TWIF (This Week in Fishing) September 7th - September 18th

Wednesday, September 7th:

I took the opportunity this afternoon, after school, to drive and fish along Hunting Creek. The creek continues to change. The flow of the water through was almost completely stopped due to the small earthen dam that developed. The water itself was very "mocha" colored so I tried what I could with a darker colored bait. It paid off with a couple of bites and one solid hook up on a medium sized bass. After that I needed to get back to school to pick up my son from practice so I turned tail.



Saturday, September 10:

Can we say "YEAH!" I headed down to the Salisbury area to help my sisters get my parents' house ready for sale. The lower Eastern Shore of Maryland has loads of good spots to put the kayak on the water and to try and catch a fish. There are three or four within 10 minutes of my parents' house. This morning I took the kayak over to Williams Mill. I caught a couple of panfish, including a nice 8 inch golden shiner. At that point I tied a 3 inch jerkbait which was golden in color. It paid off very well with long casts. The cadence was typical with a jerk, jerk and then a pause. And it was on the pause when the fish would hit. I caught some really nice sized black crappie, up to 12 inches, and a couple of very good pickerel, up to 21 inches. I really have to admit that hooking up with a nice powerful chain pickerel on the kayak is a lot of fun. A couple of them pulled me on a, albeit short, sleigh ride as well as turned the kayak a good 90 degrees or so. I ended up with just over 20 fish in about 3 hours. I love fishing on the Eastern Shore.

Sunday, September 11th:

Woke up this morning knowing that my sister was coming over around 10:30 or so to continue work at mom's house so I took to the water just about 7 am. I was working the same pattern as the day before with a small grub and the golden jerkbait. It was a little slower in catching this morning, only 10 fish or so in 1 and a half hours, but I did get a couple of nice pickerel as well as a couple of crappie. This shot shows that bait I was using.

Hopefully it can be used a little back home in southern Maryland.

That afternoon I began my drive back to home. As I mentioned there are loads of places to fish on the Eastern Shore so I stopped at one where I've stopped before, Wye Mill Community Lake. Actually as I did one time before I fished the stream coming out of the dam from the lake itself. I used a small grub as well as a small crankbait. I actually didn't do to badly since in the about 30 minutes I fished I caught 4 fish, two largemouth, a small bluegill as well as a white perch.

Now being that school has started up and my time to fish is abbreviated as well as my time to report about it, I decided to extend this "This Week in Fishing" to cover the next week also. As you'll see I didn't get out much anyway since I wasn't able to wet a line until Saturday, September 17th. Being a Saturday after a home football game, my morning started at 8 am at the school with members of the National Honor Society cleaning up the stadium bleachers. I got home showered and then spent a little time getting things together for our short family outing. Sunday, the 18th, was my wife's birthday and we were celebrating by seeing a comedian/ventriloquist she likes Taylor Mason. I had never seen him and it turned out that he does a nice show.

But right in the middle of the day of Saturday's my sons have their bowling league. The lanes are right across the street from the small section of Hunting Creek I like to frequent. I walked over and spent about 20 minutes casting a line. My first cast hooked up with something that gave me a nice fight but I never saw it since it shook off. I made a change to the bait, back to the black and yellow grub from Zoom and had a few pulls.

On one cast I hooked up with a nice 15 or 16 inch pickerel. I fought him to shore and took a nice picture with him. I then packed up and headed back to the bowling alley since my sons were finishing up. It's always nice to escape and make a few casts.








