# Wye Mills & Nicodemus Bridge



## fishbait (Nov 11, 2005)

This is neither a pier nor surf post. It's freshwater, but I thought I would share it anyway. 

Fingesandclaws, Okimavich, and I headed out Monday morning to wye mills to target carp. When we arrived at the spillway, there were 3 fishermen aleady there, but they were fishing for yellow perch. So, we gave it a shot but only managed a few sunfish. A pretty steady flow of fisherman came and left throughout the day. Next, we used the Chump special recipe for carp bait. We stayed until about lunchtime with a few bites, but left skunked.

After lunch we headed over to Clyde's to pick up some minnows and fished Nicodemus Bridge til it got dark. The crappie are in there thick. You can see them everywhere from the bridge. Now if only we knew how to catch them. I did manage to pull in two. Fingers and O need to take a 3 day bath in bunker oil. It's pretty frustrating to be surrounded by so many fish and not be able to catch any of them. I put a pic in the gallery. I'll post it to this thread when I get back to my computer.

Just posting the pic to show how I prep them for the pan. No fins or tail. The bones connecting the fins to the spine have also been removed.


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## AtlantaKing (Jul 7, 2002)

A small jig with a tube tail about 3' under a small cork, retrieved with slight twitches works well. 

For the ultimate in finicky crappie: freeline the minnows with a #8 Gami Octopus hook, 6lb Flurocarbon and 6lb main line, no weight. If they're there, they'll hit that.


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## chump (Jul 18, 2005)

Hey Fishbait,

Sorry the special recipe did not produce for you. I'm not sure about the winter crappie, but I hear that minnows are the best. But if you don't want to buy minnows, I've had great success w/ grub and jig in the spring. Maybe the winter crappies are the same way? I don't know. I just use the cheap BPS brand ones, although I've been hearing great things about the Charlie Slider's. Anyways, I just use the smallest jig possible and below a bobber.

Thanks,
Chump


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## fingersandclaws (Oct 17, 2005)

Do you think the other fisherman on the bridge would be pissed if I tossed a cast net next time? I was so annoyed yesterday . . . fish everywhere, swimming by my lure / minnow, looking at it, having some sort of discussion (don't know what was said), then leaving. No more hook, line, bait, 10' cast net 

Most guys have a "what species I've caught list". I have a "What species have out smarted me yet again" list.


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## fresh bunker (Jul 9, 2006)

yea sometimes those crappie are hard to catch. i fished nico bridge first time and only managed like2 crappie, even though i saw many on my fish finder.


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## fishbait (Nov 11, 2005)

Hey Chump,

I think the bait was working just fine, but there wasn't a single sign that the spill-off contains carp at this time of year. I did get one pull, but it could have been the sunfish.

We gotta go out to that bridge again. There's tons of fish, but we just need more prep to catch them. The two I caught were on minnows. Okimavich caught lots of them, but couldn't get them up on the bridge, because they would drop off his hook. They're definitely catchable, but I just need time to experiment.


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## BubbaBlue (May 11, 2004)

Sorry you guys didn't get into any carp. I've been there at all times of the year and it has been productive. In late summer though, it can get full of algae which makes it hard to fish.

They must have moved downstream for some reason. They'll be back.
.


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## fishbait (Nov 11, 2005)

Here's my pic of dinner tonight. Yes, they are going to be cooked.......


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## Andre (Mar 15, 2003)

I have caught 50 on my bad day!!!!!!!!! mostly small amd medium size crappies ...all you need is a split shot 6 " above your jig.....If the wind is blowing hard like "now" just add more weight above the first split shot 

If your looking for some MONSTER carps shoot Tommy Robinson a PM


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## hengstthomas (Mar 11, 2006)

When the get finicky like that scale down your presentation...I go as low as 120th of an oz(bb on a hook I call it).If you have a good breeze going dont pop the jig at all but let the wind push it along (with a bobber..unweighted for lighter winds and weighted to slow it up a bit). A 1" twister tail grub (white,chartruse, or yellow) on a 64th to 120th is a crappie and yellow killer.


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## cygnus-x1 (Oct 12, 2005)

fishbait said:


> Here's my pic of dinner tonight. Yes, they are going to be cooked.......


So .... when do we eat? I'll be over just before dinner time  

Relax ... I'll bring the :beer:


Those look like hefty little crappie. I have rarely targeted them in my early days and when I hit a few they tended to be small. How big do they get?


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## fishbait (Nov 11, 2005)

Well, those babies look nice on an average size dinner plate. But if you want to see much bigger ones, check out the crappie in the tank at BPS. They're about as big as I've seen. I'm guessing maybe 10" or 11".


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## Gnatman (Sep 15, 2005)

*My largest was...*

... 14.5 inches. I have seen them up to 18 inches.  

I'll be heading up to Nico soon.


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## Talapia (Apr 27, 2003)

Gnatman said:


> ... 14.5 inches. I have seen them up to 18 inches.
> 
> I'll be heading up to Nico soon.


mmmmmm, crappie are my #1 freshwater
eating fish.


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## fishbait (Nov 11, 2005)

Gnatman, are you going up there tonight?


