TWIF (This Week in Fishing) July 18th - 24th

Back home in Maryland and man it's nice to be here. It's nice to get back into the routine of summer swim, soccer but even better it's nice to get back into my own bed at night.

Tuesday, July 19th: Being back in Maryland during the summer means that the midday fishing slows down. So this morning I woke up around 6:15 or so and headed down to St. Mary's Lake. Generally when I get there I paddle straight across to the northern shore. But today I decided to try an area just to the east of the launch near some lay downs. I was using both the plastic worm, still rigged Carolina style, as well as my trusty 1/32 oz jig and tube. The tube paid off the best all morning. After a bluegill on this side I paddled over to an area where I always seem to find fish. There I hooked into a small, maybe 12 inch, largemouth as well as a couple of redear sunfish, aka "shellcrackers." The redear were pretty thick and I considered being one home for lunch, but since it's a 40 minute drive and I had to stop at a store for a few groceries I let them swim away.

Tuesday evening, after trying to remain cool during the day, I drove up to same private pond I have fished multiple times. The pond has a lot of grass, much like the one in Wisconsin from last week. I decided to try the plastic worm again in hopes to become more confident in using it. After a couple of casts I felt the line get heavy and tried setting the hook. As I reeled in the bass made a jump and shook out my hook. It happened one more time but fortunately I was able to land a couple of nice bass at a spot further down the bank.



Wednesday, July 20th:

I decided today to try the river just before high tide. Of course that meant getting on the water around 1 o'clock in the afternoon, i.e. In the heat of the day. I took a small spinner and another pole rigged for bottom fishing. I paddled around the shoreline throwing the spinner, allowing it to fall on a slack line. I would then reel in and get a few bites from the white perch, aka "white bass," in the shallows. Being that I also had a rod for bottom fishing, I paddled out a bit and dropped down some shrimp on circle hooks. The wind was working against the tide as it was blowing my kayak and me in the opposite direction of the rising tide. Nonetheless I got a couple of bites. I even doubled up on a couple of small croaker, Micropogonias undulatus. Croaker are quite tasty, but these two were undersized and had to be released. Maryland requires that croaker must be at least 9 inches, these were both an inch too short.

Once again in the evening I tried another small pond. My youngest son had soccer practice in the southern part of the county so I dropped him off and headed to Calvert Cliffs State Park. (Link) The park hosts wonderful trails that lead down to the bay where visitors can search for fossils, most commonly shark teeth. The park also has a small pond which is home to bluegill and largemouth bass. Actually in the early spring the Maryland Department of Fisheries visits the pond in the trout stocking rounds. But being very shallow and a popular place, the trout don't last long in there. This evening I started with the Carolina worm and got some bites, but because the grass is so thick I lost a couple when the line got weighed down. I switched to an Arkie "Jerky head" jig, their version of a "shaky head," and pretty much on the first cast hooked up with a nice 13 inch largemouth. After that the small bugs were really getting to me so I packed up and headed back to watch practice.

Thursday, July 21st: When I woke up today I was originally thinking that today would be a "non fishing" day. I had some things I want to do around the house, but in all honesty I finished easily and then became board. With my oldest son having a swim meet that he needed to be at around 4:30, I took a hour in the middle of the day and went to the same private pond as earlier in the week. I tried using the same finesse worm. On my first cast I got a nice bite but I ended up losing that one. I spent another 40 minutes making casts and ended up with three more bites but only one fish caught.

Friday, July 22nd:

This morning I woke up in Salisbury. Of course I had spent the night before driving down so that I could visit with my sisters and mother. I thought I'd head to Williams Mill Pond since I had had success there on my last visit. I was hoping to get into a little bigger like a nice pickerel or a nice largemouth. But because I like to start with a catch I began with throwing a green nymph of a small, 1/32 oz jig. It paid off very well all morning with a good batch of panfish, predominantly bluegill, but with a crappie and a pumpkinseed mixed in. I ended up with just over a dozen fish.

