The cows came home!

Just like that, the light switch turns on. The cows came home!

 

March 7, 2017

 

So the cold front past leaving behind the worst conditions imaginable and things just changed.  I think everything came back to life all at once.  Women, girlfriends, wives, even dogs and friends will come and go but the beautiful thick ladies of spring will always return around the same time.   The cows have come home. 

Monday March 6th  after work I ran down to chain bridge in DC to see what was going on.  Nothing for the first hour and then a guy shows up next to me.  He's rigged with a 4 inch Kalins chartreuse speckled grub and I think the first cast hooks up.  Guess what, it's a striper?!  Decent size schoolie of about 6 pounds.  Literally the next cast he's hooked up, good size walleye!  Then finally he took a few casts without a fish.  Remember I hadn't caught a thing.  Finally though I put it together and get a walleye and a decent schoolie striper.  Not bad.  Heard of several other reports of an excellent walleye bite from Great Falls down through DC.  Water temp made it to 46 on USGS and air temps were in the 50's, plus some wind.  Too much wind to use the boat.  Although I thought about it. 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday... Still don't have Ryan.  Feeling bummed out a little from women issues.  Might as well go try for a woman that always aims to please.  Although she can be a little unpredictable about when she decides to show.  Headed up to the susky.  First tried for shad but the river was blown brown poo.  Local fishing for shad said it just came up.  Well, that didn't help things.  Tore my waders somehow on the first spot and flooded them with 40 degree water.  It was like having needles stabbing your leg every second.  I couldn't stand it anymore after about an hour.  Packed it up.  Found a wader patch, drank a few beers in the car with the heater on.  Changed into an old pair of jeans, no socks, no underwear... Then checked the Conowingo report for water level conditions.  Must have listened to it 12 times.  The report was already on tomorrow's report but it should be similar to today.  They estimated the river to drop from 59K CFS to 21k cfs at 2100 hours.  Well, it's an estimate.  I've never seen the spot I was in with so much water before and I've fished there over 100k CFS with spill conditions.   Not sure what was up but maybe they had more water pushing over the eastern side.  Disclaimer... you cannot target striped bass above the line between lapidum and Port Deposit.  But there are fish on that line.  Patched my waders, drove and got some coffee... I'm ready now.  Checked the river again and sure enough it dropped.  Nothing at the first spot.  Water conditions had significantly improved.  11pm and water dropped even more.  Finally a tug.  Not just a tug, more like a gut wrenching violent blind sided collision with Troy Palomano in his prime.  That wasn't a rock... Drag singing, fish trying to tail walk like a steelhead but it's immense belly preventing the entire body from clearing the surface...   That's what I'm looking for.  Three more fish followed suit.  This is the best of the best and it's not even past the first week of March.  Not another soul on the river either.  No boats trolling where they would certainly succeed.  We'll see how popular this blog is.  I shouldn't post it for a while really.  But the cold will return this weekend and I'm sure it will shut it down again for a while.  It was near midnight now and I actually left biting fish after releasing my fourth spring giant.  All fish were near 40" except the first... it was huge.  Terrible photos, better phone was dead.  Leave your wives, quit your jobs and head down to the river people.  The time is now! 

 

 

 

 

 

