In Central Maryland, it officially became summer this past weekend and, boy, did it feel like it! Not only was the summer solstice at it’s peak, the weather reached real feel temps well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. What else to do, other than take the boat on the river to cool off with some swimming, tubing, and fishing? For this Severn River outing, during a busy Saturday, I decided to take the family upriver into The Narrows section, where we’d hide in a small cove to chill…and do some perch poundin’.
I had just the spot in mind, Rock Cove, which is shaped like a bowl/pool and has the topography to match. Its eastern-most shoreline is mostly rip-rap and sunken boulders with some natural shoreline and beach mixed in. It’s also runs from a depth of 13′ in the middle up to a nice stretch of 3–5′ water that perfect for wading and hanging out. The perch will also hug the riprap on a high tide and congregate in the shaded water, much like us humans when we need some relief from the sun! So, it was a perfect spot for the afternoon.
While the rest of the family floated around, I fished a 1/4oz spinnerbait in the area on a light outfit and had fun pulling up white perch. Small perch, mind you, but fish on the end of the line nonetheless. This time of year, as the warm weather begins pushing water temperatures into the 80s, during mid-day adventures you’ll find fish in and around shaded structure. The opposite side of the cove, for example, harbors slightly deeper water, docks, and the boats that use them. We didn’t float that way only because the sun was pounding that side of the cove. But if I was a fish, I’d be well under the docks there.
Dock fishing is a very reliable pattern up and down the Severn River during the dog days of summer. Bonus, if you can find a trifecta of docks, deep water, and adjacent, shallow shelfs of submerged aquatic vegatation. A review of satellite images in comparison to navigation charts will help you find these areas. There are plenty worth trying in the Severn and many of the Chesapeake Bay’s middle tributaries. Other reliable spots for summer white perch fishing are deep, hard-bottom structure, such as the river’s oyster reefs or the sunken congrete carnage from the old Severn River Bridge.
In the dog days ahead, especially when the striped bass fishery gets reprieve (closed July 16th to 31st), white perch will be, perhaps, the most reliable species to target in the middle Chesapeake region. I look forward to fleshing out a stringer or several.
See y’all on the water again, real soon!
