truth be told a couple of the fish I caught would have been terrific bait for some shark fishing later in the day. But I had no desire to even try, this trip.

As a last story from my trip, one evening my family and I headed down to the beach for a chance to have some fun with a few younger siblings of guests who came down. While there I looked down the beach and saw a gentleman fighting something pretty big in the surf. I started to walk down, as did my sons and two of their friends. This guy fought this fish for probably 20 minutes or more, pulling in, winding down, pulling in and repeating. He drew a pretty nice crowd, about 50 people or so, as he keep fighting. When he eventually got it to shore, he landed a 55 inch cobia! But the most amazing part for me was that after pictures, he and a buddy walked it back into the surf, revived it and let it go to fight again. I thought it was pretty cool.

Until next week when I head north with the family - tight lines!