St. Mary's Lake Slam! But at a Price...

What was going to be a wrap up of my Easter Break adventures in fishing took a bit of a bad spin this morning. I can say that I have enjoyed the break by getting a chance to visit a couple of new locations and I've caught a good number of fish. But for the want of a $8.18 (according to the Walmart website) item, I have mixed thoughts about my true enjoyment of the long weekend.

This morning, Tuesday morning, I got up at normal school day time and headed down to St. Mary's Lake. As I drove down to the launch I spotted a friend preparing her kayak as well. Julie* is an avid kayak angler and does a very nice job. We talked a little and then went to park our vehicles. Upon getting back to the launch I noticed that she had small pieces of foam on each of her three rods. I thought to myself "What a great idea, I should look into those." But then I thought "My homemade PVC rod holder does a nice job" and I paddled off.

Typically when I head out on freshwater I have three rods rigged with different baits. I usually have one for panfish with a small jig, with a soft plastic, under a float. Another rod will usually have a hard plastic bait on it like a crankbait or a Rat-L-Trap. This morning it was the bleeding minnow Rat-L-Trap. The third rod usually has a finesse presentation like a Carolina rigged worm or a dropshot. I can change baits as I go along since I carry a small tackle bag with me as well. I began by paddling to an area I don't hit often and made casts with both the small jig and the Rat-L-Trap.

Nothing bit so I just continued down the shoreline until I found one small area that looked promising. Another cast, with the hair jig, to about 4 feet from the shoreline, into 3 feet of water, and the float went down. I reeled down and brought in a nice 8 inch redear sunfish. He/she was pretty thick so I figured some babies would be coming soon so I released it. I paddled around some more trying the various presentations I brought. The hair jig wasn't producing any bites so I changed it out to a jig and plastic critter from Johnson's. Again no real bites, so that rod went into the rod holder.

The Rat-L-Trap solicited the next good bite. I would make longer casts and let it sink. Then I'd rip it up from the bottom and crank in some line and let it sink again. On one cast it got hit and I was able to boat a 15 inch chain pickerel. It was released as well and I paddled a little further on.

As I approached the point directly across from the launch I tried the jig again and did catch one crappie. Not the biggest fish, but a third species in three fish. After that fish I grabbed the rod with the dropshot tied onto it. It's not my most confident technique but I want to spend more time with it this year. I'm using VMC Spinshot hooks since I found some on sale. It got hit on the third or fourth cast by the typical "bite bite thump" and I figured I had a largemouth. As I reeled it in I found that I had my second pickerel of the day. I released it and paddled further on.

I came to another area and went through the progression of baits again. I started with the hard bait, with went unsuccessfully. I switched to the jig to no avail. When that didn't work I placed it in the rod holder, which is the reason for this entire post. My rod holders are homemade out of 1 inch PVC pipe. They set in the scupper holes behind me as I paddle. I've become adept taking rods out and replacing them without much trouble. Until today... As I placed the rod with the jig in the holder, and went to pull out the rod with dropshot, the handles became entangled together. And as I pulled one rod out the car went into the drink. I saw it go under but was completely too slow to catch it. I tried to hold my location to feel around with the paddle but alas I figured it was too late. So as I mentioned at the beginning of this post, for the want of $8.18 rod floats, I'd still have one of my rods. Would I say it was my favorite rod? No! Was it a terribly expensive rod? No I actually found it on a dock at the end of a day last summer. I put a new reel on but it wasn't really expensive either. What I liked about the rod was I considered it my "travel rod." It was short enough to fit in the back end of my Prius or the trunk on my wife's car without any bend in it at all. It could be stowed anyway easily and it did a nice job. But all I can say now is "It's gone."

After mentally kicking myself in the hind parts for about 15 minutes, since I couldn't literally kick myself on the kayak, I paddled to another area and did catch one small bass, maybe 11 or 12 inches long, on the Rat-L-Trap, for a total of five fish on the day, with four different species. Hence the "grand slam."

But the experience taught me: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Or in this case I could have saved some money. Until next time...Tight Lines!

Julie* and her family are the owners of Hard Head Custom Baits, a local tackle company that makes jigs and lures for jigging and trolling. 5% of all of their sales go to Heroes on the Water, a non profit that takes veterans on kayak fishing outings. You can find them at Hard Head Custom Baits as well as on FaceBook as well.

Easter Break is Here!

