Cats, Rocks, and Perch O My !
 

Well finally a decent multi-species day...We (Spot77) and I were able to pick up catfish on the Eastern side of the Bay and a good number of perch and Rock on the Western side of the bay....

Couple of interesting things stuck out about our trip....

1> All fish were caught in less than 10 feet of water, most under 7.

2> While clams and shrimp did work, they were not as effective as Rattle Traps, Beetle-Spins and other "hard baits".

3> From the Bridge to Rock Hall to the Bodkin we did not se
e a single ray...I have not seen one at all this year...Last year at this time, I could have walked on them in some places since they were so thick...

4> I got lucky enough to find a few good spots for hard heads above the bridge about 10 to 12 days ago...Since then I have not seen one of them...

5> Still no sign of blue fish either...We had some chum, some herring, and some other "live" baits but could not catch one...Anyone seen any of them north of the bridge ?

6> Continued to see very good size pods/balls of bait with very few larger fish chasing them...and there has been a tremendous lack of birds for me....

7> The evening was by far the best time of day for catching (we spent most of the day fishing).

Hopefully get out some more this week....and find some blues and croaker...Will keep all of ya posted....

Glad to hear the Rays are not up this far - I like to dive Podickery Point and getting bumped by those things always spooks me.

Cool deal on the Catfish - perhaps fresher water is keeping the Rays farther south.

Interesting about fish being in shallow water - thanks for tip about that.

I ran a trip out of the Magothy Saturday, saw a few Skate, early. Near Deep Creek.

Glad you had a nice trip. Pretty cool catching catfish in the bay. I was crabbing Saturday in the South River and saw a few rays but not like it was last year.............Gary

The catfish weighed just a hair over 4.5 pounds and was caught on an ultralight rod using a 1/4 ounce Beetlespin.

I was trying to catch some WP but didn't have a bite until that thing hit.

I've had Rockfish up to about 18" hit the Beetlespins before and I thought for sure that was what this was going to be.

It was the best fight I've had all year with the ultralight and 6 or 8 pound mono line. :D

I was talking to the guys at Sparrows Point/ Ft. Howard yesterday. No one has caught any rock yet this year! No croaker around either. But they are getting 100+ perch a day. They state the "knolls" have nothing either. This is a strange year!