October/November Fishing Reports for Delaware and Maryland

[SKG]

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[left][font "Arial"][size 2][#999999][size 3][/size][/#999999] Fishing Report for:
Delaware Lakes, Ponds, Rivers and Upper Chesapeake Bay
Updated: November 14, 2003. Winter is Almost Here! S&K Guide Service went out for awhile on the Sassafras River in Maryland this week and found the action slower than expected. The temperatures are dropping every day now, and are in the upper 40's to 50 degrees depending on locations. The largemouth bass are sluggish, but were still hitting some tube baits and jigs fished along the main point dropoffs near Turner's Creek and the docks by Freeman's. Crankbaits took a few bass in the 3 pound range from some deeper wood in Still Pond, and some smallmouth and largemouth both were taken in the Susquehanna River, by the 95 bridge on tube baits. Action In Delaware Ponds Slowing Down

The action in the Delaware Ponds is slowing down now on artificials, but some bass are still being taken on Senko's and tubes in the deeper wood at the points. A few bass were taken on "ZAP" spinnerbaits in Killens Pond near the Island, but the real action is coming on large Shiners fished below a pencil bobber or a small balloon. The sand point at Killens produced bass in the 3-4 pound range on the shiners.[/left]





Owner & operator of S&K Guide Service, Steve vonBrandt is also a freelance outdoor writer for several outdoor publications, book contributor, 1998 Big Bass World Champ/DE. He is also a regular guest on several local and national radio talk shows. Contact Info:

S&K Guide Service
Brandywine Blvd.
Wilmington, DE 19809
Phone: 302-764-1788





[font "Arial"][#999999][size 4]Fishing reports/Oct/Nov 03 [/size][/#999999][/font][font "Arial"][#000000][size 2]
From: stevevb [left][font "Arial"][#000000][size 2]Fresh Water Fishing Report for:
Delaware Lakes, Ponds, Rivers and Upper Chesapeake Bay
Updated: October 02, 2003. Killens, Noxontown, and Haven [/size][/#000000][/font][/left] [left][font "Arial"][#000000][size 2]The Delaware lakes and ponds are in full swing. The water temperatures are in the low to mid 60's everywhere, and the water has cleared up nicely after the storms. The clarity is good, and the visibility is about 1-2 feet in most of the lakes. Killens Pond in Dover is giving up nice bass in the 2-4 pound range on Terminator spinnerbaits in 3/8 ounce, Tandem and Oklahoma blades. The area around the first sand point and the island in the middle have been the best spots. Some bass were also taken on Rat-L-Traps on the dropoff in 5 feet of water by the island. Chrome/blue was the hot color. Noxontown Lake in Middletown was producing good bass in the upper 2/3 of the lake in shallow wood cover near the dying pads on Terminator spinnerbaits. Bass up to 3 1/2 pounds were hitting crankbaits in Chartruese, off the first point. Later in the day bass hit some topwater baits around the pads in the upper end of the lake. None of the bass were over 4 pounds, but all were good quality fish. Haven Lake in Milford had bass hitting some buzzbaits early this week, and several were in the 3 pound class. The area by the dam, and the wood on the South end of the lake produced the most bass. Senkos also produced numerous bass from the grass in the upper end. Sassafras River, Maryland The Sassafras River was slower than usual the other day, with water temperatures in the high 50's in the early morning, reaching into the low 60's by the afternoon in the protected bays. Despite the slower action, and low water temperatures, several creeks gave up good sized bass on Tuesday. Halls Creek gave up 2 nice bass on black and red Senkos in 5 inch, from the rocks at the mouth. Both bass were over 3 pounds. Freemans produced some small bass on Senkos and spinnerbaits in the dying pads near the sand point, and Turner's gave up 3 nice bass around 2 1/2 pounds on Senko's, and one 5 1/2 pounder on a Terminator spinnerbait. Several stripers hit the spinnerbaits by the sand point at the mouth of Lloyd's, and went 23 inches.

FISHING REPORT FOR OCTOBER 3RD, 2003.[/left]

Sassafras River, Maryland













Steve and Kurt vonBrandt hit the Sassafras River today, and found some great Striped Bass action, along with a couple BIG largemouth bass! The water temperature was only 59 degrees, and the air temperature was 40 degrees when we arrived at 6:45 am. We went to Lloyd's Creek first, and caught 10 stripers, that all were legal. They ranged between 18 and 20 inches. Right at 11 am, before leaving Lloyd's for Turner's, and some largemouth action, we hooked into 2 nice stripers that went 26 and 28 inches! Real Brutes! We caught 2 nice bass at Turners on Spinnerbaits and a snapper blue of all things on a buzzbait no less! The bass were 2 1/2 and 5 pounds. We tried a few other spots but the tide was so low we couldn't get into the other creeks. We left at 1 pm.

