Invasive action

Diego and I got out for a couple hours this weekend.  We first wanted to float the upper river a lot closer to home but thunderstorms changed that idea to a quick tidal pool on the Potomac in downtown DC.  The canoe was still on the roof from the day before so why not.  The trick to fishing the tidal areas and creeks is to concentrate at low tide.  Why?  Because it pulls and forces the fish and water out of the floodplain. Out of the forest, out of sea of spatter dock and concentrates the fish to the channels that always hold water.  These said channels are usually not very wide.  Any other time I'd fish DC or the tidal Potomac like in the spring for the big cows, I'd concentrate around high tide and the strong current after high tide.  The currents are often canceled out with an incoming tide combined with the natural outflowing current of the river.  No current almost always equals poor fishing.  So... what tide was it when Diego and I finally hit the water at 10am?  It was high tide.  Oh well. A wise man once said, "Fish when you can."  We work our way into the the most difficult corner only accessible in kayak or canoe.  There's a tributary here that I've seen choker block full of 3 pound bass and lure crazed catfish.  Not to leave out the target species... the top water loving Snakehead.  I couldn't believe it when I came up empty in the creek.  It was perfect.  Plenty of water, a confined channel but no fish???  I think it needed more of a current and less water elsewhere.  The spatter dock fields were completely flooded.  The new moon tide had pushed water way back into the trees.  Casting even a weedless live target frog back into there is futile.  We had one blow up and that's it.  Then we decided to paddle through the middle.  I stood up in the canoe while Diego sat in the front.  We spooked something to our right.  Then I saw it, a good size snakehead cruising out in the open.  The water was a couple feet deep then who knows how many feet of grass.  At least a coupe because we'd often see holes in the grass just begging to have a big worm dropped in them.  I then proceeded to try a Live Target Bluegill wake bait.  This thing is so life like you'd expect it to breath.  The attention to detail in this lure is outstanding. It didnt' take long to hook up with the first quality bass.  A few jumps later and we have a 2.5 pounder in the boat.  Time was running out as Diego basically has his 2 year old nap time free.  His wife might crucify him if he's 5 minutes late now a days with two kids.  I must admit, I do not know what it's like watching two youngins at once. 

The wind is pushing us a good clip parallel to shore with a good drop off from the spatter dock.  I had just said, "This is where we're going to stick a nice fish.  Any minute now."  Sometimes I make these sound affects when I make a good cast day dreaming of an explosion on the surface from a fish.  Well just after I made one of those said sound affects, I got the real thing.  Good swirl, and a good fight.  I could tell however that it was not a bass.  It would have jumped by now.  The fight was more like a catfish.  It was something long and skinny spinning on the line or rolling on it. I got the fish very near the boat and it charged under it.  Still don't know what it was.  Then all of a sudden it surfaces and all hell breaks loose practically in Diego's lap.  He got a good soaking.  Finally it chills out and the target species is in the boat.  A nice 5 pound 24 inch snakehead.  They reportedly make pretty good eating.  Virgina and MD say you must kill it.  Isn't it funny how they have consumption advisory warnings on just about all other fish in the river except snakehead?  Sure, go ahead.  They are fine.  They are a delicacy.  Yea Chef Juan Claude could prepare a stick and it would taste good.  Killing one snakehead is like pissing on a forest fire.  There are millions of them.  I don't kill any of the blue catfish I catch either and there are ten thousand times more blues than Snakehead.  A blue catfish can get 100 pounds.  A snakehead might get 20.  Oh... there was an article recently that states Maryland will now recognize state record catches of snakehead and rewards are given for breaking that record.  Well, this was not a record. Right now it's around 17.5 pounds.  I have however seen world record potential snakehead in a tiny tributary right smack in the middle of downtown DC.  You might have heard of this creek.  It has an enormous and popular regional park.  It practically splits DC in half.  Anyway, there's isn't much tidal water where there are not snakeheads right now.  Even the eastern shore has them.  The pristine freshwater swamp known as Black Water Wildlife Refuge has snakeheads.

The MD portions of the tidal Potomac where snakeheads are common and reportedly originated from seem like the numbers are stabilizing or even dropping.  Night time bow fishing for them is incredibly popular and affective thus drastically cutting back their numbers.  But in Washington DC, you're not allowed to bow fish.  Sure, go ahead and try it right next to National Airport.  You'd probably get double tapped in the forehead from a sniper in the bushes.  So, therefore there are a few more snakehead in our nations capital than the rest of the river.  So go fish it. 

Tight lines.

The best bait of all....

