TWIF (This Week in Fishing) October 6th - 16th

Much of the month of October I'm going to have to be in school. Not for teaching, per se. I mean I still have my teaching job. But a couple of evenings each week I'm going to be sitting in class for recertification purposes. (I was stupid and waited until almost the last minute to get them done.) Nevertheless I still intend to get out occasionally to catch a few fish.

Thursday , October 6th: This afternoon, after soccer study hall, I headed over to the small section of Hunting Creek I like to frequent. I spent 45 minutes or so trying different baits and only caught one bluegill. I did hook up with one pickerel but it got off about 15 ft from shore.





Friday, October 7th:

Since the football game I needed to video was going to be on Saturday night this week, I got the opportunity to get home after school at a pretty reasonable time. I drove down to the jetty at Flag Harbor with a few shrimp. Long casts parallel to the jetty produced the most fish. But there seemed to be a sweet spot about 20 ft out from the jetty itself where the bit the most. Any further off than that - Nothing. I caught five species, including a few white perch- my first at this location this year. But I had to share this photo of a 7 inch puffer. He inflated so much I had to snap his picture. I also loved his green eyes in the picture as well.

Saturday, October 8th: This morning we found ourselves in the midst of rain, not really large amounts of it, but still rain from the outer bands of Hurricane Matthew. I still wanted to give fishing a try so I drove up to Hunting Creek knowing that I'd be back in the woods so slightly protected. Not much was biting so I only caught 1 smaller bluegill. I did hook up with three pickerel but unfortunately each of them shook off. It just wasn't my morning.

That afternoon I had to head back up to Prince Frederick to record a high school football game. I left the house a little early so that I could stop by the private pond I like try now and then. I had a little more luck there catching a crappie and a couple of largemouth. The thing that really made my day was that each of the fish I caught were on a small 1/8 oz jig that I had tied some buck tail onto. I also put a black and yellow grub on it as a trailer. It was really neat catching fish on a lure I made.

Sunday, October 9th: With the rain from Hurricane "Matthew" stopping in the morning I had a cleanup at the high school to take care of. After that I drove up to Hunting Creek to see if I could catch a pickerel. Unfortunately with the recent rains the water was moving much to fast for me to be able to really have a good chance. So I tucked my tail and headed back to the house.
(Photo of perch on dock) After watching a little Sunday afternoon football with my son, and an early dinner, I drove over to Nan's Cove to try for a little while from the pier. The tide was on the way out but I was still able to catch about a half dozen white perch using the same setup I use at the beach, shrimp of small hooks. Not much size to any of them but it is nice to feel the tug on the other end.

Friday, October 14:

Most of the week has passed and now it's Friday. Once again I had to film a football game so instead of going right home after school I drove over to a small pond. I brought a spinning rod with another, larger, buck tail lure I had tied. It also had a coffee colored 2 inch grub as a trailer. I only fished for 40 minutes or so but I got a couple of really nice bites. The modest success in having with my hand-tied lures is really making me want to try more.

Saturday, October 15:

Weekends are made for enjoyment! After a stadium cleanup with the NHS students I got back home and did some things around the house. Once that was all finished I headed down to Lake Lariat. We had bright sunny skies with temperatures in the mid 60's. I also believe there was a high pressure system sitting on top of us so fishing was slow. I managed to catch five fish in total, split between bass and bluegill. But none of them were very large. I headed home after about two and a half hours so that I could a few more things done around the house.

Sunday, October 16: I had most of today to myself. After church my oldest son had to work and my wife and youngest son went to the Redskins - Eagles game. I looked up the tides over at the river and saw that high tide was going to be around 3:00 or 3:30. I took to the water around 1pm and spent the better part of two hours paddling along the shoreline casting a small Beetle Spin with a 1/16 oz jig that I had dressed with buck tail.

I found fish in various areas mostly in the shady parts. All totaled I caught about a dozen and a half 6 to 8 inch white perch. I gave the small pieces of shrimp a try for a little while, but the wind combined with the tide had me fouling my hooks with sea grass.