Fresh Water Fishing Report for:
Delaware Lakes, Ponds, Rivers and Upper Chesapeake Bay
Updated: October 07, 2003. Delaware Lakes and Ponds

The Delaware Lakes and Ponds are all producing good topwater bites early and late now that the water temperatures have stabilized, and recovered from the bad weather. Buzzbaits, poppers, and other topwater baits have produced bass up to 5 pounds from several of the Kent and Sussex County Ponds. The best ponds this week have been Killens, Griffith's, Haven, and Trap. Several people have reported taking some bass up to 5 pounds on crankbaits and spinnerbaits from Coursey's. The water temperatures are all in the low 60's, and should remain there for the next 2 weeks or so now that the colder weather has left us. The bass should be very active by the end of the week, with temperatures expected to be in the high 60's to low 70's each day.

The Sassafras River was slow on Tuesday, the 7th, but we took several decent largemouth bass from shallow wood in Turner's and Lloyd's Creeks on Terminator spinnerbaits. The bass were all 2 pounds, but one from Turner's at the point was 4.2 pounds. We fished the incoming tide at Lloyd's for some stripers, but they weren't as hot as they had been late last week. We did manage 2 stripers though, that went 21 and 23 inches. Both were caught on big Rat-L-Traps.


Fresh Water Fishing Report for:
Delaware Lakes, Ponds, Rivers and Upper Chesapeake Bay
Updated: October 10, 2003. Sassafras River Stripers

The Sassafras River in Maryland is producing some large stripers this week. They are hitting big saltwater Rat-L-Traps and Sassy Shads, in the areas around sand points with current breaks, off the main river channel. The best areas have been Lloyd's Creek and out in the main Bay by Turner's Point. Several Stripers were taken at both locations that went 28 and 30 inches by S&K Guide Service this week. Other smaller stripers in the 18-22 inch range were abundant early in the week in both locations. The water temperatures are in the low 50's, and the action will only get better. Fresh Water Fishing Report for:
Delaware Lakes, Ponds, Rivers and Upper Chesapeake Bay
Updated: October 14, 2003. Delaware Lakes and Ponds S&K Guide Service visited several New Castle and Kent County Lakes this week, and found that the water temperatures were in the low to mid 50's, much the same as all of the rivers in both Delaware and Maryland. The first place we visited was Lums Pond, and we worked all of our best areas in shallow wood with Terminator "Snap-Back" watermelon tubes, with a 1/4 ounce Tungsten weight, on 17 and 20 pound test Berkley "Iron Silk". We managed to pull out a few decent bass on these baits, but nothing spectacular. They were both right at 2 pounds. We re-worked the same areas again with a Terminator Tandem spinnerbait, in 3/8 ounce, and caught 1 more small bass of about 1 pound. We moved slightly offshore into a little deeper water, and threw some crankbaits, and "Gambler Bacon Rinds, but only picked up one other bass before leaving. The action was much slower than anticipated for this time of year, and now that the weather had stabilized. We went to Killens in Dover, which produces some larger bass for us at times, but they were in the same type of mood as the bass in Lums. They hit the baits fairly hard when you found them, but gave up easily on the way in. We worked various types of cover throughout the lake, and produced a decent limit of bass, but again, not what we are used to for this time of year in the Delaware ponds. The bass still were finicky, and tight to cover. We worked all of the better areas near the island and sand point, and in the upper end, but couldn't locate the larger bass above 3 pounds. We decided to try one of our private lakes, where numbers, and larger bass are a common occurrance, to see if it was just the bodies of water we were fishing, or if this was the general mood everywhere, public or private. We spent 8 hours working 10 different baits, in known big bass areas, but only caught 25 bass. I know this sounds good, but this is from a private lake that always produces more in 8 hours, and at least 2 each time are over 5 pounds. The largest bass we caught was just over 4 pounds, and it came from shallow grass on a "ZAP" custom buzzbait. All the rest of the bass hit on "Senko's", and were right at 2 to 2 1/2 pounds. This convinced us that this was the general mood of the bass in most of the lakes right now, whether public or private.We plan to revisit these and other lakes later next week, after the storms and cold fronts pass. Upper Chesapeake Bay/Sassafras River We visited the Sassafras on Tuesday, the 14th, and arrived at 6:45 am. The tide was dead low, and the water temperature was 58.6 degrees. We launched at Duffy's Creek, and worked Lloyd's Creek first for the striped bass. We caught 12 stripers on big Rat-L-Traps, but they were all from 13-17 inches. A far cry from the 22-29 inch fish of just 4 days ago. We worked the old barge in the back and the dock with tubes, spinnerbaits, and crankbaits, but could only get 3 bass of about 1 1/2 pounds to cooperate. We immediately left Lloyd's Creek, and went to Turner's at the point, and worked the wood and docks with spinnerbaits, tubes, and Senko's, and managed 2 more bass that both went 2 1/2 pounds. Nice, but not what we were looking for. After 2 hours of working it well, we left for Freeman's Creek, and worked the docks and almost dead pads and grass with the same baits, and came up empty. We moved down river towards the marina, and stopped at Dupont Creek, before the tide went out too much further, and got into some real nice bass in shallow wood, that ranged from 2 1/2 to 5.2 pounds. All of them were caught on "Gambler Ninja's". These were the nicest bass in several days and more of what we were after.