I remember when I was a kid I had a Field and Stream article with the same title.  "The Best Bait of All."  I'll get into what that bait was in a minute. Well, Ryan and I took a couple hours this afternoon to visit a local pond.  A new pond to me starting this year but no more than a few miles away.  I had done very well there this year both with Ryan and without.  One trip without him I scored numerous quality bass, including one pushing 3 pounds in the middle of the day on a spinner bait.  That same day I had an encounter with two or three other fish that were well into that trophy size class.  But they were hesitant as you might imagine a large well educated lunker fish would be.  These big fish came in hot, which is usually the kiss of death but never did commit.  I remember thinking.....  I know what will get them.  It's not always the most glorious of tactics.  But it's a sure fire way of sealing the deal.  What you ask?  Bluegill.  In a farm pond there isn't much else but bluegill and bass.  Maybe some frogs and dragon flies.. which there were plenty of those today and bass 12 inches and under were launching their aerial pursuit attacks at the damsel flies over the pond all day today.  But if you want that giant, you've got to throw what's there.  Of course there's a turtle in this pond that would scare even the Turtle Man.  Absolutely gigantic.  A few other turtles were harassing our baits too.  But the first bluegill we caught on a fly rod went out.  It got hit just seconds after splashing down.  The bass bull dogged into the weeds and was near impossible to pull through. Ryan was reeling the rod and I tried to help by pulling on the braid to pull the fish out of the dense hydrilla matts.  No go.  Broke the line.  So I decided to tie straight braid to the hook.  The hook was a 3/0 VMC worm hook.  Nothing fancy.  Nice and big.  The bluegill were rather large, bigger than I'd want to cast normally but oh well.  It was either kind of large or very very small.   The next fish hit shortly after the bait touched down.  The bobber was set with maybe two feet of line below it.  The bluegill often freaks out the second you cast it but then just chills.  Usually laying motionless for a while. But when a predator gets near they start freaking out.  They could only just barely pull the bobber under on their own and only for a second or so.  I could actually see the bluegill swimming in circles to try and avoid the bass. It's amazing that they can swim so fast with a hook and line attached to them. Ryan ran to the rod and did all the work.  How he was able to pull it through the weeds I have no idea.  Somehow this fish just wanted to be caught.  Another fish almost the exact same size followed it the entire way in too!  Unbelievable one fish this size was in there but two?  Success and high fives.  Ryan was thrilled.  We managed a couple more on the bluegill rig before calling it quits.  We lost a few more too and the one I never did get to see that Ryan said was much much stronger and bigger. 

But there was this one fish.  I threw out the largest bluegill.  The kind that could be a filleted.  Why I don't know but didn't feel like getting something more suitable.  The bigger ones are easier to hook on a size #18 pheasant tail dropped under a bluegill popper on a 3wt fly rod.  Sometimes the bait fishing is too much fun.  I first saw the bobber dip down for a second.  Then dart in a few different directions.  That's when I saw the silhouette.  An absolute giant fish.  28 inches maybe? A bass that long you say?  24". I'd venture to say the fish we caught was 23 inches with a girth to match.  A 6 pound fish in all likelihood.  But the fish I saw out there tonight that came for only a single visit and decided something wasn't right and never returned....  now that fish will keep me coming back. 

 

 

 

 

Dark night, tough bite

So John and I just had to go again.  We couldn't resist.  I purchased a few different kinds of wake baits hoping to really get into the walleye again.  The bite we had on the full moon could be considered excellent... what will a moonless night produce?  It was about a half moon which did not come out till around 1130 or.  We fished on Thursday, July 17, 2014 from about 830 to 1200am.  We arrive just at twilight, well past sunset.  The river looked beautiful. Not a breath of wind, a sheet of glass interrupted by a few rings from rising fish.   There was a heavy mayfly and midge hatch at the time.  What should we start off with... well, we both wanted to try for walleye.  My wake live Target blue gill, 3" lure gets the first try.  John and I cast simultaneously.  I hook up on the very first cast or maybe second.  Nice fish, our lines are crossed, I lose pressure and it gets off.  Likely a walley, maybe smallmouth, not a musky.  The musky usually like a current break and we didn't really have one here.  But then we tried around the bend where we did have the current break.  Walleye or musky hold in this type of water.  They could be in the riffle, like the 2 foot deep riffle or out in the eddy or the main current.  No telling where and we've hooked them from all habitat areas.  But this one ledge I knew was there was a long bomb of a cast out... maybe 60 yards from the rock.  It can be done with the right lure.  I use a spook a few times and nothing.  Then I try a good old Smack It Still Water.. my number one striper top water bait... tarpon too.  I'm jerking it the Pop Pop....... Pop retrieve that worked so well on Monomoy flats several years ago.  It's completely dark.  Near zero visibility.  Then we hear it. The most jaw dropping of surface explosions.  We literally heard the fish somersault, tailwalk and crash back into the water.  This fish came completely out of the water for the lure and must have landed tail first long ways as we heard the whole thing as if we could see it broad daylight.  I may have only felt a tick in the line, or a brief pause.  The fish completely missed the lure???  That happens... unfortunately.  Sometimes these fish just whiff big time.  Whether on purpose or not but one can't argue this fish wasn't hot.  I try a few more lures and nothing.  We switch back to walleye for an hour or so to rest the fish.  It's getting late and John and I decide to try again.  We both get to the water about the same time. I let him go first thinking he'd take the rock tip to walk out on.  But instead he walks along the bank more, getting much closer to the offshore ledge where this fish was hiding.  I've missed a few from that ledge several times over the years and always figured you had to cast from this rock point to reach it.  But John just walked 20 yards down the muddy bank and got 20 yards closer.  Dumb dumb me.  Oh well.  I cast first and sure enough I get a good swirl.  No idea how big the fish is.  Same one maybe?  Walleye maybe but doubtful. 