Saturday, July 23rd:

I had a little later start this morning due to the thought of trying another body of water. After driving over to Schumaker Pond and seeing "yuck" all on the surface I headed back to Williams Mill. With the blazing sun, despite it being only 7:30 in the morning, I tried to stick to shady area. I used the green nymph and caught a mix of bluegill and crappie. I also tried a chatterbait with a KVD caffeine scented shad trailer. While on the kayak it didn't pay off but once I got back on dry land I crossed the road and made a few cast with it. I hooked into a nice largemouth.

That afternoon, after doing a couple of things for my sister I took my nephew, Timmy, over to the creek that leads out of Leonard's Mill. Again in the heat the bites were few and far between but we were able to catch three redbreast sunfish, on the nymph. I'd cast it out. They'd bite and I set the hook and then allow him to reel them in. It's always fun to take a kid fishing. But I have to say that the heat pretty much did me in.

Back to St. Leonard tonight - hopefully the heat will break soon. Until next week - tight lines!

TWIF (This Week in Fishing) July 9th - July 15th

Each summer my family and I take about a week to get away from southern Maryland. This year we decided to head to Wisconsin. Why Wisconsin? Well the timeshare we own has a property in the Wisconsin Dells. We had visited the area once before, 5 and a half years ago, and we wanted to see the area in the summer. Considering that the temperatures back home were in the mid 90's and it was pretty humid, man was I glad that we were away. We used the place in Wisconsin as a halfway point since ultimately we wanted to get to South Dakota.

Once in South Dakota, we visited Sioux Falls, the Badlands National Park a little further west as well as Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial. I also got my family to climb Harney Point, which is the highest point in South Dakota. Actually at 7,242 ft above sea level Harvey Point is the highest point east of the Rocky Mountains.

In trying to keep with the "This Week in Fishing" theme that I've been using recently I'm going to bring everyone up to date on my week in the midwest.

Our property at the Tamarac Resort, in Wisconsin Dells, had a small pond, maybe a couple of acres, that they referred to as Hummingbird Lake. As mentioned in my previous post, the lake was home to loads of fish. Being catch and release only, there were lots of panfish, predominantly bluegill, cruising the shallow areas. In fact many fish were guarding beds.

As I would approach the shoreline these little fish would swim up to the edge looking for scraps of bread thrown for some of the ducks that had taken up residence. Using a small 1/32 oz jig with a small tube worked some, but these fish seemed to have a hard time of getting the entire bait in their mouths. (They were pretty small.) So at one point I drove over to the Walmart and picked up some Gulp! 1 inch minnows in chartuese. Their profile was narrow enough that the bluegill could bite down and hold on. Later in the week I found, sitting on the walkway around the pond, a very small jig. I think it may be a 1/64 oz with some white hairs tied to it. I tied that onto my ultralight spinning rod and was able to catch quite a few as well.*

All totaled for the week I caught about two dozen of these little guys. (Photos of bluegill and the small bait)

*As a footnote the FishNerd podcast that I enjoy quite a lot mentioned in one episode a little while back a "scavenger challenge." Finding a piece of tackle and using it to catch a fish. Here's my "entry."

Now being a small pond there was also a fair number of largemouth bass as well. I could see them cruise the shallows here and there. Any attempt at catching one using a hard bait, crankbait or small jerkbait, was fouled due to the amount of grass in the pond. I could have spent hours casting them and probably pulled a good amount of the grass off of the bottom. Instead I went to a tactic that I'm not as comfortable with - the old soft plastic worm. I tried both a Texas rig as well as a Carolina rig. In all honesty the Carolina rig worked the best. I was able to rig the bait as "weed less" as I could. I'd cast it out and let it fall on a slack line. If something didn't bite then I'd drag it a little on the bottom a few feet and wait. The bites I got usually came after the first or second drag. Tick, tick - THUMP and set the hook! There were some nice sized fish in the lake, most of the ones I caught going between 14 - 18 inches. The best fish I caught was one evening when my wife had my phone. Luckily a few other people were fishing as well and I was able to get another angler to snap a nice photo.

Altogether I caught just around 18 largemouth as well. Now being that some of our time was spent a way from Wisconsin I felt I did pretty well with over 40 fish total. If I had one regret from the trip it would be the lack of time to try another location within the Dells. We were there as a family so I wanted to spend as much time with them not go out on a fishing adventure on the river with a guide or by myself. Next time though I will spend some time along the river to see if I can have any luck in catching something there.



