Happy 4th in MD

4th of July 2013 ... I've been working in FL for weeks at a time and the family is going to MD to visit my mother-in-law for the holiday.  The 4th is free fishing day in MD, no license required.  I usually take my canoe and smallie gear to float a flow in the upper Potomac basin. 

I was unable to get my canoe up to MD as I was forced to fly into Baltimore directly from FL.  Instead, I asked my wife to toss a few pieces of gear into the car in hopes I could do some wading.  I'd heard that Catoctin creek was a decent fishery, but I mostly read about trout fishing in the upper sections.  I decided to try the lower part of the creek, near the confluence with the Potomac, in hopes of finding a good smallmouth population. 

My decision paid off in spades.  I waded ~1 mile of river and landed 20 smallmouth on several lures: super fluke jr, rebel craw, and rapala x-rap. 

The creek was wide and shallow, easy to wade.  The banks were gradual and fairly free of overhanding trees, making this what I presume to be a fly fisherman's dream.  Well, I didn't see any other fly fisherman, or any fisherman for that matter.  As I reflected on the trip, I thought this type of flow could make me step into the fly fishing realm. 

I started the day hot, first cast was an ~8" smallmouth in a large slow eddy pool working my super fluke jr on the surface.  I walked upstream pitching to any areas I thought may harbor a predator and was rewarded routinely. 

A few highlights included this fish, which I saw cruising in ~12" of water about 40' away.  I pitched my rebel craw out 10' in front of the fish and starting it working it slow.  As soon as the fish passed some nearby rocks and spotted the lure, it immediately pounced and inhaled the lure ... fish on!

On my way back down river, I stopped to fish a small eddy pool next to swift water where the entire flow passed a big rock on the bank.  I'm thinking this is a great place for ambush, but it didn't produce on my way upstream.  I tossed my rapala x-rap x08 in olive green into the pool and it was bit before I could set the bail to retrieve.  Again, fish on!  This is my best smallmouth of 2013.

I had no idea a flow this small would be so productive and entertaining.  I'm sure I'll enjoy many more trips to the in-laws, and maybe one day it'll be with a fly rod.

Two Quick Late Winter Trips

With a few nice days in the 60s, I've taken the 119 out twice in the last week. There have been rain showers here and there, but overall rainfall has been fairly low for late winter.

Water temps were mid 40s on trip 1 and low 50s on trip 2. I wasn't expecting much from the bass, but wanted to take home a few crappie for the freezer. Turns out I would land only 1 crappie, but it was a nice one. I also landed and kept a ~2 lb pickerel to practice my pickerel fileting technique. No pics of the pickerel, but it was mighty tasty.

The bass cooperated on both trips.  Nothing big, most 1.5-3.5 lbs.  Caught ~10 on trip 1 and ~20 on trip 2. Most taken on a spinnerbait or trolled x-rap.

2013 Opener ... Not Too Shabby!

My friend Jeff and I were able to get away for a 1/2 day on a local flow. Water temps were on a slight warming trend and hovering in the low 50s, very warm water for mid January. Air temps were in the upper 50s by 7 am, so we launched at daybreak and were out by 1 pm.

Jeff likes to joke that I boated 3 or 4 fish before he was able to get his first rod setup. It wasn't quite that lopsided, but I did start strong with two good bass on a spinnerbait and two dinks trolling a rapala x-rap in blue.




We found a pattern fairly quick where bass were hanging shallow near rocks. As we approached a good rocky bank, I told Jeff to throw his spinner in that direction. He quickly hooked up with his best bass of the day.



All but 3 of my bass were quality fish at ~3 lbs or so. I caught ~12 bass in total, most on the spinnerbait. I also drifted some crappie spots with hair jigs and brought home 6 to fillet for the family. No pics of the crappie, but here's one of Jeff's first pickerel caught trolling a rapala J-9 on the way back to the launch.



Just an awesome day on the water and great fishing to open the year.  I hope this is the first of many successful fishing trips to come in 2013.

2012 - Year of the Pickerel

Up until 2011, I'd never caught a chain pickerel. Well, that all changed when I discovered a local river that's loaded with them. I caught many pickerel in 2012, including two trophy fish. I caught them on buzzbaits, rattletraps, minnow lures, bettlespins, spinnerbaits, and inline spinners. They're an aggressive fish and very fun to catch, but have your grips handy to avoid those teeth! Here are a few of my favorite pickerel photos from 2012 ...

Trophy 4.25 lb pickerel caught trolling a cordell spot


Caught on a rapala x-rap


Caught on a black buzzbait


Caught on a spinnerbait


Caught on a rapala J-9


Trophy 4.25 lb pickerel, caught on a Rebel Minnow

Quick Departure

I've been working in the Tarpon Springs, Fl area over the last few months, making trips every few weeks. A friend and co-worker has a nice flats boat and we managed to get out one afternoon for some fishing. Wind was blowing pretty steady and we threw plastic paddle tails on jig heads looking for sea trout as the wind blew us over the shallow flats. We caught a variety of fish: trout, sea bass, mackerel, and the obligatory pinfish. It was a good day and once I hope to repeat several times over the next year.

December on the Local Flow

One of the Triangle area flows was red hot in December. With ambient temps in the 60s and water temps in the low 50s, the bass were very active. I made two trips over a week's time. Once alone and once with my bud Mack. I caught ~30 bass between the two trips with several in the 5-6 lb range. Most fish were caught on a spinnerbait.

A few of the highlights ...

Beautiful November Day, Gotta Love NC!

This year, I've made many river trips where I've caught all of these species. Today was no different. I was trying for crappie to fill my cooler, but I only got one slow trolling a lime green maribou jig.  Ambient temps around 70 F, light winds, and clear cool water.

Started off the day trolling various cranks and picked up a nice jack. Got it on a Black/White Rapala J-9.



Tied a cordell spot on to one of the trolling rods and caught my first bass within minutes. I then began to throw the cordell spot to the bank and caught 10 bass in total on that one lure. All bass and the pickerel were caught within 20' of the bank near wood in the deepest pools/holes.

Today was absolutely gorgeous. Water temp was ~55 F where I was catching them. Wish I could go again tomorrow.