March 9, 2017

I took a day off of fishing to play baseball and basketball with Ryan.  The warm weather had returned and of course my mind was on the water so a day was long enough.  On Thursday I just couldn’t take it and decided to pick Ryan up from school early… with the boat in tow.   Check out his reason for leaving?  Someone said, “the truth will set you free.”  I usually tell the truth, no matter how much it will piss someone off.  It’s kind of a fault of mine. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ran down to DC and launched at my favorite boat ramp at the airport.  We first checked on the channel and sure enough there were decent marks.  Almost certainly striped bass and big ones at that but I couldn’t get them to play.  Tried trolling and jigging…. I’d suspect bait would do it but we didn’t have any.  The bait should be fresh like bloody slimy bleeding fresh.  Kicking is best but fresh dead like a few hours earlier is good too.  Water temps were 52.  With an hour of light left I ran down to the poop plant.  This place stinks but always holds fish.  I mean always.  The water coming from the discharge is always clear too, like the 2000 flushes add.  I think it’s the same chemical as it comes out blue.  Even if the rest of the river is brown poo, chocolate milk, there will be clear water at the discharge.  First maybe second cast and ryan is hooked up to a decent schoolie striped bass.  He loved it too as it rocked the lucky craft pointer.  They love those things… so does everything else too.  I get nervous fishing them as they are so expensive but wow do the fish eat them.  When striper fishing it’s best to replace the hardware too.  Lots of schoolie striped bass entertained us for the 20 minutes of light we had left.  The tide went slack as we were there and just as the sun was setting.  I’m sure it would have been an excellent bite of good size schoolie striped bass if we had a decent tide.  Ran back to mess with the trailer and then drove the boat and trailer to College Park to watch Quince Orchard High School win the semi finals in basketball against Wise.  Awesome game!

 

 

Took Friday and Saturday off but hit the water again on Sunday.  Another cold front moved in.  But just before it did people were catching double digit walleye in the lower river on jerk baits and after dark under the near full moon.  I didn’t get in on that unfortunately.  But on Sunday in cold windy conditions I took Ryan and his friend down to Fletchers to mess around.  The water was as low as I’ve ever seen it.  The strong winds blew all the water out I think.  No fish, nothing at all, not even a bite.  Then went to great falls in search of that awesome walleye bite…. Nothing.  Total skunk and I was in all the right spots.  Kids enjoyed rock climbing and maybe took three casts each. 

 

 

 

March 15, 2017

Update on March 15, 2017.  We just received a “Nor-easter”.  It was scheduled to dump 12 to 20” of snow but we barely got two inches of snow and sleet.  The county closed, the schools closed and MD was in a state of emergency?  I read that the fishing around the area waters was excellent just before the storm hit on Monday, March 13, 2017.  John and I thought about running out but then there were all these warnings and I imagined being stuck on 95 for the night.   No thanks.  We chickened out but we both phoned each other at about 9pm saying this isn’t shit?  We could have put a few fish on the bank by now?  We even thought about heading out then too.  Full moon and all.  But we didn’t.  Then the snow came and now the wind and bitter mid winter cold.  They say that 90% of the cherry blossoms will die now.  I wonder about the fish? I could careless about the cherry blossoms but what about the river herring, the shad the showed up early?  The perch?  And of course the stripers?  It looks like the weather will break again on Friday, March 17 and I plan to see who will wake up with the warmth.  Saturday also is looking decent but I also saw a long range forecast for next week and more snow?!  WTF is mother nature smoking?  This really messes with the fishing.  Get with the program!  

Cold fronts suck

So the recent drop in temperature really hurt the fishing.  Or at least it did for me this weekend.  I knew it would be tough but wasn't sure how tough.  The water temps in the Potomac last week were in the mid 50's.  That's usually April temps.  But then we get hit with snow, and cold, mid winter conditions and the water temps have slowly dropped to 44 now according to USGS.  That kind of change isn't good.  If it were a steady 44, sure no problem.  We were on the upper Potomac yesterday looking for musky and walleye.  Even had live bait and completely skunked.  Here's another scenic picture that usually only gets shared when there are no fish.  I mean zero fish.  We took it on the chin yesterday.  Fished for nearly 10 hours with nothing to show for it.  Put in a lot of driving trying to find better water conditions as the river was slightly murky from rains up river earlier in the week.  But the water clarity significantly improved as we were there.  That wasn't the reason, the cold was.  But why no walleye?  I think partially because I kept switching from musky to walleye and didn't concentrate well enough on one species but also because of the sudden drop in temperature.  I thought a few days of steady cold would be considered "stable" in the fish's minds but that didn't happen. 

John did catch a steering wheel from an old boat or possibly even a bus.  When he hooked it I even grabbed the net as it was kind of "swimming".  Well, when you try and drag a 20" steering wheel up to the surface it's going to spin some.  That got us both excited for sure.  No picture of the steering wheel but John did keep it for some reason and I was tripping over it all day. 