April 13th and school is out for a few days. With Easter being a little later this year, and state testing pretty much starting right when we get back, I only have Thursday through Tuesday off. So with that being true and my nephew getting married on Saturday, my family and I aren't going out of town as usual. With all of those factors, I decided to try a few spots in Maryland in an attempt to add a few counties to my "Fish Across Maryland" quest.

This morning I woke up at my normal time, 5:10, and went through my regular routine. I left the house around 5:50 or so and began the trek to Smithville Lake, in Caroline County. About a two hour drive across the Bay Bridge down Rt. 404 until I was basically within spitting distance of the Maryland/Delaware line. The Maryland DNR website mentions that the lake is an excellent spot to catch largemouth as well as other sunfish. Being the Eastern Shore of Maryland, I was hoping to get into a nice chain pickerel while there.

I put the kayak on the water just after 8 am. I had a golden colored jerkbait tied on one rod and decided to begin with that. The pond had large areas of lily pads and I thought I'd make long casts on the edges. On the third or fourth cast, I hooked up with something and reeled down to make sure I didn't lose him. After a minute or so I had a 10 inch largemouth as my first fish in Caroline County. Two pictures and he was released to swim again.

Having driven 2 hours to get Smithville, I wasn't just going to paddle back in after catching my first fish, especially since I caught him after being on the water for only 10 minutes. I paddled around for the next couple of hours casting a 1/32 oz jig with an orange soft plastic "critter" from Johnson's. It paid off with nine other fish, split between bluegill and black crappie.

Most of the fish I caught today were towards the northern portion of the pond. I wanted to try the other end so I paddled that way as well as let the wind push me. There were a few others fishing down that way; but I only saw one other person reel in anything. Around 11:30 I decided that I would start to head back to the launch when I spotted an old tire sticking out of the water about 6 ft from shore. After a few big tugs, and lots of muddy water in the kayak, I brought it home. A few of the other anglers chuckled as I went by joking "I didn't know kayak anglers needed a spare tire." Nevertheless each one also said "Thanks." Like the app* I heard about a few weeks ago says "Cleaning the planet one piece at a time."

Until next time...Tight Lines!
*App name: "Litterati."

The Quest Continues...

My fishing quest that began in March of 2015 is still underway. I never entertained the idea that I would be able to catch a fish in each of the 23 counties in the state of Maryland in ONE year. It's been since September of last year since I've added a new county, but hopefully that will change in the near future.

Today my youngest son had a track meet just outside of Washington, D.C. in Bethesda, MD. I dropped him off at the school just before 7 am and began my drive that way. As I went around the beltway I spotted a sign for Wheaton, MD and remembered reading about a spot called Pine Lake in Wheaton Regional Park. Once inside the park I met a gentleman walking a trail and ask for directions. About ten minutes later I was at the side of pond. Another man was already fishing and mentioned he wasn't having much luck. I wished him "Better luck" and walked down a little further.



The pond looked to be about five acres. A few woods surround it on one side, with a small dam on the northern end. The water today was mocha-colored and I don't think the small "fly" I had tied on one rod was very easily spotted. I had tied a dropshot on another rod, but I decided to switch to a small Rat-L-Trap "Bleeding Shiner" for the noise it would make.

I made a few casts along the shoreline near the dam. After the bait hit the water I'd let it fall, yank it up a couple of times, reel in some slack line and let it fall again. It was on the fall from one cast that it got hit. The fight wasn't terribly long. But nonetheless I had my fish for Montgomery County! After a couple of photos I released it. I made a few more casts to no avail and then realized I needed to head out to the track meet.




I am pleased with the outcome and am looking forward to getting another county during Easter break which begins in three days. Until later ... Tight lines!

No fish were caught in the writing of this post

Well I guess I should add to the title of this post - "not yet hopefully."

I'd like to take a little bit and tell you about something I've been doing recently regarding "fishing tactics or techniques." As I mentioned in my "2016 Year in Review" post, I've been spending some time at the bench trying to learn how to "tie flies." My setup is very crude in the fact that I am using a utility clamp and ring stand from my classroom. I don't have a bobbin or a "whip finishing" tool. But I think my creations, as I like to call them "Mr. Ugly Flies," are at least functional. I know that they work as I have caught fish on them. So let's talk about my latest project.

