TWiF (This Week in Fishing) November 19th - 27th

Saturday, November 19th:

Saturday was my first outing since last weekend. The weather was terrific to be on the kayak, with temperatures in the low 70's, a slight breeze and bright bluebird skies. But like my last post, fishing was slow. I ended up catching only two fish, a small bass and a bluegill. Actually both were about the same length at around 8 inches.
Later in the day I drove up to Hunting Creek for about 40 minutes while waiting to pick up my youngest son from an ROTC event. My third cast, of the black and yellow grub, went tight. I hooked up with a pickerel and fought it to the side of the stream but unfortunately it shook off. Successive casts turned out fruitless.

Sunday, November 20th:

This afternoon I headed towards the middle of the county on a few errands. Of course I took a couple of fishing poles with me. I started at Hunting Creek casting the same black and yellow grub as the day before. But after a little time I switched to a small chartreuse mini Shad called a "Panfish Assassin." I made a few casts and one ended up in an area just behind a few fallen limbs. A small tug let me know that I was getting a bite so I set the hook and reeled in a small yellow perch. It was only the second I've caught at this spot so it was a surprise. I released it and then tried another bait, an inline spinner, but didn't get any more bites.
After a quick stop I then headed to the same private pond I've mentioned before. The cold front that came through had dropped temperatures considerably and the wind was still howling. Nevertheless I thought I'd try a 1/8 oz buck tail jig I had tied the day before. The wind made it hard to stay tight with the line but I was able to catch one small bass. I then headed back to the house to get some things ready for the two day school week.

Wednesday, November 23rd:

Well Thanksgiving break is here and it's my hope to catch at least one fish each day. Today started poorly with getting blanked at the private pond I like to visit. It was pretty cold in the morning while I was there. In fact as I reeled in the line ice was forming on the line guides. I headed home to do a little yard work. After lunch and a few card games with my wife and sons I drove down to Lake Lariat for a couple of hours. I paddled around one of the fingers of the lake, trying to stay on the sunnier side. Once again the bite was very slow with only getting three or four total. I was able to capitalize on two of them reeling in a 6 inch bluegill as well as a 6 inch bass.

Thursday, November 24th: Thanksgiving Day and we headed down to Salisbury. My sister's family was visiting her in-laws so we stopped and had lunch at Golden Corral. After that the boys went and saw a movie and I headed to the stream coming out of Leonard's Mill Pond. I had a couple of bites, but couldn't hook up with anything, which meant that my hope to catch a fish each day of break was for not. But there's always tomorrow.

Friday, November 25th:

In Salisbury without a kayak and still wanting to fish I have a couple of options. This morning I drove over to Pemberton Historical Park to fish Bell Creek, a tributary of the Wicomico River. With autumn being in "fall effect" (see what I did there?) there were loads of leaves on the surface. Fishing with light jigs the leaves prevented the bait from falling into the area where the fish were. So I moved down stream a little to an area I hadn't tried before. It was pretty clear of leaves as well as overhanging limbs. A couple of casts into this area and I was hooked up with a 13 or so inch chain pickerel. After that I walked down a little further and tried another area but didn't hook up with anything there.

A little later that day my sons wanted to head to the Stratosphere Trampoline Park north of Salisbury. I dropped them off and drove a little south to Leonard's Mill Pond. The stream coming out of the pond itself wasn't moving very fast. I tied on a very small jig, I believe it's a 1/64 oz. (I found it in Wisconsin this past summer.) That paired with a small Gulp! minnow. That bait was even a little too big so I cut it in half and put it back on. With that combination I was able to catch about a half dozen bluegill as well as one black crappie. All were released to swim again and I returned to pick up the boys.

Saturday, November 26th: Last day in Salisbury and once again I woke up early. With only an hour or so before we had to meet my sister and her family, I drove back up to the stream at Leonard's Mill. Using the same very small jig, this time tipped with a small 1/2 inch piece of a bright green plastic worm (Hot Worm by Field & Stream), I was able to catch three more bluegill as well as a nice 5 or 6 inch redbreast sunfish.

Those four brought the total to a dozen for the two days.







Sunday, November 27th: Last day of the break and I had to head to the school for another NHS stadium cleanup. I left early from the house and made a 40 minute stop at Hunting Creek. I had a black and green tube on a 1/32 oz jig looking for a tug on the other end. I made a few casts out into the middle of the stream and gave it a few tugs but it didn't catch any eyes. I then moved down a little further and made a cast to an area behind a few fallen limbs. Then it was "Game On!" I set the hook and began to reel. I actually let the fish swim a bit hoping it would be tired when I grabbed it. I ended up catching a nice chain pickerel, just about 18 inches long.

I released it and and moved down to another spot to cast a couple more times. Again a cast to an area that had some places to ambush prey and I hooked up with another pickerel. This one was about 15 inches or so; both nice fish. I hooked up with one more but it shook off before I got it to shore.

The last couple of weeks have been pretty good for me. Not huge fish, or big numbers of fish but still a lot of fun on or along the water. Temperatures are still dropping and until the water turns hard/solid I'm going to keep trying. Until next time ... Tight lines!