On a couple of other notes in respects to fishing from this past week:

Since the fishing was pretty easy this week I actually got my youngest son to come out to the pond with me. While he was with me, he hooked into a nice largemouth and did a nice job fighting it to shore.

Also I received a couple of texts from my sister. She had taken her grandson, that she is raising, out with the Rocket Fishing Rod I got him for his birthday. Not only had they gone out, he actually caught a couple of nice bluegill.

Then I also received a "tweet" this past week from a student from this past school year. In class he knew I enjoyed fishing and would occasionally ask how I did "this weekend." One day in class he was especially interested in how to "surf fish." I told him what I know, which isn't terribly much. Well this past week I received this photo

with the caption: "@ReddenDE finally caught my first fish! It may be tiny but there's more to come!!!😂🐟" It was really neat hearing about how he did. I've had problems with social media before- but this was one time when it went well.

Lastly, being the FishNerd that I am, whenever I'm near any body of water I always try to keep an eye out to see if people are trying to catch something. Well while we were visiting Sioux Falls this past week, and everyone seemed to be looking for and catching Pokemon, I spotted this gentleman on the other bank. He was fighting pretty well, and had come to the point where he needed to figure out how to get his fish in the last 10 or 12 feet.

Of course it meant that he needed to lift his fish, a carp, up into the air. Unfortunately as he started to lift the 18 or so inch fish shook off. Fortunately I got his picture.

Back to Maryland next week- until then Tight Lines!

TWIF (This Week in Fishing) July 2nd - July 8th

Saturday, July 2nd: One of the many hazards of being me is the inability of sleeping late. As a teacher, 180 days out of the year, I like to get to the school building between 6:15 and 6:30 in the morning. (School doesn't start until 7:40.) I like to get there and get materials ready for the day. What that does is most of the other days of the year I don't "sleep in" much. Like this morning I woke up at 5:20. Knowing it would take an almost miracle for me to go back to sleep, I got up, ate breakfast and decided to head out fishing.

Since I had the time I drove the 40 minutes down to St. Mary's Lake. At the launch I met up with two different guys on bass boats as well as another kayak angler. We exchanged pleasantries and I headed out across the lake. Since the green nymph worked as well as it did in Salisbury I decided to use it again. I paddled along the northern edge of the lake making casts along the shore. (I'm going to say something about this also.*) I didn't get many bites until I paddled into one finger of the lake. My second cast in this area produced the very nice redear sunfish pictured above. The very next cast produced an 11 1/2 inch largemouth. It's always fun to get bites on successive casts. I paddled around for about another 90 minutes catching 2 or 3 more redear as well as a small, 14 inch, chain pickerel. Six total fish with three different species amounts to a very nice morning.

* Now for the footnote: St. Mary's Lake encompasses approximately 250 acres. Again when I arrived this morning there were four anglers preparing to leave the launch, two by power boat and two by kayak. Not to brag but I was the last to arrive and the first to get on my way to where I was going to fish. So why did one of the guys in the bass boat end up within 100 yds of where I was fishing? I mean I paddled across the lake, he used his trolling motor and stopped within 100 yds of me. I didn't say anything out loud but I wasn't pleased. Well I wasn't pleased until I caught that first redear and bass with him fishing nearby. I know it's petty but it felt good catching something when he wasn't. There my rant is over. Thanks for listening.

Sunday, July 3rd: Is there a such thing as "too many fish?" Or should I say "Is catching a fish on every third cast too much?" That's what fishing was like today. I headed over to the Patuxent River, launching out of Nan's Cove. As I arrived another angler was loading up his kayak as well. To say that his boat was pretty loaded would be an understatement. For me I thought I had a lot of stuff, some day I'll do a little writing about what's on mine, but he had a little more. He paddled out and I loaded my boat. After that I really did get to talk to him at all. I guess he was out for solitude like I am sometimes.

Back to fishing: today I paddled out about 2 hours before high tide. That seems to be the magic time - two hours before high tide and fish until the tide goes slack. That's what I did and it paid off. I think I caught just over 40 white perch, all 9 inches or smaller.

