Wading the Magothy

The Magothy and the Severn are tidal rivers that empty into the Chesapeake between Annapolis and Baltimore, and their upper tidal sections are only about five miles apart in Anne Arundel County.

Winter fishing for pickerel can be good in these areas, so yesterday I decided to take advantage of a 70 degree day to drive to a place on the Magothy where there is public access. Before leaving on a fishing trip, I write my destination on a white board in our hallway, and there I wrote "Severn River near Severna Park." It had been six or seven years since I fished the area, and it wasn't until I reached Severna Park that I realized my targeted fishing site was on the Magothy rather than the Severn. Fortunately, it didn't take long to make the correction and soon I was wading and casting.

Everything was perfect: I had the appropriate fly tackle, my casting was fine, and the weather was beautiful with the warm sun light only occasionally blocked by passing clouds and the breezes not over-powering. The fish, unfortunately, did not co-operate. Brought out by the mild weather, there were some bait fishermen there as well, and they didn't seem to do well either but those that I talked to on walks back to the car agreed with me that being able to be out fishing on the first day of February was prize enough.

As we anglers say: the fishing's always good even when the catching is not.