Fresh Water Fishing Report for:
Delaware Lakes, Ponds, Rivers and Upper Chesapeake Bay
Updated: October 19, 2003. Potomac River Maryland

S&K Guide Service spent 8 hours on the Potomac River today, and found less than favorable conditions at many well known spots. We launched at Ft.Washington, and went up river into the "Spoils" to start the day at 7:05 am. We worked spinnerbaits in the shallow wood, and then Senko's, and crankbaits a little off shore in all the coves and at the mouth. The water temperature was 57 degrees, but we only managed 2 small bass in about 2 hours of working the area well. We proceeded up to Blue Plains where we found 7 boats huddled in together around the docks and the deep hole adjacent to them. We worked the docks with a jig and tube, and then the shoreline and deep whole with spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and Senko's. The water temperature there was 61.2 degrees, and in the hour and a half that we were there, we caught 1 bass of about 1 1/4 pounds. No other boats landed one bass while we were there. We left and headed south into Pohick Bay and worked the docks and the back bay and picked up 2 bass of about 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 pounds. This took several hours, and we worked the best areas with several baits in different sizes and colors. We made the rough run down to Mattawoman Creek from there, and worked what wood you could, with spinnerbaits and crankbaits, but the wave action was so rough from the big boats and wind, and the matted grass was so thick, that when you combined this all together, it made for a very tough time. We stuck it out for about 2 more hours, and left for Ft.Washington again. We flipped a few docks in there but there were no takers. This was the second worse day we have ever had on the Potomac River in the last 6 years. We will be on the Sassafras River and the Northeast River next week, and then are going to lower Delaware to work some ponds and check the Nanticoke River for the largemouth and Stiper action, which we hope will be better by then.

Delaware Fishing Report For Noxontown Lake

updated October 26th, 2003

S&K Guide Service/Professional Bass Guides

S&K visited Noxontown Lake in Middletown, Delaware today. We arrived at the lake at 6:15 am, only to find the gates locked, and 3 boats from Pennsylvania waiting in line for the caretaker to open the ramp. He arrived at 7:00 am, and we lanched and started fishing on the Southwest shore of the lake in about 3 feet of water with Senko's and spinnerbaits, along a sandy bottom with some laydowns. The water temperature was only 50.8 degrees, despite the 68 degree air temperature. We worked up the entire shoreline without a hit.

We switched to the woody north shoreline, and flipped all the cover with Gambler jigs, in black and blue, with Zoom trailers, and "Senko's" in watermelon rigged weightless on 12 pound test line. This produced one bass in the 1.7 pound range. We continued up the shore to the pads andpicked up 2 bass on Hart spinnerbaits that both went 2.3 and 2.6 pounds.

After working all the way to the upper end of the lake without any other hits, we worked the opposite shore back down, and hit all the docks on that side, picking up 2 more bass that were 1.5 and 3.1 pounds. We left the lake at 11:30 am, as a front was approaching, and light rain had started.

This coming week we will be at Trap Pond and Red Mill in lower Delaware, and then move to the Sassafras River in Maryland by the weekend to check out the striper action.

