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!

Fish Across Maryland Continues

June 26th - school has been out for a week now and my life has been just as busy. This week I have been playing chauffeur to my two sons. With my wife being an eleven month employee of our school system, and I being a ten month, and the fact that our two sons had two different places to be on three different mornings this week, I have put many miles on the car. But truth be told I wouldn't have it any other way. Despite the amount of driving I have been doing I have had a chance to get out on the water for some fishing. Surprisingly though all of my fishing this week has been freshwater on Lake Lariat in southern Calvert County. But I'll save stories about those trips for another time.

This entry is about getting the chance last week, June 21st and adding another county to my quest in trying to catch a fish in each county of the state of Maryland. That day I took some time to drive over to the Myrtle Grove Wildlife Management Area in La Plata, MD. The area is home to shooting ranges, trails used for hunting during season, and two ponds/lakes that are home to many species of freshwater fish. (Although I only caught a couple of them while I was there.)

I put my kayak on the water and began to paddle around the outskirts of the pond. We had had a big rain storm the evening before so the water wasn't very clear. I figured the edges would hold small bluegill or crappie since I don't care about the size of the fish I catch for the challenge. While paddling past a small group of lilypads I made few casts and pretty much got hit each time. Eventually I was able to get one to take my bait completely and I reeled in a small bluegill.

I spent some more time in the area trying to catch a couple more, but unfortunately nothing would take. I began to paddle back until I got to the launch and had to wait for another angler to load up his kayak. I decided to try a small Matzuo crank bait. A couple of casts and I noticed that I was getting more grass than hits. So I repositioned the kayak into a slightly deeper area and made another cast. As I reeled it in it was hit by a small little bass.

Again to me size really isn't important. I unhooked it and returned it to the water to bite again.

This brings my count of Maryland counties to eigth: Calvert, Charles, Howard, Prince George's, Saint Mary's, Wicomico and Worcester. The year is almost half over and I am not even half way finished, but again I don't have a limit on time that I want to achieve this goal. I just want to give it an honest effort. Until next time … tight lines.

A couple of "Firsts"

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post in my fishing adventure. School/work has been coming on strong with the end of the year coming up, and my weekends have been spent driving more than fishing, due to visiting Salisbury each of the last two weekends. I have been able to hit some of the local ponds not too far from work, or while in Salisbury. My time there has been "productive" since I have been catching quite a few panfish. But as for time on the water on my kayak, the trips have been few and far between.

A couple of weeks ago I did get a chance to venture out on the kayak with my youngest son. Of my two sons he is the one that enjoys fishing the most. But like any person who fishes he prefers to catch over just waiting for a bite. Nevertheless he and I were successful on our outing on Lake Lariat in southern Calvert County. In fact he was able to catch his first fish of the season, a 12 - 14 in largemouth that was fun to watch him bring into the kayak. You'll have to pardon the photo as he, at the time, was in dire need of a haircut. He caught another bass about the same size as well as a couple of nice bluegills. Everything was returned to the water in hopes to catch them again.


Now as the title of this one says there were a couple of "firsts" recently. The second one was a little more interesting for some. While I was in Salisbury this past weekend, one evening I was trying my luck at panfish on one of the small streams that lead away from Leonard's Mill Pond. I was doing okay catching a few green sunfish when another angler walked by.

I spoke to him and he to me as he continued up the trail. I decided to pack it in and started to walk back to the car. I didn't know that he had turned around as well and had caught up to me. I introduced myself, and he said his name was Robert. He said that he came to this spot pretty much everyday, since his job afforded him a bit of time. He told me about a spot where he had caught larger bluegills, and I followed to it. I didn't have any luck there, but I'll try it again another day. We talked about other fishing we had done, and he just matter of fact mentioned that always looked for fish longer than 10 inches, because "that's where his ruler started." I thought it was odd until I noticed that he was rolling up his sleeve to show me his tattoo on his forearm.

His fishing "measuring tape" was a tattoo of a ruler, which started at the tip of his middle finger, going from 10 inches up to 22 inches. It was at that point I realized that I had met my FIRST TRUE FISH NERD, other than myself. I thought it was pretty cool.

Until next time … tight lines!

A new body of water and a new species

This past weekend was pretty slow when it comes to the fishing front, at least on my part. The main reason for the "inactivity" is because time was at a premium this weekend. But I was able to squeeze in a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon and a couple on Sunday morning for a little bit of kayak fishing.

