Capt. Karl’s Upper Bay/Susquehanna Flats Fishing Report April 24^th, 2008

Welcome Aboard! To my first fishing report for 2008. Again this year it seems that we will miss-out on spring and jump right into summer. The bass fishing is really getting hot. The eastern shore tributaries seem to be a little ahead of the flats area with the eastern shore tributaries water temps running a bit higher. We are finding good quality bass staging at the mouths of creeks as well as good numbers of buck bass moving deeper into the creeks. With the new moon the first week of May things should really get good!!!

We are slow rolling deps Mini-Bro 3/8 ounce chartreuse color and Dave’s Tournament Tackle ¼ ounce Bream colored spinnerbaits to locate the shallow fish on wood covered shorelines and the new flat sided ima Shaker (4 to 6 feet running) crankbait in the Plemmons color to locate and target the bass on points and in the creeks. On the slow bite days we are having good success using Webbs Baits 4 ½ inch hand poured worms rigged and fished shaky style in the My Mistake and Gunmetal/Brown Pearl color. The new Optimum Baits (Baby Line Thru) Swimbait is quickly becoming a go to bait for us particularly in the Hitch color; we are fishing it near old and emerging grass lines as well as channel edges and points.

The Susquehanna Flats Catch & Release striper/rockfish season has been up and down for us as I specialize in light tackle/artificial lures for these fish. Our best success has been up towards the northern boundary line in the river, near but below the Lapidum boat ramp. While the numbers of fish have not been there for us consistently the quality of fish has been good. We are using a variety of everything in the tackle box to coax these stripers to bite. The bite has been very disappointing this week but you can’t catch them if you are not out trying. Once the new moon gets here the first week of May with the water temps where they are now these stripers should start to travel back down and give us several days of good action.

Conservation Note: Many bass anglers have voiced their concerns about the numbers of commercial nets located in Swan Creek (10 to 12 nets) at any given time located on the shorelines out, recently and as of now during this critical spawning time frame and I share and personally am very concerned about this situation. Many anglers are not used to these nets being there and as they are fishing these shorelines and encountering them they are getting their motors caught in them and some even getting deep gel coat marks in their boats from them, be careful as you encounter these nets. I have been in contact with the Maryland (DNR) Department of Natural Resources concerning these nets and it seems as disturbing as this situation is (during the Largemouth Bass SPAWN) they are legal. I am researching and getting advice from the DNR on what can be done to help protect this valuable and critical largemouth bass spawning area in the future and as soon as a plan that will work to protect this valuable spawning area has been decided on, I will let you know. This will not be an easy thing to get done and will require the help of all bass fishermen in Maryland and surrounding states.

Water temperature: 63 degrees

Water clarity: 1 foot

Thanks & Good Fishing, Capt. Karl