A couple of weeks, maybe even a month by now, ago I was paddling back to the launch on Lake Lariat. As I came across the main portion I spotted something sparkling in a tree limb, just above the waterline. I headed that way to find a "Booyah" spinnerbait minus the plastic skirt or any other trailer. I brought it home and placed it on my fishing bench. Monday night, when I couldn't get to sleep, I headed down to the bench and took a little sandpaper to the hook itself to remove most of the rust. After that I grabbed some thread, I'll remind you I'm a beginner and haven't gone out and bought expensive supplies yet, and I laid down a base trying to raise up the area just behind the head. I continued the thread base back until the point of the hook began to be a problem.

Now as mentioned in the "year in review" post, I still had a little bit of buck tail given to me by a student. (And I've got a story about that for later.*) I figure most bait fish have a light colored underbelly; so I used the last bit of the white tail for the underside of the spinnerbait. Now I'll admit that I may have used too much thread on making sure the buck tail stayed in place. But as I've mentioned I'm a beginner.




After I had the buck tail in place I cut a couple of pieces of "Flashabou" from the package and added them. I tried to fold them over so that I'd have two strands on each side. Once again it was difficult to work with them as I was also trying to keep the wraps tight and other material from getting in the way.

The "Flashabou" is a silver tinsel type of material so I hope attracts some attention. It's hard to see in the photo but again I hope it helps.



At that point I turned over the bait, remind you a spinnerbait, so that I could add some chartreuse "unique hair." I cut some off of the stock and did my best to tie it in so it covered most of my thread on the later half of the hook.

I cut it so that the ends of the chartreuse and the white match. But I may go back later to try and add a little shape by curving the white to the chartreuse.

Not having true "head cement" I used a touch pick to apply a couple of small drops of Super Glue. And I left it there to dry. I'm not sure when I might use it for the first time. In fact I'd love to see it in action under the water. But I'll keep everyone posted on how well it works. Until then... Tight Lines!

* As a footnote, or the story I mentioned: As a teacher I have spoken to multiple students who I know are "outdoorsmen" shall I say. I have mentioned that I would be willing to pay them a nominal fee if they brought me the tail of a deer that they harvested this season. Unfortunately they have either forgotten or haven't taken any deer. One day a former student who I know well walked by and asked if another student had brought one by recently. My answer was "Not yet, and I need some tail." Now I'm a 48 year old man working in a public high school. That wasn't the best expression to come out at that time, especially in the middle of the hallway. Fortunately, or at least I think fortunately, no one else heard it. Or at least I can say I don't think they heard because I still have my job. Enjoy your time on the water everyone...

This weekend's fishing adventures

Until my opportunities to fish become more frequent, I am going to put the "This Week in Fishing (T.W.i.F)" posts on the back burner. But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to try and update the blog here and there.

This past Friday, January 20th, would have been my father's 87th birthday if he was still with me. He and my grandfather used to take me fishing on Virginia's eastern shore for flounder during the summer. Friday was also a two-hour early dismissal for our school system since we just finished the second marking period. Swim practice had been cancelled for the day, giving the team a nice day off before the championship season starts. Despite the temperatures in the upper 40's and the slight drizzle, I decided to take the 10 minute hike out to the pond in the Hughes Tree Farm. Armed with the same small Arkie jig and bright green soft plastic "Hot Worms" I was able to catch a half dozen bluegill.

Saturday, I woke up and saw that the weather conditions had not improved very much. It didn't matter though. My plan for today was to get some things done around the house; cleaning the pellet stoves, some of the boy's laundry as well as straightening up the basement some. After that, just after lunch, I was going to head down to Lake Lariat with the kayak. The morning went fine and there wasn't any rain so I set out on the lake.
As I left the finger of the lake coming out from the launch I spotted a bald eagle flying away from me. There is a pair of eagles that have a nest along the lake and I see one, if not both, each time I paddle out. Today I came around one small bend and got a good look as one flew off. Its wingspan looked like it was at least 6 ft across. They really are beautiful birds. Unfortunately as you can see from the photo, I didn't get terribly close for good pictures.

As I paddled along I was using a 1/32 oz Arkie jig with a 2 inch copper tube.
I really like the tube and jig combination since it seems to catch both panfish as well as bigger ones like largemouth or pickerel. Today it paid off with a a couple of small, 9 inches or less, bass as well as a couple of bluegill. But the best fish of the day, and the year so far, came on the paddle back towards the launch. I made a long cast along one shoreline and allowed the bait to fall. After a couple of seconds I reeled in the slack line, as I was drifting towards it, and felt that it was heavy. A nice yank and I was fighting my biggest largemouth of the year. Measuring 14 inches, it wasn't a monster by any means, but it was nice to get a bigger fish this time of year. After releasing it I began my paddle back to the launch.

