Magothy River ::Fishing Report::

[JTingley]

Spent some time over the last week going out the a place called Beachwood Park on the Magothy River (Tidal tributary to the Chesapeake Bay). Been going there for a couple years and this spring I found something new. One day last week I went out toward the end of the day just before sundown to throw a few casts and see whats what and ended up landing 6 Shad between 12 and 18 inches. I couldn't keep them due to a ban on keeping shad in the chesapeake ly. But the intresting part is that not a 1 of them was hooked by the mouth. They were all caught by snags, 2 to the fins, 2 in the tail and 2 on the side.

Just thought that was kinda odd, I've never seen anything like it. This was all in the space of like 45 minutes.

Anyhow... aside from that odity. The pearch are biting in that area as usual... just far more yellow then white. Yellow are annother fish you cannot keep in that river ly.

No sign of stripers yet up there. The catfish are starting to become more active. Pickeral have been caught but I havn't seen any over 12 inches pulled out yet.

Last week someone pulled out something that looked like a 30+ inch Carp but he threw it back before I could get a real good look at it. It was a Huge guy, Fat for it's length but not bass Fat. Orange/Brown in color but not a catfish. Anyone got a good guess on what that really was? He got pulled out at beachwood park on the magothy river.
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[Tarpon4me]

Man, they really have some strick guidlines for fishing up there. Sounds like it's almost as bad as Cali. LOL Where you at TubeN2[]

Mmmm, I can't honestly say what type of fish that might have been. Better wait for another BFT'er from your local or near area to have at this one.

Let us know when the stripers start comming it. I did understand you right on a prior post when you said you'd be fishing from them in a Kayak? What are you going to do if you hook a big one? []

You may want to ask TubeN2 for advice on that. LOL!!!!!!!!!

(I couldn't resist) [cool]
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[JTingley]

I think if I get a Big Striper on the line in the Kayak... those guys fight hard and are a strong fish.

The plan at this point is like this:

-I'll be trolling (the Yak has rod holders positioned for this) I'll hear the zip of the line going out.
-quickly turn the Yak so that the line is in front of me.
-Put the paddle away quickly
-grab the rod and set the hook.
-get dragged all over the bay by the monster, My Yak has a 500 pound capacity so no Striper is gonna sink me.
-When the fish runs out of gas... Drag him into the Yak onto my lap and paddle home. Or if he's too big to get onboard (would have to be a record) put him on a short stringer and paddle home with fish in tow.

This plan may be flawed... if there's anything in there that's gonna get me killed please let me know before April 22nd that's when open season starts.
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[Tarpon4me]

I just thought of something hilarious. LMAO You ever see that movie "Finding Nemo?" YOu know, the cartoon movie? I was thinking of the scene at the end when the fishing boat got all those fish in the net, and nemo convinced all of them to swim down and it broke the net off the boat..................

THis could happen to you. [sly]

Na, it sounds like a good plan, really, it'll be the only plan you've got. LOL, you can either cut the line or hang on. Make sure and keep us posted on how it goes, I think it will be interesting to hear about your trips. Make sure and take pictures!!!
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[JTingley]

maybe video even...

I'm looking into designing and building a waterproof rig for my camcorder to mount to the Yak
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[tubeN2]

There are more and more Federal reg kicking in now. They override the State regs up to a point. The point is if the State says no more fishing in X area or catching X species of fish, then the Feds cannot override that.

We have an erroneous species here in Cali. You are only allowed 1 of them in my area. Some of the areas that we stop to fish, yield a 10 to 15 minute stop for the boat load of passengers because there are so many of these fish, that you cannot keep them off of the line.

Here is the kicker!!!! Once this fish comes up, it is basically dead. You can Fizzle the air bladders and all but they go through a tremendous shock from the trip up.

Fish and game are hanging around to give you a ticket for throwing the dead fish back in the water. (Intentional wast of game) they call it. Then they board your vessel to make sure that you don't have an excess of that species of fish.

go figure.[pirate]
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[JTingley]

Update:

Took to some more shoreline fishing yesterday in the evening just before sundown. Beachwood Park again.

From the looks of things the Shad run has moved on at the moment. The rockfish are still not in the area. But fun little species has moved in.

The Chain Pickeral are biting.

I have one of those hummingbird casting sonar RSS floats with the mobile read station. I threw that out with a line and hook baited with a simple nightcrawler yesterday. Caught 3 Pickeral on WORMS!!! The Pearch are still off and on there.

I have decent luck with that sonar device as a bobber when I'm fishing that way. I'll gust bait a hook leading to it, cast it out and reel very slow untill the fish alarm goes off. Pause it for a minute or 2 in that spot and if nothing bites reel some more. Strike on allota casts that way. Those hummingbird casting Sonar are great for when your shore fishing especially if you don't know the contor of the bottom of the water. I like to use 20lb braid from the rod to the wireless float and 20lb florocarbon from the float to the hook. Produces real well for float style bait fishing in this area.
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[tubeN2]

Those Chain Pickerells are a blast. You can even get them on 12 lb line while using a small piece of Tyger leader to ward off the effects of the teeth.[cool]
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[tubeN2]

Sturgeon are protected in most areas or there is a slot limit size on them. For 50 bucks each, you could make it a profitable Catch and Release venture.

The Sturgeon are caught best on the bottom. Use a sliding rig with at least a 4oz weight on it. More if there is alot of current. On the sliding rig, you can do well with whole bait squid or even chunks of chopped fish that are locally caught.[cool]
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