# PLO Question



## BubbaBlue (May 11, 2004)

I'm planning an overnight at PLO next weekend and have never fished the point. I'm not thrilled with the idea of the crowded pier and would like to give the point a shot.

Any advice on where to fish? 
How far a walk is it? I did it 6+ years ago but I wasn't lugging my gear. Doable with a fish-n-mate?


thanks...

BB


----------



## TunaFish (Aug 16, 2001)

*The point,*

It's doable with fish-n-mate. You can park by the boulders and it's a short walk. The walk is about 100ft on the bay side and about 30ft on the Potomac side. If you fish facing the bay, by the fence is good, but beware of snags. The Potomac side is usually less windy, but again, if you're next to the fence, it's snag city as well. During weekend, both sides can get pretty crowded as well, but alot heck better than the piers. Personally, either side is good for me (but away from the fence). Hope this helps..


----------



## reddog1 (May 3, 2003)

I would get there early to secure your spot. Come late evening people begin to pile in.


----------



## fish01265 (Mar 14, 2001)

From car pack very little gear find a good spot to fish if bite is slow move around until you find the fish again. good luck


----------



## BubbaBlue (May 11, 2004)

*PLO Brain Cramp*

Thanks for the advice.
30' walk?! 
Jeeze... I must be having one of those middle aged moments again.  
I think I confused my memory of the PLO point with somewhere else I used to go to. Maybe Elk Neck. Oh well. 
The weather forecast looks good for the weekend. Planning on making the trip if the home duties don't take priority.

Thanks again.

BB


----------



## BubbaBlue (May 11, 2004)

Heads up for anybody heading to PLO this weekend.

I just made reservations for camping and afterwards noticed there's a Civil War thing going on over the weekend. From DNR's site:

Blue and Gray Days
June 5 and 6, 2004
Sat. 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun. 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Civil War living history demonstrations, military and civilian, of Point Lookout during the War Between the States. No reservations needed. Sponsored by the 20th Main Volunteers. 

Might be crowded, don't know, but I suppose they can play with their muskets while I'm playing with my surf rod.  
Getting tired of getting skunked up here and this guy's heading south.

cheers...

BB


----------



## bobang (Aug 7, 2003)

I have a question too.
I'm planning to visit PLO on Wednesday night and stay throughout the night. It will be my first time at PLO..

1) How much is the entrance fee?

2) Is there any baitshop where I can purchase bloodworms on the way (around 11pm)

3) Any shortcuts when you come from 95 north?


----------



## TunaFish (Aug 16, 2001)

At that hour, it's an honor system. I think you'll need to pay for night parking for $3.00. At the entrance, there are envelopes. You'll put your money in there and tear the end of the envelope and place it on you dash.
As far as bait, I'm not sure any gas station sell them. I usually, get them the night before.
From Elkridge, my suggestion is take the beltway and use Route 4, then 235. Don't know of any quicker way.


----------



## CrawFish (Sep 23, 2003)

OR USE ROUTE 5 TO 235 TO 5 ALL THE WAY TO THE PARK


----------



## m.j. (Mar 5, 2004)

I've bought bloodworms from the 7-11 in Lexington Park (just past the Tackle Box) and they were real big and REAL fat.


----------



## chuckingstuff (Jul 11, 2000)

*bait*

bobang

i agree with mj 7-11's are usually pretty good with the worms. I'd bring some raw shrimp if I were you though. when I was there last week it was the only thing the croakers were hitting. cut spot, squid, razors, snouts and worms were a big no go. watch out for skates too. they're not so big right now but will give you a good ten minute work-out.

one other thing. if you get in the area before 5 there's a bait shop right before you make the right turn into the park. I believe it's "Rick's" He's a real solid fellow and will go out of his way to help you.

-c


----------



## reddog1 (May 3, 2003)

I have stopped purchasing bloods from Ricks. They have been half dead, small, and very expensive. They have been out of them a few times too.

Watch out for the skates. Had two encounters with them last weekend. It was a real mess. Tangle city.


----------



## bobang (Aug 7, 2003)

Thanks for your advice! I will stop by that 7-11 store


----------



## BubbaBlue (May 11, 2004)

Thanks for the advice on the shrimp. Had thought bloods were bait d'jour.

Dumb question. Anything you can do to help avoid the skates? Maybe float your bait off the bottom?

Also, an open invite to the board. 
Me and my 15 yr-old son will be spending the whole weekend at PLO. We have a campsite there for both Friday and Saturday. There'll probably be room for another tent if anybody needs someplace to crash. PM me before Friday 4pm if you're interested. First come, first served.  

We'll be fishing most of the time and the campsite will mostly go to waste.


BB


----------



## reddog1 (May 3, 2003)

It is not only your problem with the skates. If someone else gets one and it decides to swim over your line then you are tangled.


----------



## bobang (Aug 7, 2003)

I found them biting just any where any depth on any baits.
I've caught them on squid, bloodworms, cut spots, chicken and they even follow and just bite the bait while I reel in fast.

Don't know any way to avoid them


----------



## BubbaBlue (May 11, 2004)

That's ok. I'm sure the son will enjoy trying horse a skate in. Just hope he doesn't hang up everybody on the point while he's doing it. 