Saturday afternoon I took the kayak over to Nan's Cove, on the Patuxent River. I thought that I might be able to see if any of the summer species had come up the river yet. I was hoping to catch a croaker or two, or maybe even a spot. I only managed one white perch. I was getting a lot of action at the end of my line, but it turned out to be small minnows just nibbling away at my shrimp. I was able to hook one, in the mouth. I couldn't believe that I had actually caught a "mummichog" on a hook. According to the Maryland DNR this one happened to be a female, so I'm glad I let her go so that she could lay eggs for future generations.

On the way back to the launch, I stopped and picked up a few old glass containers that were sitting in the mud. One of the big activities I used to do during my geocaching "obsession" was CITO. That's Cache In, Trash Out. I'd see trash and pick it up to help clean up the area. No need to stop doing that, especially when it comes to a beautiful body of water like the Patuxent.

Sunday morning around 11 o'clock, I drove down to Lake Lariat in the Lusby area. A former student had told me about the public launch there and I thought that I would give it a try. I had about an hour and half so I didn't have a whole of time to explore, so I decided to stick to the edges and see if any panfish would take my bait. As luck would have it, I hooked into a couple of smaller sized bass which put up nice fights.

I was also able to hook into a nice size, maybe 8 or 9 inches, redear sunfish. For the fish nerds out there, that's "Lepomis microlophus." I had seen pictures of the them before but I had never caught one. He was a blast trying to get to the kayak on light tackle. I love the tug.

Until next time … Tight Lines!

Another County and a Salisbury freshwater "slam"

Another weekend has passed and I'm back at school teaching chemistry. But this weekend was a productive one despite the driving that I had to do. My weekend started with a drive to St. Mary's County, specifically Leonardtown High School for the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference track meet. My son was running the 300 m hurdles and I was the one who took him down. With his event not scheduled to start for an hour and a half, I decided to drive another 7 or 8 minutes down the road to St. Mary's Lake and give it a try. When I got there, the Department of Natural Resources was holding a kids' fishing derby, so I knew that space on the shore would be a premium. It was really neat seeing the parking lot full and as I walked to the trail I spotted dozens of families with kids having a terrific time. I settled on a small finger on the southeastern portion and started casting a small jig with a Powerbait nymph towards a small set of lily pads. Three or four casts in, I was hooked up with a small, maybe 12 - 14 inch, largemouth. The kids around me, started yelling in excitement "It's a bass!" when they saw him come out of the water one time. I snapped a photo and released him back, hoping that maybe he would make his way over to the kids for them to enjoy.

After the track meet I headed home with my son for lunch and then dropped him off for work. I then hit the road to head to Salisbury so that I might be able to see my mother for Mother's Day. With the fact that she is still under the care of a nursing facility, my sisters and I really wanted to make sure that we were all three with her on Sunday. Since I arrived in Salisbury right at dinner time, I decided to let mom eat in peace so I headed to my favorite spot at Pemberton Historical Park. The grasses are really starting to sprout up and it made getting a lure down deep enough to get hit difficult since I came only prepared for panfish really. I wasn't prepared to "punch matts" as they say. Nevertheless, I was able to still find a couple of areas that had "open" water next to some of the grasses, so I figured that they would be great ambush spots for larger fish. Man was I correct when I hooked into a nice, probably 18 inch, chain pickerel. I changed locations and found some more open water, and began to cast there as well. It was there where I hooked up, and landed a nice, probably 2 lb largemouth. He was only my fourth or fifth of the season, and I was pretty happy with his size, especially because I was rigged for panfish the entire time. I released him and made a few more cast and came up with a respectable bluegill, maybe 8 inches in length. After that catch I really started to hope. I've caught many "trifectas." You know three species in a body of water, but I had never caught four different species of freshwater fish in the same body of water. I cast a little more, but the area seemed to slow down, so I decided to change spots, back to where I had caught the pickerel. I made a couple of casts into the deeper portions of the creek, getting caught on grass a few times. I decided to try three more casts since time was starting to run short. I made a long cast and was rewarded immediately by hooking up with a nice 10 or 11 inch black crappie. I had done it, four freshwater species in one trip. Actually what was nice about it, for me, at least was that I only caught four fish while there that day!

To put the finishing touches on the trip, Sunday afternoon, after a very nice visit with my mother and sisters, I made the drive back towards Calvert County. I was ahead of schedule on the drive so I decided to make a stop in Queen Anne's County, just about a mile from the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. I decided to give a pond just on the outskirts of Terrapin Beach Park a try. I had stopped there before but had no luck on previous visits. As luck would have it, I was able to catch a small black crappie to help me put Queen Anne's County on the list.

All in all - it was a pretty good weekend in the fishing department. Hopefully there will be many more to come.

