solomons island

[danta]

just saw a few fisherman out trolling today.

[Stryper Snyper]

Been long time since I fish there.  Never really tried trolling.  Was hot for trout and horse croaker and the occasional doormat.

[danta]

i never had much luck out there myself.

[dena]

A couple of at work used to charter a boat out of Solomans.

We would go August, September time frame.

Spanish, Croakers, Blues, Stripers, were all caught in abundance.

 

[Long Wader]

3 hours ago, dena said:

A couple of at work used to charter a boat out of Solomans.

We would go August, September time frame.

Spanish, Croakers, Blues, Stripers, were all caught in abundance.

 

I fished Solomons during the late Summer and early Fall at night for 35 years on the South side of the river mouth adjacent to the huge flat. We did great there at night bait fishing, however we rarely caught much during the day when all the boats were there bait fishing, jigging and trolling.  My buddy and I would anchor up a night, drop a submersible light to attract bait fish and use peeler crab and fresh squid for bait. When the tide slacked we caught mostly spot, put them in my live well and then live-lined them when the tide picked back up for large rockfish, grey trout and red drum.  We caught spot, croaker, trout, rock, large red drum, puppy drum most of the night and some nights the bite was so hot the fish practically wore us out. When the bite was really hot we would switch to a plastic jig or a bucktail and sometimes sweeten them with a small strip of squid once the bite slowed down. At false dawn we drifted for flounder for a while and then head back to the ramp. There were hundreds of boats fishing the river channel during the day, however we were usually the only boat out there at night. There was also a creek just north of the River mouth that was great fishing at false dawn for big rock and trout, however once the sun got up the bite was over. We used small plastic jigs to catch the rock and trout near rocks at the creek mouth.

 

During the day you could see huge schools of fish suspending over the river channel on the fish finder and they were often extremely hard to catch.  At night the fish would migrate from the river channel to the flats and creek mouths and feed like crazy on spot, small croakers, anchovies, peanut bunker and crabs.

 

We used the same night fishing pattern to fish the ledges and flats in Corn Field harbor at the mouth of the Potomac and the North side of Point Lookout on the Western Shore. On windy nights the South side of the Patuxent river was our backup plan.

 

The first time I took two of my new freshwater fishing buddies on one of the the bay night trips they could not believe how good the fishing was and I had to lend them some of my fishing outfits because the big drum and rock destroyed their cheap freshwater fishing outfits. Their cheap reel drags sieged, the gears failed and then their rod reel seats broke.  I teased them and told them it was time to upgrade their tackle too some of the better Shimano or Daiwa rods and reels. Their cheap big box store specials did not hold up.

 

The full moon periods during July and August were our favorite times to to fish the river mouths on the lower Western Shore. On one July 4th night while we were fishing Point Lookout we could see fireworks displays from the Western Shore, the South Shore of the Potomac and the Eastern shore, probably Crisfield, all at the same time.

 

In the 70's there were a number of Old Timers that knew about this night fishing pattern. In more recent times I rarely see anyone else out there at night, so I guess the Old Timers' fishing knowledge died with them. Over the many years I have fished the bay the fishery has changed from hot big grey trout and bluefish bite to croaker and rockfish and more recently trout and drum, but you can still catch all types of species of fish at night on the river mouth flats and ledges. While the oyster beds are mostly gone there are some old stone piles from the colonial sailing ships that dumped them when they ascended the rivers to take on their cargo.

Edited March 13 by Long Wader

[danta]

good info thank you.

[ReeferRob]

In mid to late June through mid September that area holds quite a few different species from Redfish, Bluefish, Rockfish, Hardhead, Spot, Specks, Spanish Mackerel and White perch. You can thank the haul seiners in Va for no Gray trout, but you might find one if you're lucky. I fished there in the late 80s and there were quite a few fish to be had.