But honestly speaking it was how I enjoy myself. I was using the same Beetle Spin lure with a small plastic tube. I'd cast it out and allow it to sink for 4 or 5 seconds and then reel it in slowly. The perch would hit it pretty hard and I thoroughly loved it.

I did have one hiccup on the day. At one point I got a line twist on one of the rods. Being braided line I had to cut the line while the bait, pieces of shrimp on a circle hook, was in the water. After the repair was completed I pulled the broken line in and found that I had inadvertently caught a small blue crab. It shows that it helps to sometimes have a bait on the bottom.

Now on another note as I was leaving the cove I spotted two other kayak anglers. As I approached them I politely said "Hey having any luck?" I then realized that I knew both of them. One was a former student, and took longer to recognize due to his hat and sunglasses, and both were former members of the National Honor Society I sponsor. It was great seeing them and hope to see Jacob and Zack on the water again.

Monday, July 4th: Happy Birthday America! I spent some time this morning, before the rains came, standing on the side of a small private pond in an attempt to catch a couple of fish. I started using a 1/8 oz jig with an orange Berkley grub. Nothing was happening so I picked up my other rod which had a Rebel Wee-Frog tied on it. On the first cast about three cranks of the reel I was hooked up with an 11 inch largemouth. I made a few more casts but nothing was biting, so I made a move down the shoreline.

I ended up making two more moves and at each spot I caught one fish, either a bass or a crappie. The best fish of the day, or at least what I think was the best fish, ended up shaking off right at the shore when my line got a little caught on some bushes at shore. All totaled I caught three bass and one nice crappie while out.

Tuesday, July 5th:

Last day of serious fishing in Maryland for a while today since we will be leaving for vacation soon. I'll take some light gear with me but I'm not sure how much fishing I'll get a chance to do. I made my way over to Gilbert Run this morning in hopes to catch a few as I did the last time. Unfortunately that really wasn't the case. I had real troubles finding fish and only managed one bluegill and one bass. With the heat and humidity that set in today I'm not terribly surprised that I didn't do as well but I was still disappointed. Since the heat seems to be coming in this week it will be nice to get away from it. Not sure how much I'll post while on the road so we'll have to see.

Friday, July 8th:

Man it's been a few days since I wet a line. With my family and I heading halfway across the country, it meant a quite a few hours in the car. Fortunately we didn't hit much traffic and had a very nice atop in Chicago to see my nephew and my wife's aunt. So it wasn't until about 6 pm today that I had the chance to cast a lure.
We're staying at the Festiva Resort in Wisconsin Dells. It has a small, probably 2 to 2 1/2 acre "lake." Hummingbird Lake, as it is called, is home to several bluegill as well as some largemouth bass, as far as I could tell. The bluegill are plentiful and swim right up to the shore as you approach. (It looks like they are used to eating the scraps of bread thrown in for the ducks.) I was also able to see fish guarding beds. I tried a couple of lures and was finally able to catch a small one with a ultra light crankbait. I saw a couple of bass swim by so I took another rod and tied on a 1/8 oz jig and put a black and yellow Zoom grub trailer on it. There was plenty of grass for the bass to hide in so I would make my casts into that area and let it fall. After a tug and a twitch I'd get a bite or a pile of grass on it. The bites for nice ones and I was able to catch three nice largemouth. It was a terrific start to our stay here. I'm hoping to get my sons interested since it looks like it might be pretty easy. Until later ... Tight lines!!

TWIF (This Week in Fishing) June 25th - July 1st

Saturday, June 25th:

Well my fishing for this week is started on the Patuxent River. I hit the river at low tide, again. I know it isn't the best time but it was when I could get out. I decided to try some bottom fishing with small pieces on shrimp on circle hooks. With the current moving like it was, as well as the breeze working in cooperation with it, I was surprised that I didn't get more bites. Then again maybe my drifting was to fast, so it may be a matter of a heavier sinker next time. Anyway I did catch 3 small white perch. But again since it was low tide I spotted another old tire on the shoreline. Suffice it to say I came home with the dirty thing again.

Later in the day I went back to Nan's Cove to see how things were at high tide. Again I arrived a little late, just as the tide was going slack. Maybe not the best time but it was a gorgeous evening. Using a small "beetle spin" I was able to catch a half dozen white perch again. There were some fish breaking the surface in various areas. I was close enough to one and cast just a little to the side. As I reeled in the spinner I hooked up. I thought it might be another perch but was pleasantly surprised when I brought in a 7 inch striped bass, my first of the season.