I also got out on Saturday afternoon but only for about 20 minutes.  It was mostly a recon trip to see if the herring were still around and they were not.  I mean no where.  Not in the big holes in the tributaries, not the riffles, nothing.  They must have dropped back into the river and taken up refuge in the deeper water.  But if they try and hide there, so will the predators.  It has me thinking there could be some decent fishing if you look deep enough. 

Anyway, I hit up a warm water discharge for about 20 minutes with the fly rod.  I caught one of the largest crappie I've ever seen.  14 inches of true giant deformed looking crappie, on a 3wt fly rod even.  Good fun.  Might have to do that again. 

 

 

Mother nature is on crack

We've had 70 degree days for a few weeks and then finally today we get hit with a little snow and 30 degree temps.  Daffodils, forsythia, pear trees, maple's budding, herring in the creeks, striped bass in the rivers!!!  it's on!  Or should be.  I got skunked three days now down on the Potomac.  Not sure what's up.  I think I just suck.  I heard better reports from other people.  Even the susky has fish, both some shad, herring and convict bass.  The time is near for everything to explode.  I have never seen herring in the creeks in the numbers there were in February.  I could have caught a big striper in DC in February!!! But didn't try the right spots, no boat and day old bait.  Thought I had a good thump on a jig but no go.  The crappie bite is still hot.  Heard the walleye bite was good but I got skunked last Friday with Ryan.  I’ve been fishing like a maniac like always. 

Two weeks ago John and I put 4 musky in the boat in a half day's effort.  We’ve never had a 4 fish day before and three of them came within 10 minutes of each other!  That tells me they are on the spawn or warming up to it.  The one fish I caught looked spawned out!  Then there were two tiny skinny musky caught immediately afterwards and then John finally stuck a good fish on a glider just as he paused it.  So that made him happy.  Not sure what I’m doing this weekend.  I’m kid free, no sports but there’s a cold front sitting on us with a decent amount of wind coming with it.  That’s no fun.  Sunday will get better and of course next week will be perfect.  Mid spring like conditions coming again next week, just in time for the work week.  But I have almost two weeks leave and a month or more sick.  I plan on using all of it in the next two months.  Minus the sick.  Just saying. 

https://www.facebook.com/jonathan.griffiths.750/videos/10212069441993582/

Alewife river herring spawning in Washington DC on February 25, 2017. 

Forsythia, aka Shadbush blooming along GW

 

Garter snakes out crawling around on Feb 20th!  Great crappie bite too.

 

Here's a decent musky from Feb 19th.  Caught 4 that day.  This guy almost looks spawned out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

John with a good one from the 19th right at sunset.

 

 

Crap pie, it's what's for dinner

Crappie,

it's what's for dinner.  I usually don't keep many fish but every now and then enough for a fish fry is warranted.  Far from even a one person limit but enough to feed a few of us for an evening.  I have been on a hot crappie bite lately.  Similar pattern from a few years ago when they show up at the mouth of the larger tributaries to the Potomac.  You will know they are there when you see flipping or small splashes on the surface.  Sometimes this is crappie, other times it's the bait fish they are eating.  Other times I think it's some other fish but for whatever reason, this is when there are decent numbers of crappie around.  The rig is rather standard.  use a small, weighted float about 2 inches long and slender, with about 4 feet of line to a 1/32oz or 1/16oz jig head and then either a 2 inch twister tail, tube or for best results a one inch gulp minnow in  green.  Gulp is basically crappie crack.  I'm sure you could do very well on minnows too as there are decent numbers of one inch minnows swimming around the shore.  Last week we saw mid spring like conditions with a few days near 60 degrees, actually mid 60's.  I went mid week to check on it just to see if there were fish and sure enough guys were bailing them.  Well, one guy was anyway.  I caught a few in 20 minutes but had to get back to work.  Plus I only had a decent size bass rod with me, not your best crappie rod but it did the trick.  The next day a major cold front hit and temps dropped 30 degrees, with some snow and blinding winds to 30 mph gusts at times.  But this was the day that Ryan didn't have basketball, it was too cold to go to the park, so we went fishing.  Somehow we sort of hid out of the wind and I figured once the fish showed up, they should still be there.  Sure enough it was as easy as taking candy from a baby.  One after another of decent crappie and even a largemouth.  I thought about eating a few but let them all go. 

