TWIF (This Week in Fishing) June 4th - June 10th

Saturday, June 4th:

Hurray the weekend is here! Time to party - well as much as I party. Friday evening I was invited to a colleague's for a get together. It was really enjoyable as I got to just shoot the breeze with a friend as well as make a couple new ones. This morning I woke up early, not on purpose, but decided to head to St. Mary's State Park. I have to admit the fishing was kind of slow with the soft plastics, with only a couple of bites. I did manage one small pickerel before I decided to switch things. I had spotted a few fish trying to hit my float so I tied on a Rebel Crick-Hopper. It's a floating bait, with pretty small hooks, maybe size 10 trebles. I paddled along the shoreline making casts to within 5 feet of shore to about 2 feet of water. If give it a twitch or two and usually something would hit. I ended up with 5 species, including a golden shiner, which I didn't know occupied the lake. My best catch of the day was a nice 14 inch largemouth, which might have weighed 1 & 3/4 lbs. From there I headed to a couple of graduation parties as well as a soccer game for my youngest son. (His team tied.)

Sunday, June 5th:

According to most forecasts today's weather was supposed to get pretty nasty in the middle of the afternoon. With the forecast looking bad I took the kayak down to Lake Lariat. I thought I'd try the same Rebel lure, but it didn't pay off at all. I had a couple of follows on it but nothing hit it hard enough to get caught. So I switched to Johnson's nymph, bright green, and was able to catch a half dozen, mixed between bluegill and crappie.

This afternoon our sons were attending an end of the year youth group gathering at one of the local parks, King's Landing. The park sits along the eastern side of the Patuxent River. My wife and I took the kayak, as well as the dog, for a short while and of course I brought a small rod. With the stained water I tied on a white Rooster Tail inline spinner. We made our way to one of the creeks off yo one side. I made cast along the side of some lay downs as well as some of the slower moving pools. No bites at all, so this part of the post is in the interest of full disclosure. Interestingly on the paddle back our dog got a little antsy as we approached where we put in and decided to swim the last 75 feet or so.

Sunday's fishing adventure didn't end at King's Landing. After the kayak with my wife we headed back to the house while the boys went back to the church for food and games. Of course they needed to be picked up and I had some time. I took the drive to the middle of the county and gave Sewell Branch a try. I had the same while inline spinner tied on and I gave it a couple of casts. On one cast as it came by the base of a tree that was partly in the water it got hammered by a nice yellow perch.

I released it and made a few more casts to no avail. I switched to a small green and white jerkbait that I found one day hanging on a tree limb. Once again a couple of casts and I was hooked up with a bluegill that had made a swipe at the bait. It was released as well and I headed back to the church to pick up the boys.

Wednesday, June 8th: Another Wednesday evening soccer practice and another trip to that small creek. I tried another smaller inline spinner, this one green and chartreuse, as well as the same jerkbait. I had a couple of hits but no hook ups. Just how it happens sometimes.

Thursday, June 9th:

My wife and I took the day off today so that we could run down to Salisbury to my mother's house. The family is trying to get the house ready to sell and we thought we'd do our part in helping. My Prius was also down there so taking two people down meant that we could get it home in St. Leonard. With it being a school day my wife had to get back to southern Maryland that left me on the Eastern Shore by myself. After lunch with my sister and her husband I drove over to see mom, who is doing about the same. After that I headed by the house to check a couple of things and then headed to the creek at Leonard's Mill. Before getting into kayak fishing like I have I would bring my sons, when they were much younger, here and we'd catch sunfish. I figured I'd give it a try. As luck would have a I was able to catch two small fish, one a bluegill and the other a green sunfish I believe. Then again it may be a hybrid is some sort. I'm going to ask the Maryland Dept of Natural Resources which it might be. If it's a hybrid I'll let you know.

Friday, June 10th: Bright blue skies as I walked out of school this afternoon. I had a few things to do at home and then I was going to head to the river. A check of the tides made that thought obsolete so I drove down to the lake at St. Mary's. Fishing was very slow as I was trying the shady spots. In fact I only managed to catch one pickerel and one small bass on a green nymph. But at one time as I was at one end of the lake I turned and looked. It appeared that I had the entire lake to myself. It was then I was reminded of why I enjoy fishing so much. It's not the size of the fish, or how many I catch, even though I really like those parts. It's the time on the water in the beauty of creation that I really love.

Until next week - Tight Lines!!

Editor's note: The fish I caught in Salisbury on Thursday was not a green sunfish. Upon receiving word from the Dept Of Natural Resources fisheries - I caught a "redbreast sunfish" (Lepomis azurites). I've probably caught them before but at least now I know I can add it to my species list.