To end the weekend I had an errand to run to the industrial park in the mid county. There are two small retention ponds right at the entrance. I've spent a little time there in the past, predominantly in the summer. It holds bluegill as well as some largemouth. Today I had a small jig with the Berkeley 1 inch minnow. I didn't get many bites but I did managed two small bluegill in about an hour.

Considering the overcast skies and drizzle for much of the weekend I was pleased with how I did. Next weekend should be a lot less since I have a wrestling tournament to work. So until next time...Tight Lines!

A quick Fishnerd moment in closing: 19 fish since January 1st - most of them being bluegill.

Bennett O. Hughes Memorial Tree Farm

Well, we are midway through January and I haven't done much writing recently. Much of that comes down to the fact that until today I had only caught one small bass at the private pond that I like to frequent. Also for a couple of days there was a good inch to inch and a half of ice on most of the water in our area due to a cold spell. Not knowing enough about ice fishing, I didn't dare to even try. But today all of the water is open and I headed out for a little bit. I started at the same private pond and managed to catch on nice size crappie. I caught it on a 1/32 oz jig with a Bobby Garland "monkey milk" baby shad. I thought that I wouldn't have much more time until my wife let me know that the serviceman for the washer wasn't coming until after lunch. So I decided to give another location a try.

The Tree Farm

Last year in May, I tried a location that a former student, now an officer in the Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources, told me about: the Bennett O. Hughes Memorial Tree Farm. Located off of Clay Hammond Road, a little east of Prince Frederick, MD, the area was donated to Calvert County in 1986. Today it serves as an example of a tree farm to demonstrate sustainable forestry. Mr. Bennett Hughes, himself, once served at the State Department as a Forest Advisor. He moved to Calvert County in the early 1950s and purchased the wooded area which is now home to the tree farm. The area has multiple hiking trails that allow visitors to see the area. Just recently some tree are being harvested.

About 10 minutes along one of the trails you come to a small, maybe one to one and half acre, pond. There is an earthen dam as well as a drain leading out of it. I figure that the pond is home to the typical species of bluegill, crappie and largemouth; but in all honesty I have only caught bluegill there. The pond itself is prone to "duckweed" which grows to be quite thick, so I will probably only visit in the winter and early spring months.

Today I was using a "Gulp Minnow by Berkley" in the black shad pattern on a 1/32 oz Arkie jighead on a small 5'6" spinning rod. I had the baits suspended about 3 feet under a float. I would make my casts out and slowly bring it back in towards me, pausing even few cranks of the handle. I ended up catching three bluegill, with the largest being just about 6 inches in length. I returned all of them to the water, and plan on making the walk out here multiple times after school, once the swim season is over.

On the way back to the car I stopped off to pick up a few pieces of trash that had been left behind. A couple of them were along the shoreline and as you might be able to see, had been there a while.

Until next time - Tight Lines!!

2016 Year in Review

I thought I would take some time here at the beginning of 2017 to reflect on my fishing experiences of 2016. I'm going to show some statistics, talk about some of the new fish I caught as well as "brag" a little about what I was able to do. So bear with me as I reminisce.

2016 Statistics

As I have said multiple times I am a Fishnerd. I am also a science teacher so I like numbers. The screen shot below is just a portion of the spreadsheet I have to record my fishing adventures. 2016 was a very good year for me. I know that other anglers caught more or even bigger fish than me, but I was very happy with the fact that I caught just over 1,400. Of those 1,400 fish, just under 28% of them were bluegill, but I was able to get 24 different species over 2016. I will say that I really enjoyed catching as many chain pickerel that I did. On the light tackle that I use they are a blast to reel in, especially when I'm on my two person kayak and a fish is able to turn me or even tow me for a little bit. You might also be able to see that Lake Lariat, in the southern portion of Calvert County, was my top producing location with over 28% of the fish I caught coming from there. It actually averaged out that I caught about 10 fish per outing on Lake Lariat. It also might mean that I need to try a few different spots. But when I can get there in about 15 minutes, and fish for a couple of hours and then get back before dark after school - I think it's a nice place to continue to try. That and I've probably only explored a third of the lake itself. Now being a Fishnerd I also like to catch different species and the location where I caught the most was Hunting Creek in the middle of Calvert County. At that one small tributary I have caught eight different ones, including a couple of new ones.

