Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Canada August 2018 Musky or Bust


Canada August 2018

Musky fishing…. Basically a sport where you say you are fishing for a specific fish that’s as elusive and rare as a unicorn that requires countless hours where success is measured by how many encounters or musky sightings you have during the day or week fishing trip, not even actually fish landings.  These brief, heart stopping, throat swelling encounters are just enough to push the insanity over the edge to almost convince you that you can turn a non interested lazy follow into an eater.  But on rare occasions these fish of 1million casts come flying out of their ambush spot with reckless abandon and absolutely annihilate their intended prey with less than a millisecond of preparation.  How rude they can be catching you off guard like that.  Well, this year I made my annual, sometimes biannual trip to the north country to fish for a fish I have in much higher concentrations back home.  But for some reason fishing for them in their native habitat is that much more alluring and feels almost as if it should be easier.  Forget that everyone else has the same expectations and has educated these fish from the time before man.  Just about every body of water in Canada had musky at one point in time.  But once the advent of gas engines, almost all were fished out except for the largest bodies of water such as the Great Lakes or massive glacier depressions known as Lake of the Woods for example.  These bodies of water were too large for even the most cunning and persistent fishermen to ever pry every last musky from their waters.  The vast area of Canada is littered with thousands of lakes where at one time were all connected.  The glaciers scoured the landscape creating millions of pockets now known as lakes.  Over the course of history the fish that survived in these larger bodies of water and rivers managed to spread out and recolonize areas that were connected by rivers or wetland seeps also known as flowages.   

 

I first started my efforts in the vast area at the start of the St. Lawrence river in Lake Ontario where placing a lure into this ocean like “lake” is almost like shooting from the hip with a snub nose .38 special at a squirrel at the top of a red wood two miles away.  Some of these shoals in this region attract musky, some even consider them migratory musky that migrate from the abyss of lake Ontario to the rivers and shoals to feed but this occurrence is more common in the fall, not the dead middle of summer.  Any educated half experienced guide wouldn’t even dare bother targeting musky in this area until the leaves are gone, the lake has turned over and winter is slamming at the door.  But with that one in a billion chance of encountering one of these fish, these leviathan size top predator was reason enough to look for that needle in a hay field.  The fish of these waters are massive, salmon eating beasts and more 55 plush inch fish come from this region every year than anywhere else in the world.  I full heartedly accepted the challenge because that feeling that it “could” happen is really the feeling we all seek while pursuing our query.  It’s not the actual accomplishment of landing the fish that we just immediately let go back to the water, sure that’s a good feeling but it’s the pursuit or the hunt us psychotic musky nuts seek.  It’s almost masochistic as it’s so unlikely and requires 100 hours of effort per musky according the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.  I fished 8 hours straight after driving for 10 with two restless 11 year-olds in the car.  I was 8% there.

 So later in the week I opted for a much smaller body of water, an area once featured in Musky Hunter series as having a “good” population of large musky.  They likely just filmed the show there to boost the near poverty economy and convince the novice musky angler such as myself that there’s a half hearted shot in the dark chance at actually hooking up with one of these alligator shaped unicorns.   I was fishing the area known as 10000 lakes region of the Ontario wilderness but far from what Canadians would consider wilderness.  If you can drive an ATV there, it’s not wilderness but in this instance it was a popular lake and town but just barely reaching the requirement of a lake, more like a large pool in the middle of a river.  I did some investigation, downloaded some charts and thought I had a pretty good chance… despite being told by lodge owners and tackle shops that the fish basically don’t bite this time of year in the heat of the summer and wasn’t even worth their time targeting the fish until the cool nights of October bring the water temperature back to that optimum 50 degree range.  But I was still somewhat optimistic with 76 degree water as back home would consider that near the lethal threshold but also near the peak metabolism range and therefore the fish have to eat to survive. 

 

I was two or three hours into my fishing trip.  Mid morning time frame, nearing that 12 ocolock high sun period where just about everything is cooked and lethargic.  But my one musky guide I used 12 years ago with my x wife when she was pregnant with my son had his opinion on what time of day is best.  I almost though it was a joke.  For me it’s dusk or dawn back home and every other hour of the day in-between you might as well be fishing for atlantic salmon in Georgia.  But I asked this famous St. Lawrence guide what was his favorite time of day to get into musky and he replied with a short but precise time of 1130 in the morning.  Hu???? But I’ll never forget that comment.  So, it’s nearly 1130, I’ve spent about 3 hours of fishless, sightingless hours on the water and haven’t put my double 10 blades down.  My forearm on my left arm is developing this knot about half way up my arm from the muscle tightening.  It’s shooting this sharp throbbing pain up into my elbow every other cast that doesn’t feel quite right or normal.  In my earlier years I’d have gone and seen a specialist immediately and performed surgery 12 times when I felt a pain like that but now just know these pains are just a part of life.  If it’s not too colored up or bleeding too bad, I’ll just deal with the pain.  It’s only been three hours, it’s like I just started.  I was still optimistic.  I work my way around this island that has a perfect weed bed, I switch from 3 oz number 10 blade bucktails that feel more like reeling in a trash bag hooked onto a wet wool scarf than an actual lure.  I’ve purchased the largest, baddest musky reel known to man because I just had to have it, the Shimano tranx 500 was built for this.  (got nearly 70% off as part of a trade in with shimano because I kept breaking their other more inferior reels).   I could have gotten away with just about any abu Garcia but just had to be that $500 reel that was more than 5 times what I’ve spent on any other reel in my life.  But with these number 10 blades, I’ve broken those 100$ reals hours after removing them from the packages.  If you try and burn these saucer size blades, gears and parts will give way.  I’ve done it dozens of times.  So back to the island, I’ve circled the entire island now, I’m back on the deep side where it immediately hits 8 feet off the boulders and drops into the deepest area of the lake shortly there after.  There’s standing cabbage weed, I make my first figure 8 at this spot with nothing in site behind my lure and BANG.  He’s on and cartwheeling across the surface.  Perfect hook up, pandemonium pursues as I try and grab the 40” diameter net that’s tangled on everything in the boat.  I somehow drop the hatchery pen size net in the water under the fish, with two lures hanging off the webbing of the net and somehow get it under the fish.  Success!! I think my kids might have heard me yell and they were 50 miles away.  Awesome…. Quick look at the clock and it’s 1129am. 

