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!