Just noticed... 500 views... man... PLO must be on a bunch of folks' minds right now. Hope to meet up with some of you on the point or pier this weekend.

Thanks again to everybody for their advice.


BB
(Rick)


----------



## FlounderFinder (Apr 7, 2003)

*Post Report*

The Washington Post isn't going to help the cause of trying to find a spot on the pier, but it definitely sounds like the place to be, especially considering the weak reports from the BB area:

Here's their report:

POINT LOOKOUT AREA -- If you head upriver from Point Lookout State Park to the Wicomico River's mouth, just drop something in the water and you'll get an immediate hit from a broad-shouldered croaker. That's what anglers that returned to Quade's Store in Bushwood claimed. Nearly every boat returns to the docks after a couple of hours with their 25 fish-per-angler limit of croaker, plus a bonus of white perch and spot. At the point's public fishing pier, a mix of croaker, spot, snapper bluefish, striped bass and throwback flounder are caught both day and night. Nighttime anglers usually end up with the largest fish, plus a few keeper rockfish as well. Charter boat anglers chummed along the bay's eastern channel edge and caught rockfish to 26 inches, plus several big croaker.


----------



## bobang (Aug 7, 2003)

Just cameback from PLO, got my limit in 3 hrs!!

11pm - 1 am was really hot. Everything on shrimp.

Good sizes too


----------



## m.j. (Mar 5, 2004)

Nice work.

Did you catch anything other than croakers?


----------



## bobang (Aug 7, 2003)

got skates too. after the second skate, I decided to head home


----------



## hookem (Mar 27, 2001)

That's some productivity. When will I be able to go is the question for me. I'm glad someone is having fun though.


----------



## BubbaBlue (May 11, 2004)

*PLO Report 6/5-6*

Thought it was going to be a washout Saturday, but on the way down, the weather improved once we passed Solomons. 

Hit the point, the Pier and the causeway. The croaker were schooled up pretty tight I guess. If you happened to be where they were, you were in fish city. We weren't, most of the time. Turns out that while we were fishing the point, they were close to the shore by the pier. Those folks all limited out. All in all, I had the best luck on the causeway closest to the pier. Everything was on bloodworms. Nothing liked shrimp except the crabs. 

Tally was 6 croaker, 1 snapper blue and 40+ stripers (1 keeper-19")  

There were blues hitting menhaden fairly close while we were on the pier. My guess is that they spooked and ran off anything worth catching.

While on the pier I had the lovely experience of dealing with a bullnose ray. What a pain in the @ss that thing was. Guy hung one next to me and it tangled all of us. I ended up netting it and got it on the pier just to help get our lines untangled. 38" tip to tip. Amazing how strong those things are. 

Good times and we'll return. 
Lots more fish down there than up here by the bridge!!

Also, gas at the WaWa near PAX NAS = $1.89/gal. 


BB


----------



## littlefry (May 5, 2003)

Great story!!! Was the pier packed? As far as gas prices, thats good to know. I'm paying 2.09gal.:jawdrop:


----------



## BubbaBlue (May 11, 2004)

LF,

The point was pretty packed, but that was in good weather. We did the pier from 5pm until 2am and it varied. Little crowded at first, but once the weather shifted to wind driven rain, only the serious fish junkies were left. 

Didn't catch anything on the pier that went into the chest. Had the best luck on the causeway Sunday morning. 

One thing I did learn on this trip is not to stay in one place too long. If you don't catch something fairly soon, move to a different place. The fish are there. You just have to find them.

Night fishing on the causeway will take some advance planning with extra lanterns so you can see where your line is in reference to the rocks. Don't want to lose a bubba because you can't see where he is. Something mounted on a high pole would be cool. Lots of folks were there fishing at 2am. Wish we had stopped.


BB


----------



## fish01265 (Mar 14, 2001)

someone else said that ? I wonder who ? if you don't move you loose


----------



## littlefry (May 5, 2003)

I have fallen on those rocks a PLO at night. Not a good feeling. And I don't like the rats! 

Sometimes folks get settled in one spot and its a pain to move. But I guess you are right, you need to move around. Nice post


----------



## fish01265 (Mar 14, 2001)

When the fish are feeding they are moving, if you want to keep the bite you must move. Loading up for PLO, going down tonight will post results later.


----------



## bobang (Aug 7, 2003)

so it was a rat!

I saw something moving around my chair while i was there...pretty scary


----------



## reddog1 (May 3, 2003)

They are raccoons and they will try to take your cooler away.


----------



## BubbaBlue (May 11, 2004)

Fish01265,
I remembered your advice about moving once I found out they had been biting where I wasn't. At the time I thought the fishing was shut down because of the heavy rain. I know now. Will have to pack light and then go back for the rest of the gear once I find the bite.

LF,
I want to try the causeway at night, but I'll have to experiment with the lights so I can see where my line is and where I'm stepping. Those rocks look like they can be rough at night. Taking a fall there sounds like a drag.  

Also want to be able to see my ice chest getting nabbed by the wildlife.  I saw the rats and racoons while I was there. The rats didn't bother me much. Pretty much kept to themselves. The ***** made a mess at the campsite with the trash. Normal.

Wish the weather this weekend was predicted to be better. Would head back down there. Still might.

BB


----------

