Smithville (again), Tuckahoe, and Urieville

Type: Nontidal
Region: Eastern
Location: Smithville, Tuckahoe and Urieville Lakes

I fished Smithville Lake on Friday (1/10). The day started out a little cool but it warmed up in the upper 50�s pretty quickly. I fished the main body of the lake down near the spillway, catching four pickerel and six bass on minnows.

Saturday 1/11/20 started early, getting up at 3:30 a.m. I checked the weather, the temperatures were already in the mid fifties at Tuckahoe State Park. WOW! I loaded up my kayak and gear. Although the air temperature was near 70 degrees the lake's water will still be cold. Hence I�m fishing with minnows I picked up at Angler's tackle shop along the way. When the water temperature is cold a fish�s metabolism slows and becomes sluggish. They are less likely to chase a fast moving bait and fishing live bait under a bobber works best. A few of the bass were caught on a 1/4 oz paddle tail jig slowly bounced off bottom too.

After launching my kayak at the boat ramp, I headed up the lake to a spot where largemouth bass gather to feed. There, the lake necks down between two points and is filled with tree stumps. Catching four bass there I moved on looking for pickerel. My friend Chris Whiteman arrived near 9:00. He had never fished Tuckahoe so I gave him the rundown on the 60 acre lake. I directed him to the spot up where the bass were biting.

Although the wind picked up, the fishing was fairly good, but kayak fishing in the wind can be very difficult. In all we caught a total of 11 bass and four pickerel between the two of us. The last bass of the day was a 20� fish!

I fished Urieville on Monday 1/13, hoping to catch some 26�+ pickerel. However, the bass were very active at the upper right branch of the 35 acre lake. I caught 13 bass, the biggest being 20�. I did catch six pickerel, most were at the 20� mark. A majority of the fish were caught near fallen trees, some were caught in open water. I caught all the bass on minnows and a few of the pickerel on Rat-L-Trap and paddle tail jigs. Wednesday will be my next chance to get out... still on the hunt. What a great winter day of fishing!

For more information about kayaking and canoeing in Maryland, visit our Kayak and Canoe Fishing page.