John throws a huge wooden walk the dog and he gets another jaw dropping out of the water strike.  Then nothing next cast or two.  Then another surface explosion.  This time much, much closer to shore.  The fish must have followed it.  Or do we have multiple fish here?  All reasonable possibilities.  He then throws a jointed traditional musky wake bait.  Something that has a steady retrieve.  Something that would be a lot easier for a musky to track and attack.  Sometimes you just got to keep it simple.  If the fish is hot a steady retrieve should do the job.  We both thought it would just make sense.  I cast a huge jointed wake bait that was just gigantic with the same thought.  Another strike!  This time John's hooked up.  I soon remembered the reason why I didn't like walking down the muddy bank.  There's a down tree parallel to shore there.  Who knows how much of it is under water.  If his fish goes in there, it's over.  I drop my rod and run over.  But I'm not much help.  The fish jumps a few times but is looking near done.  Then again he has this look that he's going to give one more jump.  One more right next to shore with 2 trebles in his mouth just begging to dig into my leg.  I crab the leader and John's worried it's going to come off.  We beach it on the mud.  But the fish is still ticked off.  Twice we almost ended up with jewelry.  Get the fish off.  The opposite side of the mouth has a distinct hook mark.  Very recent too.  Other than that a very healthy, slender fish.  Once released it didn't go far.  It kind of turned back around and hung near shore.  When I tried to revive it more it would take off with a huge splash but then just sit there.  We ended up taking it into the current more in direct cold flow.  Most of the area we were fishing is still below 80 degrees for a variety of reasons from springs and seepage.  It mixes quickly with the warmer river.  This time it was obvious the catch took a toll on this fish.  But not likely too much of a toll.  The fish should be fine.  It was not deep hooked and we kept it in the water most of the time for hook removal and pictures.  But this very well may be the last time for a while.  Concentrate on bass and walleye.  Weird how we didn't score one walleye.  The moonless night was just too dark?  Or was it because that musky was around?  Who knows.  I'm sure that same fish and others were around the other night too but for some reason didn't want to play.  I don't think I worked that ledge well the other night.  Who knows.  Here's John's Muksy.  Nice fish, just shy of 40 inches. 



I'm off to Canada next weekend.  Hopefully booking Musky Rush Charters for a day.  Only going for a three day weekend trip.  Really not enough time to book a charter but oh well.  We'll see.  Then in three weeks I'm going back again, this time to Ottawa on the Ottawa River.. land of giants.  Hopefully this year I can connect.   

My faith in the Full Moon is back!!

John C and I had an incredible full moon outing recently.  This will be our last musky outing for a while because of the heat and the danger of over exhausting or killing the fish in warm water.  But that's why we chose night time under a full moon.  We started with fly rods hoping to break our musky fly rod cherry but came up empty... Except for one big largemouth.  But a properly presented top water walk the dog retrieve almost always works some of time.  This is one of my better fish.  The strike was as vicious as they get.  The tail walk, followed by complete chaos has played in my mind all week.  The ballistic nature of these fish is tough to put into words after the initial strike coupled with shallow water.  Complete awesomeness.  The walleye bite was excellent too.  These big walleye also wanted top water!? Or baits just under the surface.  Fun stuff, one of our best Shanendoha outings.  All fish released strong.  Oh.. The carp came at the end of the night like 4am.  We had beat the water to a froth with everything under the sun.  We had not caught a target species, something with teeth, in an hour or more. Then I hook into something absolutely gigantic.  This thing takes over 100 yards of line!! But it never jumped?  John was working a mulberry tree catching decent channel cats a little ways up river and I screamed loud enough for him to hear me back home.  Even with a medium heavy outfit I was powerless to stop this fish.  State record lunge for sure!.  The shock and disappointment when I found out it was a carp I accidentally snagged in the belly was devastating.  But they sure do command respect when they get that big.  I'd say that carp was 30 pounds!!  Anyway.... Crazy good fishing and we didn't drive more than 2 hours from DC.  We had a citation size carp, musky and walleye and narrowly missed a channel cat and largemouth citation in one night!  We Are really lucky to have such good fisheries so close to home.