Later the next day after work we invited some friends.  The fish were not where they were on Thursday or Wednesday.  The water was  little lower and there was some boat traffic from the rescue guys that may have spooked the fish.  We got into a few largemouth, bluegill and finally right at dark found some crappie.  But only two.  Wasn't sure what was wrong but I think they were holding near the structure this time.  Usually they don't which I know defies everything about crappie fishing.  For some odd reason these fish hold out in the middle of the hole at the mouth of the creek, like near where the creek current enters the river current.  There's depth there but I wouldn't call this the deepest spot around.  Anyway, here's some pictures.  The fishing is good.  I just pulled up to the spot again so I'm going to give it another go. 

There's a decent number of bass here too.  Not big but odd to see largemouth bass actively feeding when it was that cold.  This was Feb 9th with a crazy weather shift from 60's on the 8th to 30's and 30 MPH wind gusts at the time.

 

Feb 9th bass

 

Crappie from Feb 9th

 

Another bass from the 10th

 

Beautiful sunset on the 9th or 10th.  Usually you only take pics of sunsets when you don't catch anything but on this day we had both, a nice sunset and plenty of fish.

 

 

Here's a nice stringer from the 12th.  We caught many others too that were released plus a few bluegill too.  Had two reports from friends of very slow fishing but they were using different techniques.  Try the float and suspend the bait, keep it small. 

 

 

 

So quick update.  I fished yesterday from about 4pm to 5pm and it was red hot.  A fish almost every cast.  There was a strong east wind coming form the land but wasn't bad hiding behind the bridge.  I was even experimenting with no floats, two inch scentless twister tails, jigging, it all worked.  But again the gulp got eaten far quicker. I'd venture to say I caught about 30 crappie in the time frame.  Many of them were small, likely males but there were a few jumbos too.  I released everything, hopefully educated them a little.  I doubt I'll keep anymore crappie.  The last batch didn't taste very good for some reason.  I ate it two nights ago and today I'm not feeling so well.  Been to the bathroom a few times but that could have been the draft beer from Witlows and the Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders "beer tie" in Rosslyn, Va.  Who knows.  But crappie fishing is about as good as it gets close to home.  Gotta love it.  

 

 

 

 

Skunked but valuable

So I guess I don't report too many skunks.  Sure there are thousands.  They're usually that half hour walk along the river during lunch or at the local lake on the way home.  But yesterday I only mobilized at about 310pm and decided to drive to the upper river just as rush hour was forming.  I figured it would take me an hour drive and I might get two hours of daylight to fish.  The best two hours of the day I might add.  Musky were the target species.  Jigs and gliders were deployed to no avail.  However, it wasn't a complete skunk.  A complete skunk is not seeing or feeling anything all day.  I did hook up in the first 30 minutes on a large skirted jig and swim shad trailer.  This was a solid fish but the hook pulled.  I screamed about as loud as can be and scared the crap out of a few dog walkers on the canal.  So basically the jig is just a typical Stanley jig but with a paddle tail swim shad as the trailer.  The skinnier ones have better action.  Just last week John and I did another half day trip and I hooked up three times while jigging the same rig.  The first one I had it next to the net but lost it, decent size high 30 inch or low 40 inch fish.  WE were continuously getting hung up on the bottom and damaging our hooks.  It's imperative to have good sharp hooks.  If it were a treble hook I'd just replace it with another but the jig hook is the whole lure.  I tried running a file over it but it didn't seem to do much.  The best hook sharpener I've seen has a groove in it specifically designed for the hook.  It's sharpens to a nice point but still not perfect.  Best for smaller hooks.   