When school starts back up on Monday I'll have study hall with the soccer team so my time fishing will go down. Thank goodness we have the weekends! Until later ... Tight Lines!! Sent from my iPhone

TWIF (This Week in Fishing) September 19 - 26th

Monday, September 19th:

Wow what difference a week makes! Last week this time I wasn't thinking about fishing due to being back in school. This week school is in full swing; I'm in a rhythm with it so I had a chance to head down to the shoreline after dinner. Using the small pieces of shrimp on the #4 long shank hooks, I made long casts along the side of the north jetty. After a few seconds on the bait sitting on the bottom I'd feel a small tug and if set the hook. If I didn't get a bite I'd reel in 10 or 15 ft of line and try again. It was productive as I caught a half dozen fish or so within an hours time. I actually caught my first speckled trout, two of them, of the year, maybe 8 or 9 inches long each. On one cast I felt a very nice hit and set the hook as fast as I could. As I reeled the fish in I knew I had something different on the line as this fish definitely pulled much harder. In fact this guy pulled a little drag as I got it closer to shore. I got it on the shore and was delighted to see that I had caught my first ever red drum, or as some call them "redfish." It was probably about 17 inches long, which is an inch too short to keep. I wouldn't have kept it anyway as it was just too fun to catch. It had a total of three spots and was just a gorgeous fish. I released it and made a few more casts and caught his little nephew or niece, a small black drum. I'm definitely coming back for the next couple of weeks to try some more and get a chance to unwind.

Tuesday, September 20th:

Tuesday evening my youngest son had a soccer game in the central part of the county. I followed him up there to see how they did. Unfortunately they didn't do very well, due to inexperience, but they play with positive energy and attitude. After his game I headed a little south to get him dinner. I stopped off by Hunting Creek for a few casts. I used a small jig with a curly tail grub and caught a bluegill. I also caught a nice 20 inch chain pickerel while there. Bad photo but a nice catch nonetheless.

Wednesday, September 21st:

This afternoon I took the kayak down to Lake Lariat. I had the time and thought I'd give it a shot. I paddled out with three rods, one with a small crankbait which didn't produce any fish. I had another with a Texas rigged worm which didn't get any bites either. So it boiled down to using my small 1/16oz jig with a green nymph. It paid off with a nice load of bluegill and a couple of largemouth.

Saturday, September 24th:

Wow is really all I can say. My trip to Salisbury this time was to help with moving the last of the things in my parents house out. We spent the entire afternoon loading up a trailer so that another family could be blessed. I got in the previous evening in hopes to get up early and get on the water. And that's exactly what I did. I put the kayak on Williams Mill just after 7 am and began casting the gold colored jerkbait. I made one cast close to a set of lily pads and it got hit. This fish pulled a little drag and it took a couple of minutes to get it to the boat. Come to find out I had hooked a nice 12 or 13 inch bullhead catfish. It was the first catfish I'd caught in this location so it just tells me more about the diversity in the pond. The jerkbait didn't produce many more fish, maybe one crappie, so I switched over to my usual jig and soft plastic. That bait brought in a nice mixture of fish, including several bluegill, and crappie. I was even able to bring in a bass and a pumpkinseed which gave me five species for the morning.

Sunday, September 25th:

My trip to Salisbury was a very fast one. In fact I don't think I was even in town for 24 full hours. I returned home to southern Maryland to be with my family. Late that afternoon I took a rod down to the bay for an hour or so. Small hooks and little pieces of shrimp helped me catch about a half dozen fish, split between five species. I got another speckled trout, just nine inches long, along with a couple of southern kingfish. I also hooked into a 20 inch American eel. It put up a terrific fight and wasn't the easiest fish to get off the hook. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos to share here.

Monday, September 26th:

For my last fishing entry for September I had more of the same from the evening before. Just after dinner I headed down to the shore at Flag Harbor. Again I was able to catch a hand full of fish using the same technique as before. ("If it ain't broke" right?) Nothing was very big but I did enjoy reeling in two northern puffers at the same time.

As you may have noticed, with the start of the school year and my obsession with getting graded papers back to my students as fast as possible, my fishing exploits and also my time to write about them is limited. While I will strive to update my blog with what I'm doing, the posts themselves will just be coming less frequently. Don't worry I'm still going to be honest. But I'm just going to slow down with the updates. I may also be sharing some photos of what I've been doing evenings when I can't get out. But more on that later. Tight lines!! Sent from my iPhone