Josenhans Fly Fishing Blog

Jesse with a Pocomoke crappie

Yesterday, we fished the Pocomoke River for the last time before heading to the Susquehanna Flats. This was a crappie trip, but we would take anything that put a bend in the rod. I met Jesse Maffuid and Bernie Kemp at Byrd Park in Snow Hill for a six-hour step back in time on the beautiful, dark clear waters of the Pocomoke. I hadn’t raised the throttle over idle speed before we wet our first line. Almost immediately, a couple of crappie spit the hook, but it was not what we were looking for. I traveled down river to Nassawango Creek to a favorite hole, and after a minute or two Jesse hooked up with a nice crappie on a chartreuse and black, jig and float combo.  Another crappie or two came over the side, Bernie caught a nice fourteen-inch bass and so it went. Over the next few hours Bernie added a couple or three more small bass and Jesse was high man on the crappie, along with a few colorful yellow perch. Bernie even had a surprise bluegill nail his small grub.

Bernie casting the spadderdock edges

That’s the nice thing about fishing this river is the variety. Even fishing small crappie jigs, every strike can bring a surprise. We finished the day with a flurry, along with the biggest crappie of the day within sight of the ramp. I think the largest stretched the tape to about twelve inches. Not jumbo crappie my southern standards but fun non-the-less. Onto the flats where, hopefully, the water has cleared and the stripers are hungry!