I met Ryan at the bus promptly at 345 as I finished up my last inspection report in the truck. We rushed home. He grabs few toys, one being the boomerang I lost in the garage... two minutes later he throws it on the roof. Too late, we're out of here. We tear down I 270, weaving and bobbing out of a slowly beginning rush hour. We see our first road block forming just after our exit. Hard right and we're on canal road. The buds on the trees are just popping now. The red maples are dropping their flowers. The Bradford pears are just starting to bloom, bush honey suckle and mulitiflora rose are beating their native friends to the punch. But you can still see the river clear as day peering through the trees long Canal Road. That may not be the case come next weekend. Seasons change so quickly around here. I'd give anything to be able to hold on to right now, this time of year, this exact time in transition. Like the fly fishing musky guru Brad Bohen said recently, "I'm chasing my endless spring." Wouldn't that be nice. An endless spring.
We hit the river from shore rigged with spinning rods and shad darts. One such rod I was just breaking in. A 7' diawa ultra light paired with a new shimano reel and 4 pound mono. The shad assassin this thing is. You can whip a 1/4 oz dart half way to Virginia. A small hickory shad bends the rod at the cork. But 4 pound main line mono is a little light when dealing with shad. Particularly the shad we found today. Not soon after we got there around 445, we hooked up. Ryan was having a hard time reaching the fish and I had to pass him my fish every single time. I don't mind though. I want him to enjoy it, no matter what it takes. Well, this first fish is bull dogging like a boat anchor. Something seems odd. Ryan has his hands full for sure. Then I see it.... the first White, aka. American Shad or Roe shad has shown up to the party. Unbelievable! A nice fish too, pushing that 20 inch category. I tried taking photos of the first fish but it wouldn't sit still, it never gave up and we were injuring the fish. But what happened the next few casts blew my mind. I didn't catch a single white shad all year last year and here Ryan and I caught three today. With river temps below 50 degrees F!!! One even jumped at the bank a few feet. I've never seen a white shad jump before. We worked our way up stream after a handful of hickories and three respectable white shad. We found the perfect rock out crop with a screaming out going tide. The depth a short distance from shore here is an abyiss. One of the deepest pools in the river pushing 80 feet. I rigged some bait on a light bait caster and chucked it out with a few large split shot. I couldn't even put the rod down practically before the drag is spewing line. This run was nothing like a rolling turd catfish. Even when I cranked the drag to over ten pounds of drag this thing never slowed down. Of course Ryan had to take over and somewhere in the transition we gave a little slack and lost the fish. Cirlce hooks don't like slack line. Not even for a second. The rod was just too light too. The leader came back slime free. Only one thing it could have been.
A few minutes later we're both into small hickories. Ryan always insisting on reeling I my fish of course. Then we forget about the bait rod. It's singing. No rest for the wicked. We landed this one, a good 20 pound blue cat fish legions and soars all over its body. Nasty fish it was, but powerful as can be. Three more cats later on the same fish head and I'd had enough with those things. They literally blanket the bottom. They say the invasive blue catfish makes up over 60% of the bio mass in the James river, where these fish originated. Well, I'd say it's well past that now on the Potomac. OH well.
On top of un hooking shad, passing Ryan the rod, re rigging, unhooking giant blue cats.... We also lit a fire to keep us occupied. Like I needed it. The rock island we were on was tiny. Not the easiest thing in the world to share with another person. Not to mention a lasso type caster Ryan is. I felt that shad dart wiz past my head a few times. Tangles were common. Kids just can't sit still and just can't quite hold the rod steady when they need to, thus turning a simple line wrap into a bird nest of funk. But it was well worth it. Ryan thinks that spot would make an ideal camping site. I'm beginning to think the same. This is one situation where it would be best to ask for forgiveness than permission. We'd have to park up in the neighborhood some place but it could be done. Back pack the gear in. Set up on the best shad rock in the river. I think I like that idea.
Spring has sprung. What are you doing about it. Every puddle of water is currently teaming with fish. If you can't make it to DC then settle for a pond. Largemouth bass are fired up right now putting on a major feeding binge. Simple stick baits are doing the job. I proved that theory over a 20 minute walk around a local stocked public fishing pond today. I figured I'd walk around it during my lunch break rigged with a small rapala jerk bait that would double as a trout and bass lure. It scored both fish today, one tiny stocked trout and a respectable largemouth. Upper Potomac River Smallmouth are on fire. The lower Potomac river near Chain Bridge would also produce giant slob smallmouth right now. The rivers in Pennsylvania are producing legendary numbers of smallies. The Susquehanna and the Juniata rivers might quite possibly be the best trophy smallmouth rivers in the world and now is the time to catch that giant pre spawn bronze back. Walleye have spawned and are putting on the feed. No need to dissect every eddy with a jig, just cast crank baits to the shore and retrieve. Simple right. The mid Chesapeake Bay is on fire. The bay right now is probably a thousand times over it's summer bio mass. Fishing the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power plant is just plain stupid right now. Truly world class fishing. Arguably the best place on the planet for shear numbers of fish per number of casts. ... What else... trout, yea, it's trout season. Get out there.