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## Teddy (May 14, 2006)

What kind of minnows were yu using Fatheads or shiners? Tiny smoke colored twisters work also under a float. What side of the bridge yu working? How big is the average crappie yu catchin?


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## fishbait (Nov 11, 2005)

I was using fatheads under a float. We walked the bridge and leaned our head over the railing to find them. You can actually see them schooling in the water below. Yesterday, we were on the northern side (left side). This is my first time fishing the bridge so those two fish in the picture above were all that I was able to catch. I didn't measure them, but that's an average size dinner plate, so add the head and tail back to estimate the average length.


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## FISHING4LIFE (Jul 14, 2006)

hey fishbait,
was there a lot of bluegills caught at wye mills or yellow perch? i fish that pretty regularly wen they r there


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## okimavich (Nov 13, 2006)

It was almost exclusively bluegills w/ yellow bellies at Wye Mills. We did see a Crappie pulled in by one of the other fishermen. We didn't see anything else.

As for Nico bridge, we were actually on the southern side of the bridge, northern side of the reservoir.


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## Tommy Robinson (Feb 3, 2005)

*Carp?*

Did somebody say Carp? LOL. I fished Wye Mills and caught a number of carp out of there. The Bluegills can be a pain at times , especially if you are using baits that they like (corn, worms, waxworms etc...) This time of year you may want to fish with a very light and sensitive float ( like a shy bite ) and light line. If panfish are ok with you then its a win-win deal. I'd love to go down and fish with you guys some time in the spring. I also enjoy catching the perch when they are running - not far from now  . 

PS - some of the biggest crappies i have ever caught have come from the lake above and a few below as well  .


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## dcfishman (Dec 20, 2002)

Hy guys where is the Nicodemus bridge? I would love to go there with my roadrunner rigs with gold blades chartruse grub on it i have had good luck with this in the past at the duck pound across from the National Air Port lots of Crappie there but no longer an access/no Tresspassing Take care/Tony dcfishman


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## lnhale (Oct 26, 2006)

fishing nicodemus is simple when they are on top .
you need a tube jig i prefer black and green with a float about four or five ft. cast past the school bring it slow over the school no jerks . I caught as many as 100 in one day.


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## LiteTackleChamp (Jul 29, 2005)

two words, sour grape, thats the color grub i use for crappie and they work great, caught tons of crappie at wye mills and tuckahoe with them


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## FISHING4LIFE (Jul 14, 2006)

im starting to get confused. are there crappies up at wye mills now? i fish there pretty regularly and i like catching the yellow perch and blue gills and that would be rele cool if there are crappies mixed in too.


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## LiteTackleChamp (Jul 29, 2005)

yheah theres crappy at wye mills u just gotta fish near the boat ramp, i catch alot in the summer


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## FISHING4LIFE (Jul 14, 2006)

i went today and didnt catch ne crappie. wheres the boat ramp? i fish the spill way and u say u catch a lot of crappies in the summer? i was thinking more bass and bluegills.


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## FISHING4LIFE (Jul 14, 2006)

i fish the spill way usually and u said u catch crappies up there in the summer? thats suprising cuz i thought crappies like colder waters but maybe im wrong. I'd expect a lot of gills and bass.


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## okimavich (Nov 13, 2006)

Crappie are probably easiest to catch in the spring when they come up to the shallows to spawn.

As for liking cold water, I'm not sure about that. They do go a bit deeper when it gets warmer in the summer to keep cooler. But otherwise, they're really catchable year round. You just have to find them. Their metabolism keeps running even in the winter and feed year round.

Now the bluegills (sic) and bass tend to suspend and slow way down when it gets really cold during the winter.


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## FISHING4LIFE (Jul 14, 2006)

if u look at my other thread u will c i caught about 60 bluegill today and my dad got 3-4 crappie. I also caught melrose or w.e the 6-7 inch shiners. They bit on wax worm


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## hengstthomas (Mar 11, 2006)

Do you mean "Mill Roache" ?


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## FISHING4LIFE (Jul 14, 2006)

umm no melrose i think. thats wut my friends dad calls them.


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## damifinowfish (May 29, 2006)

dcfishman

Nico bridge is north of baltimore off 795. It is the bridge over the resevior on nico rd. 

Hope that helps

I'll see u if you make it they on the week days

damifinow fish


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## fishbait (Nov 11, 2005)

dcfishman,

If you want to mapquest it, the address is 1798 Nicodemus Rd, Reisterstown, MD.

I'll be up there with some of the guys on Sat. Come say Hi. I'll be the one wearing black overalls.


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## Fishguy (Jan 27, 2007)

Question: Where do you park when fishing from Nicodemus Bridge? Is there an area to pull off and park near the bridge? Thanks!


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## FISHING4LIFE (Jul 14, 2006)

yeah if ur coming in from the right side u drive over the bridge and u will see cars parked everywhere. Park over there. Nicodemus bridge hasn't been doing too good lately so if u wanna catch fish go to wye mills and get some wax worms. U will catch sooo many bluegill. I went there last week and caught 60 bluegills and 4 or 4 melrose. Its an hour away and u go over the bay bridge to get there. if u dont catch fish there u stink at fishing lol.


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