Sunday, September 18th:

Now in the interest of full disclosure, my original purpose of starting this blog was to chronicle my experiences in trying to catch a fish, any fish, in every county in the state of Maryland. It's a fishing quest I like to refer to as "Fish Across Maryland" or FaMD. I had hit a point where trying to get additional counties was a daunting task with the condition of my mother going downhill. Hence my starting the "T.W.i F" posts. Well the last entry in this week's post will be an addition to my county list of catches. My family and I spent the evening after the show in the Bel Air area in Harford County. My wife's sister and family live up there so it was a perfect opportunity to visit with them before and the morning after the show. My wife and her sister decided to attend the Arts Festival in the area so I headed over to Harford Glen Park. Winters Run goes through the area which boasts a nice trail along it to stop and give a cast a try. I tied on a small jig and was using some small chartuese and grey minnows from Powerbait. I had loads of fish follow them, including a few nice size largemouth. It took a little while before I was finally able to entice something to bite. When it finally did I had a small, maybe 4 inch, bluegill in my hand. It was my first fish in Harford County and it gave me the opportunity to scratch that county off of my list. I caught a couple more, including a redbreast sunfish. So while my fishing opportunities haven't been many recently at least I have been able to get out and have some fun. And that's what fishing is about! Until next time ... Tight lines!

TWIF (This Week in Fishing) August 29th - September 5th

School has begun in earnest. That means that time for fishing now has to be manufactured. I can't simply wake up and decide where I might go. Now I have to make sure my "responsibilities" are taken care off and then make sure there's enough daylight. I say all this because my fishing exploits were very stunted for the week. In fact I didn't even get out to fish until the Sunday of Labor Day weekend.

Sunday, September 4th:

My family and I were invited to a friend's property in Clarion, PA. We've been to the area multiple times and we always enjoy it. It had been a couple of years since I had last been up there. In fact it was long enough ago that I was into a different hobby, geocaching, then. In the fishing department I knew of a small put and take pond within Cook State Forest, but that was a children's fishing area. I stopped by a local "general store" type of place and purchased a license, which all anglers should do, and asked about possible places to try. The gentleman at the counter asked if I was "going by book?" Since we were only in the area for 48 hours I left my kayak at home. I walked down to the edge of the river and made some casts, mainly in the deeper poles, with my trusty jig and grub. Unfortunately I had some small pulls but nothing that I could bring to shore. I know it's a cliché but I really feel that sometimes it isn't about catching as much as it is about enjoying the beauty of the area. This was one of those times. I spent a good bit of it just admiring the glory of God's creation. And after the first week of school I think I needed that most.

Monday, September 5th:

Being the long weekend of Labor Day, we came on Monday. After getting back to Maryland, with experiencing zero traffic problems, we unloaded the car and then I set off to give Hunting Creek a try. The area has changed a good amount with the lack of rain. The water itself was mocha colored and barely moving at all. In fact a small "levy" had developed which was stopping the water from getting through. I thought about how it would effect the area. (In fact I may try to do something about it one day in the not too distant future.) I had a 1/8 oz jig with a black and yellow grub on the line. I made a few cast into the water and on the third or fourth I was rewarded with a 13 inch largemouth bass. I made a few more cast and hooked up with another fish. I got this one to shore and was taken a back a little. It resembled a sunfish but it mouth was considerably larger than any sunfish's I had seen before. I took a few photos and released it. I then moved down the bank a little and ended up catching two more. As I drove home I was wondering if they might have been "rock bass." So I fired off a couple of photos of them to the Maryland's Anglers Log. I heard back from them pretty quickly. Come to find out rock bass aren't very prevalent in my area but "warmouth" are. I had heard of them, Lepomis gulosus, but had never caught one, which meant I had a new species under my belt. It also meant that it was another species that I've caught at this location, bringing the total of different one to eight or nine.

That evening, just after dinner, I drove down to the beach at Calvert Beach. Once again with small number 4 hooks with pieces of shrimp I made some casts. I had heard some people had been catching red drum, or redfish. I didn't have the same luck but I did catch another new species for myself. On one cast I felt a "tap tap" and I gave it a good yank. I reeled it in as my oldest son arrived, since I asked him to bring me something. Lo and behold I had caught a "northern puffer" (Sphoeroides maculatus).

Maybe all of 5 inches long, I pulled him out of the water and he inflated. I had seen photos but never caught one before so even though I was looking for a different fish I still got a surprise. I guess that's one of the things I like about fishing the most - the unknown. I can head out and "target" a species but until you get it to shore or the side of the boat it's a mystery. Until next time - tight lines!