Ring Perch

Type: Chesapeake
Region: Upper Bay
Location: Susquehanna Flats

I�m sure the nickname ring perch comes from yellow perch�s distinctive dark vertical stripes and yellow body color, but after my fishing trip Sunday, I can think of another reason to call them that � it�s because my buddy Rich and I had to drive a ring around the upper Bay to catch them! Anxious to get in on the action we had been hearing about, Rich and I hitched up my 27' Judge CC Thunder Road Sunday morning about 11:00 AM and drove north up the Eastern Shore in search of a place to launch.

By water, it�s about 40 miles from my house to the Susquehanna Flats and the perching grounds at the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay. Since the wind wasn�t blowing and it was relatively flat, I considered launching at Kent Narrows and making the run up by boat. I�ve done that before, and it isn�t bad, but the weather forecast called for building winds in the evening, so I thought it better to trailer the boat north. My plan was to launch at the small boat ramp in Betterton, Maryland at the mouth of the Sassafras River.

After an uneventful drive, we arrived in Betterton in less than an hour only to find very low water and thick chunks of ice blocking the ramp. I gave it a valiant effort anyway, breaking both my trailer tail lights in the process, but there was no getting out. We headed north to Turner�s Creek only to find it iced in solid. This lead to a marathon session of checking every eastern shore boat ramp we knew of, only to find them all inaccessible. Our only choice was to round the head of the Bay and make the turn south back down the western shore. I made some cell phone calls to some fishing buddies and finally decided our best bet was to drive all the way back down to Perryville and put in at the Owens Landing ramp.

By the time we got the boat in the water at 3:00 PM the sun was already getting low over the Susquehanna Valley. Fortunately, we didn�t have to go far from the ramp to find fish. In fact, we only had to go a few feet. Just as we cleared the dock we noticed nice marks on the fish finder along a twenty-five to fifty foot drop off. There was one other boat fishing and a couple of guys casting out of kayaks who I recognized from some fishing trips around the Bay Bridge. After our all-day ordeal looking for a place to launch, it was comforting to see some familiar faces and even more encouraging to see that everyone was catching fish. We hurriedly tied up some double drop-shot rigs and got busy.

Our drop-shot presentation is just a basic rig with a sinker on the bottom and a couple of jigs tied above on dropper loops. You fish it by either casting out a little way, or dropping straight down, then keeping a tight line with the sinker right on the bottom and the lures suspended. We tied number four snelled hooks onto our loops and attached brown and chartreuse twister tail grubs.

We started catching fish right away in depths between thirty and fifty feet. All we really needed to do was let the sinker drag across the bottom behind the slowly drifting boat. Occasionally we would pick the sinker up off the bottom a little, then set it back down, the slower the better. The fish didn�t hit hard. In some cases we didn�t feel the bite at all, only weight on the line as they picked up our grubs. Some of the fish we caught had small baitfish hanging out of their mouths. On closer examination I found that one healthy female had a four inch catfish lodged in her throat. These are hungry fish!

We fished until sunset loading our cooler with plenty of fat ten to fourteen inch perch. After I got home tonight I filleted some of the fish we caught, sprinkled them with olive oil, Old Bay, and Panko crumbs and baked them. They were delicious. After dinner I sat down with my computer and filed a yellow perch survey report about the fish we caught. It's great to have such exceptional winter fishing so close to home.