Yellow Perch
We’ve had reports of more and more people catching Yellow Perch in/around the Annapolis area. Some of the more productive spots have been further south near Waysons Corner, Beachwood Park in the Magothy River, Greys Run in the Bush River and in Perryville in the Susquehanna River. Anglers are catching decent size Yellows, just not in great numbers yet. As we start to see the temps rise a bit, we’ll start to really see them in numbers.
Eli Tolstoi caught this beauty of a Yellow Perch in the Magothy River. Nice catch Eli!
Some of the best techniques to catch Yellows are with tandem shad dart rigs tipped with live bait such as little to medium sized minnows, grass shrimp or blood worms. You can fish this rig near structure or deeper drops with hard bottom. You’ll want to cast it out and slow jig/retrieve it back to you. Bites commonly come on the fall, so be ready! Another popular technique is the cold water tested “Float-n-fly” technique. This is where you fish a shad dart under a float or slip bobber. It’s important to know the depth of the water you’re fishing as well as where in the water column the fish are suspended. Another good bait to try is the straight tail Bass Assasins on the 1/16th or 1/32nd VMC Hot Skirt jigs.
Pickerel
Pickerel are being caught in many of the same areas you’ll find the Perch. Locally we’re finding them in the Magothy River, Tuckahoe Creek, Unicorn Lake and Hillsboro. There have been some nice 23″-24″ Pickerel caught in the Magothy River recently and we’re sure there are more citation sized Pickerel roaming those waters!
Some of the best lures to use to catch Pickerel are the Rapala x-rap 8 slow sink, the Super Rooster tail and even larger shad darts tipped with a big juicy minnow! Pickerel are primarily solitary fish and don’t school up like most other species do. If you’re targeting them and land one in a good spot it may be best to move on a little ways and try some new water out.
Trout
Maryland DNR has been busy stocking Pre-season Trout and you can find out exactly where by going here. Some of the better areas have been Tuckahoe Creek, the Little Patuxent, the Patuxent and the Patapsco.
Some of the best lures for catching trout include Mepps spinnerbaits, Berkley Powerbait, Wax Worms and a good ol’ bobber.
Rockfish
Now that most of the Bay is clear of ice some anglers are trying their chances at hooking up with big Rockfish near warm water discharges. Some of the better areas have been further south near Calvert Cliffs. There are also some spots up here like the Patapsco river and the Inner Harbor of Baltimore.
You’ll want to use larger jigs with big trailers like a 10″ BKD. You should try a G-Eye Jig out, if you don’t have any we are now carrying them! Make sure to use contrasting colors between your jig head and your trailer, it definitely helps with success rate!