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!