Disturbing the neighbor

This past weekend I headed down to Salisbury, on Maryland's eastern shore, to visit my mother. Being that she was admitted to a nursing facility after a short stay in the hospital I was only able to visit at certain times of course. So each morning I woke at almost my regular time and I drove over to what has become my favorite fishing spot in Salisbury, the Pemberton Historical Park. Bell Creek meanders through along one of the trails and eventually dumps into the Wicomico River. It is home to many species of fish, such as black crappie, bluegill, largemouth bass, and chain pickerel. Actually to my surprise I found out this past weekend that it also has channel catfish, as I was able to land a relatively small one, about 14 inches or so.

This past trip also afforded me the opportunity to catch a couple of the largest bluegills I have seen. I didn't actually measure any of them but they easily filled the palm of my hand, as you can see in the photo. I also caught a couple of really nice size crappie, but all were released to fight again.

But from the title of this blog, you may be wondering what neighbor I mean? As I was fishing the last morning, I heard some activity about 75 yards up stream from where I was standing. I kept hearing some splashing and figured it was frogs going into the water and being attacked by a bass or pickerel, or maybe even some of the local ducks splashing around. It wasn't until I heard multiple "snorts of derision" that I truly looked. Lo and behold there was a river otter going into the water, coming up looking at me. Each time he surfaced he would snort at me, as if to say "Get out of my yard." I tried snapping a couple of photos, but this one was the best I could get. I've seen videos online of people in kayaks being attacked by geese or swans, but I've never heard of otters bothering people. He didn't come within 50 yards, but I could tell that he was irritated. Being that the fishing had slowed down, I decided to pack my things head back to the house and then go by and see mom. As I was leaving I met a lady walking her dog and she asked "Catch anything?" I told her "Yeah I got a couple of nice gills, and a crappie or two." I then told her about the otter, and I don't think she believed me, until he surfaced again and gave his familiar snorts. I may be a fishermen, and I may exaggerate about size or number of fish, but about this - I'm telling the truth. Until next time … tight lines.

Look just to the right of the branches for his head in front of his wake.

Add Two More Counties to the List

In regards to my quest to catch a fish in county in the state of Maryland I have had some recent success. I believe most of it can be attributed to the fact that spring is finally here and that fish are becoming more active. But I also think that some of it comes down to perseverance on my part for at least one of the counties.

Back at the beginning of April I was paging through the internet looking up various things about some of the music artists I like. In flipping through various pages, I stumbled upon the fact that one of my favorite music groups, The Choir, was going to be performing in mid-April in Columbia, MD. I immediately order a ticket for the show. The tour was in support of their new album, "Shadow Weaver" but it was also a celebration of the 25th anniversary of their "Circle Slide" album, my favorite.

April 19th came around and I headed up to the area for the show. I made sure that I had plenty of time before the show to find a spot to try a little fishing. I came prepared with my small spinning rod, spooled with 8 lb test line and a couple of small 1/32 oz jigs with soft plastics. When I got the Centennial Lake in Columbia, I was greeted by an incoming cold front that had winds blowing about 15 mph. Since I was on shore I decided to try and find a spot that might hold fish, kind of out of the wind. As things would progress that afternoon, I had a few "nibbles" as they say, but nothing big enough would really bite. The worst part of it for me was that I was standing along the shoreline that had a few rocks extending about 2 ft into the water. I could spot small fish darting in and out of the rocks. It was then that I decided that I wasn't going to be skunked, so I changed my set up to a small size 8 hook. Once I had it tied on, I began to look around for possible locations of "bait." I rolled over a couple of rocks and found a white grub. I slid it on the hook, cast it out about 4 ft past the rocks and reeled it in slowly. Seconds later I was holding this little guy.

I found a couple of more grubs as well as an earthworm and caught three or four more of this little guys, which happened to be "green sunfish" which I had never caught before. (I learned this after some research.) "Fish Across Maryland: Howard County" was on the list.

The most recent county added to the challenge is Prince George's County. This past Saturday, April 25th, I was returning from a visit to my mother in Salisbury when I had some extra time. I decided to detour a little and got to School House Pond, in Upper Marlboro. I had given the area a try before but was not successful. That day I showed up with the same set up as above, and immediately began getting nibbles. After a few minutes of casting to various area, I was able to reel in yet another bluegill. But this guy was large enough to take my soft plastic, Berkley Powerbait nymph. I spent a little more time in the area and also caught a small black crappie.

That brings the current list to 6 counties: Calvert, Howard, Prince George's, St. Mary's, Wicomico and Worcester. Here's to getting few more soon.