My Camera man sucks

That's actually a near 40"musky.  That net is big enough to catch deer, lots of them.


I should just leave now I thought.  I troll around some, work another point with a steep drop off, find more cabbage weed but decide to head to the ramp.  Only to pass a mouth of the river entering the lake.  A prime spot back home.  Everyone knows creek/river mouths hold the bait and the predators.  I work my way well inside the river to a point where it goes from a large open flooded wetland to a rocky, shallow smallmouth looking river.  I’ve gone too far now.  But I run into an old timer who’s quietly having a smoke on a rock with a fishing rod leaning up against the bushes.  I start conversation and ask about the fishing.  He says he’s done well on bass today.   Sure I had enough bass tackle with me to outfit a boy scout troop but wasn’t interested.  But I did throw out the question fully expecting a negative response… have you seen any musky?  He replied with more information than I expected and said just down the bend at the mouth of the creek was a good spot to get musky feeding on the small bait fish that enter the lake.  He was right about there being a lot of baitfish.  Like two inch long or one inch long baby bass by the millions.  That and a variety of minnow species.  But this was a mouth opening I had not fished, that I had not seen as I came in another finger of the mouth of the river on the opposite side of the island.  The old timer even said he got a nice 10 pound musky there the day before on a small spinner.  I thought sure, elephants eat peanuts, maybe I’ll try that…. But then again…. Maybe I’ll just stick to pounders and 14” long jerk baits.  Just as I started to leave the shallows the river dropped off considerably and created a large circular deep pool.  The rocks and boulders of the river disappeared into the depths.  But just on that drop off were over a dozen sparkling red hue suckers vacuuming the moss and detritus off of the rocks and mud.  I thought to myself…. Eating small stuff hu?  Yea right.  These suckers were averaging 20 inches with a couple near 30 maybe.  That’s the kind of meal these muskies are after, not those young of the year bass.  I drift about 30 yards into the deepest part of the pool and continue to work my double ten cowgirl with chartreuse blades and black flashabou skirt.  I turn my shoulder to look at the fishermen and then the suckers, then start my figure 8 only expecting to give it a single turn and this deadhead rises from the depths right on its tail.  I almost lifted the lure out of the water but instinct kicks in and I properly continue a full figure 8.  The musky that dreams are made of was hot on its tail.  It could easily just open its mouth and the skirt of the lure was touching her nose.  Keep it moving Jon, don’t fucking stop moving the lure jon!  Now I’m into the third turn of the second figure 8 and she’s still there, picking up speed on the straightaway.  Any second now!  Another turn and she’s right on it…. Right until she’s not.  She just sinks out of sight and my heart’s almost plugging my throat.  She’s still there Jon!  Don’t fucking stop moving.  I dip the rod deeper and pull faster to elect that fight flee response.  Everything is so text book, I don’t miss a beat, it’s the perfect scenario and I’m doing everything right.  But she’s gone from my life, the good ones always leave you.  Or I leave them in fear of changing the future and cutting into my fishing time.  I switch lures a dozen times.  I pry every cranny of that pool looking for her.  I even try catching a sucker to rig up… ok well tried snagging one anyway.  Bounced chatter baits off the bottom, threw pounders, medussas, crank baits, top waters, swimming dogs, spinner baits, bucktails in 5 different blade colors, everything other than electricity to raise her again.  She wasn’t having it.  I’ll get her later in the week I thought.  I need to be here at first light or dusk or maybe at midnight.  Navigating back here under the cover of darkness will almost certainly mean I’ll run aground but so what.  That fish will haunt me if I don’t.  She’s still haunting me now.  I’m back home now, never did go back after her.  Decided to leave on that note to spend time with the kids.  Took them after perch near the marina and drop shotted smallmouth bass in 50 feet of water.  It was easy to show them how to do it and hook a bass and pass a rod to a waiting 11 year old but was next to impossible to teach them.  Back to swimming, tubing, king of the hill dock fighting.  That musky will have to wait. I’ll be back, that moment will keep me coming back.  The hunt, the pursuit is what keeps us going.  If it were consistently successful and easy, we’d or I’d probably lose interest. 

 

Signing out, Jon, the inflicted,  masochistic obsessive compulsive swollen forearm, opportunistic fisherman will return once again to Stucco lake.  I know where you live and I’ll see you again my dear.













 

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

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!  

Monday, March 6, 2017

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. 

 
 

Friday, March 3, 2017

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.
 
 

Monday, February 13, 2017

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.  
 
 
 
 


Tuesday, February 7, 2017

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

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

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.