7 New Species caught in 2016:

This past year saw me catching a few new species. In fact I was able to catch seven new ones in total, at least since I've been seriously thinking about them. Fishing for me has always been about a mystery.
Where am I going to try today?
What technique might get a fish to bite?
If a fish does bite what kind of fish is it?
They are the questions that race through my mind. And what a neat experience for that last question to be something new! I also had the chance to fish some new water this past year. I was told about a couple of small ponds here in Calvert County. I also found out about a couple of spots like Adkins Mill (in Powellville, MD) and Williams Mill (in Delmar, MD) became a couple of favorites to hit when I was on the lower Eastern Shore.

Trying something sort of new - the "Mr. Ugly Fly"

As 2016 progressed, I began trying something a little new, for me at least. But to really tell the story correctly I have to go back two school years. A couple of years ago I had a student who I knew was an outdoorsmen. He spoke more about hunting than fishing, but he was a really nice young man. One day after we had completed what we were working on in lab, I mentioned to him if he got a deer that season that I'd like to have the tail to try to use for making "buck tail" jigs. Time went by, and then last school year, the same young man walked by me in the hallway one day and handed me a plastic bag with paper towels wrapped around something. Come to find out it was a tail. I took it home and left it with my fishing stuff for about 6 months. Fast forward to the beginning of the current school year and I brought home a ring stand and a utility clamp to use as a "vise." Now every once in a while I spend about a half hour, usually when I can't get to sleep very quickly, and I put a small jig, most often a 1/32 - 1/8 oz, in the clamp. I then, using regular sewing thread, I tie on some of the hair. I don't have a bobbin tool, nor do I have a "whip finisher." But to be completely honest I think that the resulting "flies" have been producing. I have used them in small creeks, on the shore of my favorite ponds and even the kayak. I have included a plastic grub, or baby shad style trailer, and on a Beetle Spin lure. And they have been catching fish; bluegill, crappie, white perch, and largemouth. I even got an 22 inch pickerel on one back in November. I'll probably picking up a true vise and try tying some more, but for now the "Mr. Ugly's" as I like to call them are working.

Citation fish caught:

Back in the middle of August, just before I had to head back to school for the new year, I had a little time on Lake Lariat. I was paddling along one shoreline and made a cast into about 4 feet of water. My line went tight and I hooked up with my first "citation" fish. While it wasn't a true "monster" I have to say that it was neat getting a fish big enough to qualify. Here's a link to the original post from that day if you're interested in reliving it with me. Catching a citation fish has to do with being in the right place at the right time and getting the right fish to bite. Thank goodness that one did.

Update on "Fish Across Maryland (FaMD)

My original intent of this blog was to keep track of my quest to "Fish Across Maryland." In 2015, I set out in hopes to catch a fish in each county in the state. While the first year went well, circumstances back home made it next to impossible to travel around the state in my quest. I still have this as a pretty high priority but I have to put more thought into bringing it into being. I did pick up one county, Harford County, back in September of 2016, which brought the count to 10 counties as of now. The official list is:

Anne Arundel .... Calvert .... Charles .... Harford .... Howard ....
Prince George's .... Queen Anne's .... St. Mary's .... Wicomico .... Worcester
And here's a "cheesy map" of how it looks at this time.

In 2017

As 2017 has begun, many people are making New Year's Resolutions. I have even seen a few resolutions, related to fishing, in my feed on "Twitter". But in all honesty I haven't settled upon what I really want my focus to be this year. I know that I'd like to put more effort into my "Fish Across Maryland" quest. While I am happy with 10 counties, I'd like to increase that by at least 3 or 4 this year. I'd also like to put better effort into hunting down new species. A year ago or so I picked up an extendable fixed line pole and have yet to catch anything with it, so I'd like to give that a try as well. And while I can always say: "I'd like to catch more fish than last year" I don't want that to be a focus. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I used to be heavily involved with geocaching. It was the idea of a streak, finding a different cache each day for a particular number of days, that ruined it for me. Also "the want" to just go out and find more - really didn't help at all. I never want fishing to become like that, so numbers really aren't the driving force.

Have you heard?

I'd like to close this post with a "plug" if you will for my favorite podcast: the Fishnerds. It's billed as show about "fish, fishing and eating fish that is always interesting, usually funny and mostly true." I really think if you enjoy fishing and haven't at least given it a try - then you don't know what you are missing. Give it a listen!

Here's to 2017 - I hope that it will be just as fun as 2016! Tight lines!!