As the title of this post says being persistent does have its advantages. But just like any “payment” it isn’t always immediate!
Case in point: Somerset County, Maryland is less than 60 miles from my home. It just takes 3 hours to drive there since I have to cross the Chesapeake Bay. Somerset County is a neighbor to Wicomico County where I grew up. I have tried on three different occasions to catch a fish in Somerset County. The first time was right after beginning my quest to catch a fish in each county of the state of Maryland. I had driven down to Worcester County and paddled around on the old kayak and caught a
nice bluegill in Shad Landing State Park. On the ride back to my parents’ house I stopped at the
Manokin River Park in Princess Anne to give it a try. No luck that day. Fast forward to about three months ago, back in March. I was on the Eastern Shore visiting my sisters and I went to the same small park and decided to put the kayak on the river. Being a tidal fishery it was LOW tide that day and I was thankful I had my boots since there were times when the kayak was scrapping bottom and I had to get out and walk it some. Suffice it to say I went fishless that day as well.
Now here I am at the beginning of June, visiting my sisters again. I woke up early this morning and decided to give it another try. I drove down to the park, about 20 minutes from my sister’s home. I had brought four different rods for my trip, mainly because I was going to try my favorite spot, Williams Mill, the previous day. Upon arriving I decided that I wouldn’t use the kayak unless it just wasn’t paying off on the shoreline. I began with the collapsible panfish rod thinking I could hook something relatively quick. It didn’t happen. I switched to my ultralight rod, 4 pound test, with a red and white tube on a 1/16 oz jig. I made probably a half dozen casts before anything happened. On one cast, near a spot of overhanging tree limbs, my float when down like a shot. I yanked up and the fish took off, making runs of 20 yards or more. I was able to gain some line back but it would just take more. With the very light line I didn’t want to put much pressure on it. In fact I didn’t really have to since it snapped the line after a couple of minutes. I was encouraged. I had hooked something, and it was probably pretty big. I went back to the car for another rod, with a heavier line and began trying again. Fish were surfacing all around me, but I couldn’t get one to bite. I stayed there for 45 minutes, but NO luck!
I decided to grab the kayak and give it a try. I even had my minnow trap and thought I might be able to catch some bait. (Interesting fact, or at least it’s interesting to me, if I had caught some minnows I would not have counted them for my quest; since one of my
rules was that the fish must be caught with hook and line.) Nevertheless I was unsuccessful in catching any bait and had to resort to small shad soft plastics and my tubes. I paddled down the river, with the tide, making casts with a beetle spin lure as well as a small tube. Again fish were breaking the surface of the water but I couldn’t get anything to bite.
After an hour or so I decided to head back to the car. Once there I pulled the kayak over to the car to load it. After putting everything back into the car I looked at my watch and said “I’ll give it another 15 minutes.” I walked back over to the river side. Now persistence is defined as “firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty” and that’s why I decided to use it in the title. While it is just fishing, and I don’t really believe that trying to catch a fish counts as “grinding away” I do know that I easily get stuck in my ways. I made a few casts into some of the areas as before. My bait got hit a couple of times, but nothing. I made one more cast, gave it a twitch and then felt it get heavy. I gave it a yank and started reeling. Heavier line I was able to “control” the fish a little more as it swam down. As it got closer to the shoreline it headed towards a few of the rocks. Fortunately with a little longer rod I was able to lift the fish over them. It was at this point when my persistence finally did pay off as I was holding a small 10 inch, pretty fat, channel catfish. A few pictures and released healthy I had another county under my belt. That brings the count to 19 out of 24 including two new ones in a week. Now back to my sisters for lunch and family time. Until next time... Tight Lines!