Monday, June 27th:

Well it's back to Salisbury for a few days. With helping out with things back home I took the kayak down with me. Now my former obsession, geocaching, is no longer. It's been replaced by kayak fishing. But the want to occasionally find a geocache is still there. Fortunately some hiders do more than just place caches in parking lots or 200 ft down a trail. Today I took the opportunity to head to a body of water that I didn't know existed even though I grew up within 5 miles of it. Williams Mill Pond is located just south of the Maryland-Delaware state line; it looks like it may even connect with another favorite of mine, Leonard's Mill. Being a typical eastern shore pond it had loads of habitat to various creatures. I spotted multiple herons, ducks, and turtles. Of course I was more interested in what was below the surface of the water. I started with one of the silver tube under a small float and I had a couple of nice pulls on it from a few nice black crappie. I paddled around to a couple of other areas and found a few more crappie. Probably around 7 pm or so I switched baits to a bright green nymph. Unfortunately the jig I was using had too big of a head and it tore the soft plastic so the bait would barely stay on. I switched again to a Bobby Garland Baby Shad. With it I caught my first true pumpkinseed, a really pretty fish. But again the jig really couldn't hold the bait correctly so I switched again to a small 1 inch curly tail grub. The first cast with it paid off 100 fold with a terrific largemouth. It was close to 14 inches long.

I had some problems getting him back into the water, since he shook out of my hand and landed on the kayak itself. (Hope he's ok.) A few more casts and I had my fourth species of the day with a small bluegill. I always enjoy getting as many species as I can so this was a great way to start my time in Salisbury.

Wednesday, June 29th: With the fact that I'm still in Salisbury I headed out this morning to Williams Mill. Exploring new water is always fun and finding out what species live there increases the enjoyment. I hit the water just before 7 am. I decided to use a small yellow plastic grub style bait that I had found while on vacation in North Carolina. (I actually found it over Easter Break in a trash can along with a small tackle container filled with other color grubs and hooks.) The bait paid off with catches of nice size black crappie and bluegill. I also caught a 9 to 10 inch golden shiner, so add another species to the list of known fish in the pond.

Later the same evening I drove back up to the same location. My sister, who had had surgery, was resting at the house. The weather was beautiful so I gave it another try. This time I was using a small white grub and I managed to catch several panfish again. But on one cast as soon as my bait hit the water a very large swirl came up and yanked on it. As I tried setting the hook I felt nothing. I reeled in the line to find my bait, hook and all, had bitten clean off. I paddled around some more giving a "Fire Tiger" crankbait a few casts. About half way back on one retrieve it got hit and reeled it but as it came to the surface the line went around my paddle. As I tried to unwrap it the fish shook off. I didn't want to give up so I tied on a "Storm" curl tail minnow. Again it got smacked really well once and I got that fish to the kayak but as I reached in to bring it onto the boat it spit the hook. I headed back to where I launched, making occasional casts to the edges of lily pads. My last cast, about 30 ft from the put in location, I hooked up again. This guy was a terrific fight as he turned the kayak to the left and right. As I got him up I saw that it was a huge chain pickerel and I really wanted him.

I got him in the kayak and thought he might be my first "citation fish." I measured it, 22 inches, and then released it as soon as I could. Alas no citation though since in the state of Maryland a chain pickerel must be 24 inches in length! Two inches too short- a reason to try again. (As if I really needed one)

Thursday, June 30th: Last full day in Salisbury making sure that my sister is recovering well. I had to put gas in the truck so I decided to hit a small stream that leads out of Leonard's Mill Pond. I was using a small critter style bait and was able to catch a couple of bluegill in some pools along the stream.

On my way out of town I stopped one more time at Williams Mill. I was hoping to stir up another big pickerel with Storm curly tail I used the evening before. I got one nice bite but no luck getting it in all the way. I did catch another good group of bluegill and crappie. In fact all totaled I caught over 50 fish on my trip to Salisbury including six different species. I was pretty happy! Until next week ... Tight lines!