Dawn happened. The morning started. I awoke with a good mind to cast a line. But first…get the kiddos on the school bus. Ages 10 and 11, they can be a chore to get moving in a timely fashion. But we made it to their respective buses (one elementary, the other middle school). And then, I turned my attention to wetting a few lures at a local beach tucked in the Round Bay vicincity of the Severn River—an easy, shore-bound outing with light tackle for light fish.
We’re two weeks into September and on the Severn, the fish activity has been good, but not great by my estimation. One week ago to the day, a morning run on the boat to favored spots in the mid-river proved uneventful. Usually, we’re seeing bird activity, moving baitfish, and schools of striped bass busting on them. It just hasn’t ignited yet. It will though. This Friday morning, I needed to scratch the angling itch, so I ventured to the community beach for a playful attempt at catching a fish or two.
I brought two outfits—a 6′ light spinning rod with 1000 class reel and a 6’6″ medium spinning rod with 2500 class reel—to cover near shore casting over grassbeds with a weedless swimbait, and a touch further out with a topwater popper. Going weedless with a small offerring was needed to work through the grassbed. I used a 1/0 1/8oz Hayabusa wide gap screw lock hook with a 3″ Moondog Baits paddletail.
To my eyes, puppy drum appeared to be tailing at a few spots and I tried to entice a bite. I felt a few hits on the first cast and second. The weedless option proved fruitful early in the casting, but not with redfish. A fiesty, albeit tiny, pickerel started things off. Then the hits turned into large white perch on the end of the line. Must have been a nice, little school of them picking off the tiny minnows in the shallows.
About 25 yards out, there were some rising fish at the surface, so I casted the popper toward the swirls. No takers unfortunately. The cloud cover was thick overhead, so if there were stripers in the vicinity, they’d likely still be feeding, even at 8:30 a.m. My hunch is that nearly all the fish activity I saw was white perch. Overall, I was happy to scratch the fishing itch by catching a mess of perch and one, little pickerel in between sips of coffee on a relaxing September morning. I highly recommend finding your own happy spot to fish with just a couple go-to lures that cover the water column. Simple and fun at this time of year. See y’all on the water again, real soon!