County #4 - St. Mary's

Yesterday I had the opportunity to take the kayak out on the water, so I decided to head down to St. Mary's Lake in Callaway, MD. It was a gorgeous afternoon, with temperatures in the mid-70's and just a very slight breeze. I paddled straight out from the boat launch and made my way over the northern shoreline. A couple of anglers I met at the launch mentioned that they had caught some crappie along that side so I thought it would be a good spot to start. I couple of casts in and I was hooked up with one of the largest black crappies I have ever seen. I got him to the boat and celebrated the catch. After a photo or two, I released him back to fight again.

I spent the next couple of hours casting along the same shoreline, moving about 100 yards at a time. I ended the day with just about a dozen really nice size panfish. Well let me rephrase that, I caught just about a dozen. All were released. Who knows maybe I'll see them again?

Fishing Across Maryland

Easter Break is over so my normal schedule has begun again. That also means that I have to squeeze in my chances to fish on the weekends. This morning was mildly successful when I was able to catch a small bluegill as well as a small black crappie. That being said this week I also finalized my rules for FaMD, Fish Across Maryland. While they only mean something to me, others may stumble across them. Here they are:

Until the next time I get to get out and fish - tight lines everyone!

Three Counties and Counting

Well my fishing quest is truly underway now. Easter Break has been very kind to me, as I have been able to try a little fishing each day. So far, starting with Sunday, March 29th, I have caught at least one fish for 6 days in a row. While I don't think that this is very impressive, I do like the fact that I have had to time to appreciate the area around me. Along with that I know that fishing is an addiction, but I don't really want concentrate on "streaks" since a geocaching streak, 31 days in a row, left a very bad taste in my mouth towards the game in general.

No my fishing quest, as it is, is about trying to catch a fish, any fish, in each of Maryland's 23 counties. Not too difficult except it will take a good bit of planning and driving to accomplish it. Also let me say that my "quest" is not to get it done as fast as I can. If it takes over a year, that's fine with me. I just want to give it a true and honest effort. That being said I currently have three counties completed. The first one was Wicomico County, on Maryland's eastern shore. I'm originally from Wicomico, so I think it is really neat that it was also my first county, back on January 24th, with this nice black crappie from Bell Creek within the Pemberton Historical Park.

That day I also caught three other crappie as well as a nice largemouth bass, but one of the "rules" for myself is that the first fish caught is the one that counts towards the challenge. At some point I'll have to post my rules for this whole thing.

County number 2 was Calvert County, in southern Maryland. I have been living in Calvert for almost 23 years now, but it wasn't until a couple of years ago that the fishing bug really bit me. I teach high school and a couple former students of mine used to talk about all of their outdoor adventures and it got me interested. The fish that counted for my new "home" county was another black crappie.

Not the largest of the species, but I was able to reel him in back at the beginning of my current streak, on March 29th.

Last but not least, county number 3 is Worcester County, on Maryland's eastern shore. I spent three days in Salisbury with my family visiting my mother and each morning I would head to a different location and see how I would do. Since I brought the kayak along, I decided to wake up one morning and head to Shad Landing State Park, which sits along the Pocomoke River between Snow Hill and Pocomoke City itself. I have lots of memories from Shad Landing, mainly of youth group camping trips from when I was in junior and senior high. I drove down to the park and put the kayak onto the water. It was low tide, but I had no difficulty paddling along the canoe and kayak trail. Pretty early on I landed this nice bluegill.

As I paddled out into the main portion of the river I saw several fish breaking on top of the surface, but I was unable to get any bites. In fact that bluegill was the only one I caught that morning, so I'm really glad I did get him.

That's it for the quest so far. I really hope to pick up a couple of the neighboring counties to Calvert before too long. But then again, Easter Break will be ending soon. I'll keep you posted…

Fish Across Maryland (FaMD)

Well I figure it's about time to start recording some of my efforts in my new fishing quest. I really don't know how long it is going to take but I'm going to give it my best shot. I drew the inspiration for this quest from "Cache Across Maryland" put on by the wonderful people of the Maryland Geocaching Society. "CAM," as it is referred, is a 6 to 8 week adventure in which 10 geocaches are placed in and around the state of Maryland. Members have the opportunity to search them out and gather information from each. Upon finding them, a code is provided and then used to determine the location of a big get together in early May. I have participated in CAM multiple times and have always enjoyed it. But that obsession, the going out on trips to find geocaches, is behind me now. I have another: FISHING! It doesn't matter what type of fish I catch and it doesn't matter how many. I enjoy fishing! One would say that it is an addiction and they would be correct, because in all honesty the "Tug is the drug."

I also have to give credit for the idea of a "FISHING QUEST" to the FISHNERDS. Their podcast is a terrific celebration of "fish, fishing and eating fish" and if you enjoy any of the three you should check them out. Thanks Clay & Dave.