I'll also tell you it wasn't easy finding the right jig.  I bought a handful of typical bucktail jigs for striped bass in the 3/4 to 1.5 oz.  The hooks were not that great either.  Not big enough.  Most bass style skirted jigs are way too small.  The hooks are too small for the larger swim baits I like to add to them.  Sure I could go with a parachute used for trolling for striped bass.  That might actually work.  I'll look into that more.  I've always thought that the typical Chesapeake Bay trolling spread of parachutes and umbrellas would work wonders on musky up north in Canada on Lake Ontario, St. Lawrence and other large bodies of water.  But I'm casting and jigging here,  making contact with the bottom just like striped bass fishing except we are fishing 6 to 15 feet of water with a decent current and the bottom is strewn with boulders and logs.  65 and 80 pond power pro usually brings in most of the logs but doesn't do your hooks any good.  Hence why I missed the fish yesterday and three last week?!! Makes me want to swear.   Because that is avoidable.  If I had enough patience and time I'd have taken better care of my hooks and I may have put four musky in the boat in the last two trips.  Not really sure how to properly sharpen hooks I guess.  It's easier to just buy a new lure but these larger skirted jigs are hard to come by.  and not cheap either.   Money is tough right now.  I've eaten all my frozen striped bass from my freezer and I don't even like fish.  I'm also well on my way from eating all my deer meat, the deer meat I was supposed to give away.  Sorry people.  Don't really like deer meat either but it's sustenance. 

This weather is insane.  60 degrees today by 9am?!  It was near that yesterday too.  Stoneflies blanketing the surface of the water but nothing popping on them.  We need warm water for that to happen but the bugs know the fish are cold too.  Too bad the musky don't eat size 12 bugs off the surface.  I talked to an experienced musky angler yesterday and they were also skunked.  But he said his last fish came in mid December on a Whopper Plopper... that's right, a top water lure!  I've always thought they would hit on top in the cold by the fish's attitude when it smashes a glider just a couple feet under the surface.  Heck sometimes it's about 6 inches under the surface with 32 degree water?! 

  I might try for walleye downtown today.  Or great falls.... we'll see.  I'd like to hook up the boat again and take off up north again.   But John is busy and I just drove 120 miles yesterday.  same the day before.... I went to a friends place near Annapolis this weekend then fished the Magothy with his daughter out of a canoe.  We were hoping for perch and pickerel but didn't catch anything.  Another skunk.  Then I drove another 40 miles across the bridge to fish the Tuckahoe hoping for an early showing of big yellow perch and pickerel but only managed one tiny pickerel.  Like 8 inches tiny.  But guys were catching freshly stocked trout well near the dam.  Just not me.  Can't catch them every time. 

Update:

February 7, 2017

Just got back from the National Capital Chapter of Trout unlimited shad night.  It was good to see and hear the DC fisheries crew talk shad.  I got to ask them all types of questions.  Like Why can't we keep hickory shad in DC waters but can in Virginia?  and Deleware for that matter.  They didn't have a good answer other than it's the Atlantic state's marine fisheries who decides that.  Heck 5 fish a day would be plenty. IT's not like there are any shortages of hickory shad.  For 5 weeks they blanket the river from Georgetown to well above Chan bridge.  But they do not make it over little Falls.  There was some discussion on that.  Anyway, they claim the first shad was caught on March 11th last year.  I think I also fished there that time and didn't find any shad near the bottom of the cove but did find some nice largemouth.  This warm weather has got everyone thinking shad.  The glory days will be here before you know it.  "shad.... did somebody say shad?"

