Cool in the Creek

The often reliable seasonal pattern of cooling waters during the autumn transition, which improves the bite among many species in many bodies of water, has started to kick in locally it would seem. Within my home creek, Valentine, located just north of Round Bay in the Severn River, I ventured into its backwaters at least four times within the past week. And the fishing was quite good each trip. Indeed, it was cool in the creek in more ways than one.

Mornings tended to be my best bet, but an evening trip was also productive. I found that the higher the water in the back of the creek, the better the bite. With the moon waxing from new toward full, tidal movement (neap tides) was not as strong during my sessions. Winds in the back of the creek were manageable, even in a small kayak. The protected area isn’t as susceptible to gusts as the more open water of the river’s stem, or bay for that matter. The fishing was pleasant.

Each trip began with launching the kayak and paddling toward the creek’s headwaters, specifically to the point where the depth transitions from 10 or 12 feet deep up to 5 feet, before the very shallow mud flats where water is only about 1 to 2 feet. I consider myself lucky to have access to fishable water by kayak. That point is not lost on me. 

This easy-going fishing is a light tackle affair with very simple setups—just a couple 6-foot spinning rods and reels in the 1000 class with upwards of 6–8 pounds of drag set. Perfect for some white perch fishing. My hope was that chain pickerel would also start biting. Lure choices were also simple: a 2” micropaddle tail on an 1/8oz jighead caught every fish. Though I also casted a small 1/8oz underspin stumpjumper and a 1/4oz perch pounder spinner as search baits, neither produced (odd). 

When the water was highest, most of the white perch were caught closer to the channel running toward the mudflat and/or hugging laydowns off the shoreline. When the water was down a foot, the perch dropped back into the 5-7 foot depths about 20 yards off the shoreline. Simply tossing the jig and letting it rest on bottom, then gently hopping it back and swimming it produced strikes. And the perch were a nice size—with most at about 9 inches or larger. A couple 12 inch fish hit. Very nice. 

After working the back of the creek thoroughly each trip, and satisfied with having caught what fish were willing to play, I would paddle to the docks that line the creek’s shore and fish these same lures under and around the pilings. This is where the pickerel were sitting and ready to strike. I caught at least four pickerel between 16 and 21 inches long across several outings. The older and more decrepit the pier, the better the bite by the way. Again, all fish caught on the jig/paddletail combo. 

With plenty of baitfish—minnows and peanut bunker—still swimming the creeks, combined with falling water temperatures, the appetites of larger fish improve and they’ll swim shallow water to intercept the food source. Soon, that bait will start to migrate from the creeks to the river’s stem and downward to the Bay. And this is when and where the striped bass bite should ignite in the Severn River. Reports are already coming in of a few fish within slot size (19–24”) or larger being caught in the Round Bay area and below. I hope to meet them this month!

See y’all on the water again, real soon!