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I fished the Blackwater area bright and early yesterday. It was an interesting trip with fast and furious action to start the day, then zilch to finish the morning.
It was barely light when I first launched, and by the time I paddled to my fishing destination the sun was just beginning to rise. It was a beautiful sunrise yesterday.
20220722_061751.jpg
I started the day throwing a topwater frog. I started at one particular spot that is always my first stop every time I fish this river, and I always catch a fish there. Today was no different. I was working my frog when I heard a topwater explosion across the river, so I turned to see if I could locate where it came from. In the brief moment I was looking away and not moving my frog, I got a topwater explosion of my own. These snakeheads really like when you work your frogs slowly and let it sit still. I landed the fish and it was a nice ~4 lber. Unfortunately, as I was in the process of bleeding the fish before putting it in my cooler, the fish managed to come off my lip grippers and fell in the water. It thrashed hard as soon as I cut its gills while I was holding it with the grippers and I can only assume that it broke it's own jaw, leaving only skin for the grippers to hold on to, and the fish slipped off. I was disappointed because A) this was a meat harvesting trip for me and I would have liked to bring that fish home, and B) I don't like killing and wasting fish - invasive or not.
There was a brief period of time between 7:00 to 7:30 when the river was just erupting with fish activity. Literally millions upon millions of snakehead fry were rippling the surface from bank to bank... I have never seen anything like it. These were no fryballs but instead massive schools of fry. They would spook and skitter at the slightest disturbance, even bugs flying close to the water would cause them to jump. When I'd cast and my line draped across the water they would all scatter along the full length of my cast. I could see bigger fish activity amid the fry and would cast my frog to them when I saw them. I caught 4 snakeheads in the span of 15 minute during this frenzy, some of the fastest snakehead action I've ever had.
One fish in particular was fun to catch. I got a very small strike on the frog and I didn't react because I thought it was a short strike that pulled my frog under and caused it to sink. Then I saw a small snakehad torpedo itself clean out of the water about 12 feet away from the strike. I thought it was spooked by the activity until I saw my line start to head in that direction. This little fish took my frog and sped away with it in the time it took me to realize it actually had my lure. This was the smallest one I caught today and is the bottom fish in the picture below
As quick as the bite turned on it turned off. I got no more action for several more hours and stopped seeing massive school of fry, instead I just saw the occasional small fryball. I fished until noon and only had 2 more strikes and no more hookups to show for it. I enjoyed the scenery and even tried to squeeze in a quick nap at one point because I was so tired from getting up at 3am. One of my favorite things about this spot are the lily pads that are the size of manhole covers... if you are familiar with the area this picture will probably give away exactly where I was fishing - I have never encountered this type of lily pad anywhere else.
20220722_104755.jpg
I caught 5 fish in total, and brought home 4. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of live fish because as I said, this was a meat harvesting trip for me so my first priority was to dispatch these fish cleanly and get them in the cooler (even that proved challenging at times).
20220722_173945.jpg
It was barely light when I first launched, and by the time I paddled to my fishing destination the sun was just beginning to rise. It was a beautiful sunrise yesterday.
20220722_061751.jpg
I started the day throwing a topwater frog. I started at one particular spot that is always my first stop every time I fish this river, and I always catch a fish there. Today was no different. I was working my frog when I heard a topwater explosion across the river, so I turned to see if I could locate where it came from. In the brief moment I was looking away and not moving my frog, I got a topwater explosion of my own. These snakeheads really like when you work your frogs slowly and let it sit still. I landed the fish and it was a nice ~4 lber. Unfortunately, as I was in the process of bleeding the fish before putting it in my cooler, the fish managed to come off my lip grippers and fell in the water. It thrashed hard as soon as I cut its gills while I was holding it with the grippers and I can only assume that it broke it's own jaw, leaving only skin for the grippers to hold on to, and the fish slipped off. I was disappointed because A) this was a meat harvesting trip for me and I would have liked to bring that fish home, and B) I don't like killing and wasting fish - invasive or not.
There was a brief period of time between 7:00 to 7:30 when the river was just erupting with fish activity. Literally millions upon millions of snakehead fry were rippling the surface from bank to bank... I have never seen anything like it. These were no fryballs but instead massive schools of fry. They would spook and skitter at the slightest disturbance, even bugs flying close to the water would cause them to jump. When I'd cast and my line draped across the water they would all scatter along the full length of my cast. I could see bigger fish activity amid the fry and would cast my frog to them when I saw them. I caught 4 snakeheads in the span of 15 minute during this frenzy, some of the fastest snakehead action I've ever had.
One fish in particular was fun to catch. I got a very small strike on the frog and I didn't react because I thought it was a short strike that pulled my frog under and caused it to sink. Then I saw a small snakehad torpedo itself clean out of the water about 12 feet away from the strike. I thought it was spooked by the activity until I saw my line start to head in that direction. This little fish took my frog and sped away with it in the time it took me to realize it actually had my lure. This was the smallest one I caught today and is the bottom fish in the picture below
As quick as the bite turned on it turned off. I got no more action for several more hours and stopped seeing massive school of fry, instead I just saw the occasional small fryball. I fished until noon and only had 2 more strikes and no more hookups to show for it. I enjoyed the scenery and even tried to squeeze in a quick nap at one point because I was so tired from getting up at 3am. One of my favorite things about this spot are the lily pads that are the size of manhole covers... if you are familiar with the area this picture will probably give away exactly where I was fishing - I have never encountered this type of lily pad anywhere else.
20220722_104755.jpg
I caught 5 fish in total, and brought home 4. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of live fish because as I said, this was a meat harvesting trip for me so my first priority was to dispatch these fish cleanly and get them in the cooler (even that proved challenging at times).
20220722_173945.jpg
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