Be sure to listen for the latest reports from S&K Guide Service on Thursdays from 5-6 pm, on Delaware Valley Outdoors radio, on 89.7 and 91.9 FM, or on the Internet on [url "javascript:MM_openBrWindow27http://www.WDVRFM.org2C'image2C'width=770,height=500,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes29"][#000080][size 2]www.WDVRFM.org[/size][/#000080][/url] or visit the site at [url "javascript:MM_openBrWindow27http://www.delawarevalleyoutdoors.com2C'image2C'width=770,height=500,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes29"][#000080][size 2]www.delawarevalleyoutdoors.com[/size][/#000080][/url] .

Fresh Water Fishing Report for:
Delaware Lakes, Ponds, Rivers and Upper Chesapeake Bay
Updated: November 01, 2003. Sassafras and Northeast Rivers

S&K spent some time on the Sassafras and Northeast Rivers on Friday and found water temperatures in the low 50's in most areas. The water was fairly clear in some of the areas that still have a good deal of grass off the main river channels, but muddy with floating trash in most of the others. We worked a variety of baits in all of the traditional "Hot Spots," such as the docks near Freeman Creek, Turner's Creek, and Lloyd's. Senko's, Cut-Tail worms, and Terminator spinnerbaits produced some bass in the 2 pound range from several areas, but the action was not what we consider "Hot" for the fall. We also picked up several small stripers while fishing for bass in the Lloyd's Creek area. We switched to some small and medium sized fat bodied crankbaits and worked off the mouths of the creeks and the wood at points, and caught some nicer bass in the 3 pound range, but the action was just steady, but it was more like work, rather than fun. Some bass were caught on Senko's near Furnace Bay in the Northeast, and several bass in the 2 pound range were taken near the grass and the rocks by Tyding's marina also.

Fresh Water Fishing Report for:
Delaware Lakes, Ponds, Rivers and Upper Chesapeake Bay
Updated: November 03, 2003. Lums Pond, Delaware

S&K Guide Service spent 6 hours today at Lums Pond in Kirkwood, Delaware. The water temperature when we arrived at 7:00 AM was 53.5 degrees at the ramp and in the upper end of the lake by the dog training area. We first worked the shoreline on the right hand side of the lake, all the way to the dog training area with Senkos rigged weightless, a Carolina-Rig with a Senko, 2 different crankbaits, a Terminator spinnerbait, a Spro jerkbait, a Rat_L-Trap, and a tube bait. We worked all the wood and off the main points, and picked up 2 bass of about 1 pound. We switched sides, and worked the north shore all the way down to the point at the main lake and picked up one more bass of 2 pounds on the Terminator. We moved up the main lake by the beach and then crossed over to the heavy wood and stumps and worked them all the way up with all our baits. We caught one more bass of 1 1/2 pounds, again on the Terminator. The water temperature was now 58.6 degrees. We continued all the way to the upper end of the lake and worked the shallows by the fishing pier and adjacent shallows with every bait we had rigged, and caught one more bass of 1.3 pounds, again on the Terminator. The water temperature was now 59.8 degrees in the shallows, and the air temperature was 75 degrees. This was not what we were looking for in the way of "Fall Bass Action", so we left at 12:45 PM, and decided to call it a day, and rethink our plans for the rest of the week. We will be hitting several lower Delaware Lakes and 2 Maryland Lakes on Wednesday and Thursday, and then head to the Upper Bay Rivers on the weekend

[url "javascript:MM_openBrWindow27http://www.immediateweb.com/site/admin/2C'image2C'width=770,height=500,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes29"][/url]

[url "javascript:MM_openBrWindow27http://www.ufgo.com/2C'image2C'width=770,height=500,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes29"][#000080][size 2]United Federation Of Guides and Outfitters[/size][/#000080][/url]

Owner & operator of S&K Guide Service, Steve vonBrandt is also a freelance outdoor writer for several outdoor publications, book contributor, 1998 Big Bass World Champ/DE. He also been a regular guest on several local radio talk shows. Contact Info:

S&K Guide Service
Brandywine Blvd.
Wilmington, DE 19809
Phone: 302-764-1788
Alt: 302-545-9634
[#000080]swvbbass@aol.com[/#000080]


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[tubeN2]

[cool] Hey there SKG, Hi and welcome to Big Fish and Tackle website. That was an amazing report. Thanks for sharing that with us as we all learn from each other. We look forward to your continued sharing to help maintain this site as the top fishing site on the internet. Please feel free to ask for advice or give us the privelage to receive your advice as well. Happy Fishing.
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[davetclown]

thanks for a great fish report, I edited the size of your banner, we have a width restriction on banners and pictures. the maximum width is 400 pixels.

thanks again, we look forward to your next report....
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