I also fished a little today down below great falls, MD side.  Threw swim jigs and swim shads and hooked up on a solid fish near the first few casts on a large swim shad rigged on a swiveling weight attached to a worm hook.  This thing is completely snag proof.  But for some reason I think I snagged whatever fish that was on as it came tight after I jigged the lure.  Who knows, maybe it bit.  It felt solid and part of me things it was a musky.  Or just a big walleye.  Very possible and more believable.  There are musky down river and they sure would take up residence in the type of eddy I was fishing.  Everything that swims should be in that kind of eddy. One of these days I'll do well there.  Even in the glory walleye days of early march I only managed a few fish a day there, with about two to three hours effort.  But I had seen other people do fairly well.  Like four fish and one of them was pushing double digits.  They were there at first light so either first or last light might be the key.  Usually is anyway.   Lots of opportunity out there.  Everyone should be thinking power plant striped bass fishing, walleye eddy fishing, musky jigging, striped bass slaughter time on power plants....Oh I already said that.  But the weather is not that cold, actually almost spring like.  I even heard they were doing well at the mouth of the Potomac fishing over birds the other day.  one of the fish I saw caught was 46 inches and that was on a jig in the open bay in February?@  When have you heard of that happening?  Go gettem.... get off the couch, get away from the fishing seminars and fishing shows that are just to sell things and go fishing.  Now might be one of the best times of the year to catch a true giant record striped bass and more than a few of his friends too.  Not to mention musky, walleye....... take your pic

Fish are already wet

Went out yesterday in the rain.  The stars aligned where John and I could get out for a few hours together.  I saw the radar and the forecast and it said the rain would end around noon.  That's about the time I was hoping to get off work.  Well, it didn't stop raining all day.  Sometimes drizzle, sometimes full on rain.  Oh well.  The fish are already wet.  With John's new 18' G3 Jet we can get to the best spots in seconds where with a kayak or a prop boat these same spots take a day trip and a float trip usually, plus two cars and or an expensive taxi.  Believe me, I've done it.  The river is up, perfect flow and color.  Actually thought it might be a little dirty but had that "big fish green" color to it and didn't disappoint.  The first drift John is still rigging his rod when I yell to him to get the net.  It's a decent fish, smashed the glider near the surface on about the 8th cast of the day.  Hi fives.  Who said musky were the 10000 cast fish?  This is easy.  about an hour later John is throwing a huge bondy swim bait, shallow version with a long tail, they don't make it anymore.  These things are enormous and have hooks everywhere so if they even smell the bottom, you're already hung.  Sure enough he gets hung up.  I use the trolling motor to move upstream to the lure.  Then it starts moving.  He thinks a stick... nope.  Nice big musky.  He couldn't pick up line quickly enough and the fish shook the bait.  Darn!  Did the fish hit it after he pulled it off the snag?  I've seen that before.  Or was he never snagged?  Did it take it right off the bottom?  He had a line twist on his guide that took a few seconds to fix and then got stuck on the bottom.  Who knows. 

Notice the tag?  This fish was first tagged in December 2014 and was 34.5" male.  He didn't grow much and has basically maxed out his size for a male fish.  The females can get considerably larger.  Phoned DNR today and had a decent chat and email exchanges. 

Later we do another drift on the apposite side.  Nothing in the best looking spot.  Tough to keep the boat still.  I fished the glider most of the time.  We set up on a second drift over the same spot, this time with different baits to give a different presentation.  I fished a 3/4oz skirted jig with a 6 inch swim shad and bounced it on the bottom near some timber off a steep bank.  Second bounce and thump.  No mistaking this for a fish.  It hit just like a striped bass sucking in a 10" BKD.  Solid hook set and awesome fight.  This was a good size fish and pretty much maxed out the net.  But John did an excellent job and we got the fish.  Number two, almost number three.  Not bad for three hours!  Even made the run a couple miles downstream to a productive spot in the past and blanked.  Didn't leave for this spot till 5pm.  Talk about being able to bounce around.  A jet opens up so many possibilities it isn't even funny.  Full speed over ledges we used to cringe going over.  Gotta love it.  Finished the evening saying hi to kids, sharing a few adult beverages, drooling over AR15's, 16's 22's, and about a dozen other guns.  Perfect evening.  When I got home I sat and finished a beer on my own and recapped the day over and over again while looking at the pictures.  Then today I just had to write about it.  Who cares if it's January.  Temps are in the 40's, water temps are high 30's or low 40's and the fish are on the feed.  Guess how many other people were out?  Zero.  Thanks everyone.