Found them again at the same spots

[J.A. Veil]

I trolled 4 lines again at the mouth of the Severn River this morning. With the forecast for stronger winds, I chose to use the larger Slayer Propel 13. Another advantage was the availability of my FF/GPS on that kayak. The FF part did not help with spotting fish -- I relied on it to tell me what depth I was in. More important was the GPS feature that allowed me to follow my trail and come back over productive spots time and again.

I found fish at the same two locations where I found them on Tues. The first spot was in 13-18 ft depth. The fish were in a compact area. Almost every time I trolled through a rod would go down with striper from 12" to 16". I was able to make fairly tight turns. The cluster of trails shown on the figure is about 1/4 mile long. I made all those passes in about an hour. Occasionally I would venture off in a different direction to see if I could find other fish. Those side-trips did not produce fish, so I focused on working the same small area.

004.JPG

I crossed the river to work a shallow water spot. As soon as I got there, I caught 4 fish in 5 minutes. The bite remained decent for the next hour, but not at that fast pace. I managed 13 stripers there, with keepers of 19", 19", and 20" among them. Almost all the bites occurred as I moved in the same direction. Even if I passed through the same spots in the opposite directions, I had no bites. Once again, the fish all hit in the same 1/4-mile stretch. On the few occasions when I ventured off, I had no bites. I was fishing there during the last hour of incoming tide until just after high tide.

002.JPG

I moved off to fish another deeper spot that had produced in the spring. I caught a single 18" striper there.

I ended up pedaling nonstop for over 4 hours covering 12 miles. I finished with 30 stripers, including 4 of keeper size. All but one fish were caught on 12 Fathoms 3" Fat Sam mullet paddletails. Two rods used small bucktails, the other two plain jigheads. I had no drama with lost or broken rods today.

[Cowpokey]

Any birds working?

[J.A. Veil]

Any birds working?

No typical working birds. I saw a few birds flitting around near the first spot, but they were not actively hitting bait raised to the surface by predators. No birds at the second spot.

[Fishinfool]

Another exciting day! Any thoughts on how much longer the rockfish will hang around before heading south?

[Cowpokey]

Another exciting day! Any thoughts on how much longer the rockfish will hang around before heading south?

I thought they were supposed to be moving in/up the bay?

Blues and Specs appear to have gone south already though.

[J.A. Veil]

Another exciting day! Any thoughts on how much longer the rockfish will hang around before heading south?

I cannot predict how long the shallow water fish will hang around. I am surprised they are there now, when they were conspicuously absent for most of the summer in the same spot. In 2013, I caught them there during the summer and early fall, but not in 2014.

From early Nov to early Jan, some larger stripers will move into the debris piles at certain deeper spots in the river. That is a time of year to jig them up. I like to do a striper jigging/pickerel casting doubleheader during Dec. Perhaps my most productive day in the river was on Dec 15, 2012, when I launched at Jonas Green, jigged up a 26" striper on the nearby debris pile, then caught 19 pickerel, and still was home in time for lunch. Few days are that productive, however.

[moc]

Good Job John.... you know that River.

[HawkGT]

Another nice report full of the details that help the rest of us. Thanks John!

[Skidsteer]

Are you seeing allot of bait in the area generally and also in areas with fish? I usually look for high concentrations of bait and troll around them - is that a good pattern here?

[J.A. Veil]

Are you seeing allot of bait in the area generally and also in areas with fish? I usually look for high concentrations of bait and troll around them - is that a good pattern here?

I did not see much bait, especially in the shallow area. In the deeper area I saw occasional clouds of bait on the sonar, but there was not a direct match between bait cloud and quick bite.

I agree with you that looking for bait is a great searching method. I try to keep my eyes and ears open for various clues including:

- birds actively diving on bait (look for them and/or hear them squawking)
- birds sitting in a cluster on the water
- slick on surface from chopped up baitfish (you may smell the baitfish oil before you see the slick)
- surface swirls from feeding fish or agitated baitfish
- bait clouds or fish arches on sonar
- changes in depth (lumps, holes, dropoffs, edges)
- structure
- other fishermen in an area, particularly when they are actively catching (bent pole sonar)


I also often work areas that have produced on previous trips, even if those trips were not recent. Some times the fish are there even when I don't really expect them to be there.

[jhoss]

John, I admire your keen analytical observations and continual figuring out of what the fish are doing. Every time I read you posts I learn something new. Thanks for sharing

[Cowpokey]

<snip>Including:
- other fishermen in an area, particularly when they are actively catching (bent pole sonar)

I think boats use this method quite a bit. Had several of them pull right up on us today. Although, with the massive flock of birds, it was pretty obvious too. LOL