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Mattawoman has rapidly become one of my favorite places to fish. I like throwing lures to targets at short range. Down at Mattawoman there are plenty of targets (laydowns, spatterdock, milfoil and hydrilla).
For our tournament on Saturday with one quick look at Mattawoman you could tell that we were not as far along in "greening up" as we were for last years tournament. Our day was also going to be dominated by the arrival of low tide at 11:55 A.M. Both of those factors helped me zero in on one location. The dozen bass I landed all came from one 75 yard stretch.
In that area there is a large shallow flat that the bass roam about during high tide. As the water recedes towards low tide those bass pull back to the next break to deeper water. I found a developing spatterdock field that was growing all the way out to that first break providing some final cover as the bass have to exit the flat. When we first started fishing and the water was higher, those spatterdock pads were still submerged. I started feeling them as I was fan-casting about with the plastic worm. My first two strikes of the day came early and I managed to miss setting the hook on both fish. However I had found fish so I felt like I had a good chance of catching a quick 3 in this area. I then went 90 minutes without another tap.
I decided to be patient and waited as the water to continued to drop. As the tide went out my spatterdock field became more well defined. I planted my stake out pole down and began to probe various spots where the pads were dense, where they were sparse, where the water was a little deeper or a little shallower. Suddenly another strike on the worm and I quickly had a 15" bass on the board. Over the next 20 minutes I landed another 15" and a 14" on the worm and had a limit to improve. You know what they say, "never leave fish to find fish", so I stayed and dissected this stretch and would pull out a 14" or a 15" every so often.
While I felt the worm was the way to catch them I also had a football jig tied on my second rod. With the football jig I have more direct contact with the bottom. I can feel around better down there. I was tossing the jig looking for the "outside pad edge" when I got the tell tail "bump". A 16" bass! An upgrade! Hmmm, maybe I should try the jig for a while! I started intentionally bumping the pad stems with the football jig and the 17" hit with just 7 feet of line out. Most of my casts were 15 to 20 feet max. A long cast in a pad field is just an invitation to get snagged up. This is an advantage for us kayak guys. With our lower and smaller profile we can get close to these bass in cover without spooking them.
So at this point I am sitting with a 15.5 and 16 and a 17.25. From talking with some other anglers going past it sounds like the bite was not fast and furious today. I would really like to upgrade that 15.5 but the space between bites now seems to be getting longer and longer. I look up and see another pad has surfaced as we are now knocking on low tide's front door. I paddle over. Drop the stake out pole and quietly pitch my jig next to that pad. I feel the jig hit the bottom and wait about 2 seconds. A bass blasts the jig. I set the hook. A 19" bass jumps straight up completely clearing the water. Heart in throat. Big struggle at the side of the boat. She manages to get underneath the kayak and wrapped up on a pad stem underneath me. I drag her out and she goes nuts dancing around the surface and I miss lipping her about 3 times. Finally I manage to lip her. I clip her to my fish grip to let her swim while I get the board and camera ready. Picture taken and checked, I then slide her back into the water. Yeesh!
For the rest of the fishing day I would catch another 14" to 15" with ever increasing infrequency. I did briefly leave this stretch to drop my jig next to the outer most pad in a couple of other pad fields (as that was where the 19" was positioned) but caught no fish at any other location.
If anyone has a pattern or presentation to share from yesterday I would love to hear about it.
humpback!
in dense pads:
outer edge at low tide:
the lures I caught all my fish on:
a 3/8 ounce football jig with a Tiny Paca Craw in "Alabama Craw" as a trailer
a Confidence Baits 1/4 ounce Draggin' Head with a 7" Culprit Fax Max Worm in Junebug
For our tournament on Saturday with one quick look at Mattawoman you could tell that we were not as far along in "greening up" as we were for last years tournament. Our day was also going to be dominated by the arrival of low tide at 11:55 A.M. Both of those factors helped me zero in on one location. The dozen bass I landed all came from one 75 yard stretch.
In that area there is a large shallow flat that the bass roam about during high tide. As the water recedes towards low tide those bass pull back to the next break to deeper water. I found a developing spatterdock field that was growing all the way out to that first break providing some final cover as the bass have to exit the flat. When we first started fishing and the water was higher, those spatterdock pads were still submerged. I started feeling them as I was fan-casting about with the plastic worm. My first two strikes of the day came early and I managed to miss setting the hook on both fish. However I had found fish so I felt like I had a good chance of catching a quick 3 in this area. I then went 90 minutes without another tap.
I decided to be patient and waited as the water to continued to drop. As the tide went out my spatterdock field became more well defined. I planted my stake out pole down and began to probe various spots where the pads were dense, where they were sparse, where the water was a little deeper or a little shallower. Suddenly another strike on the worm and I quickly had a 15" bass on the board. Over the next 20 minutes I landed another 15" and a 14" on the worm and had a limit to improve. You know what they say, "never leave fish to find fish", so I stayed and dissected this stretch and would pull out a 14" or a 15" every so often.
While I felt the worm was the way to catch them I also had a football jig tied on my second rod. With the football jig I have more direct contact with the bottom. I can feel around better down there. I was tossing the jig looking for the "outside pad edge" when I got the tell tail "bump". A 16" bass! An upgrade! Hmmm, maybe I should try the jig for a while! I started intentionally bumping the pad stems with the football jig and the 17" hit with just 7 feet of line out. Most of my casts were 15 to 20 feet max. A long cast in a pad field is just an invitation to get snagged up. This is an advantage for us kayak guys. With our lower and smaller profile we can get close to these bass in cover without spooking them.
So at this point I am sitting with a 15.5 and 16 and a 17.25. From talking with some other anglers going past it sounds like the bite was not fast and furious today. I would really like to upgrade that 15.5 but the space between bites now seems to be getting longer and longer. I look up and see another pad has surfaced as we are now knocking on low tide's front door. I paddle over. Drop the stake out pole and quietly pitch my jig next to that pad. I feel the jig hit the bottom and wait about 2 seconds. A bass blasts the jig. I set the hook. A 19" bass jumps straight up completely clearing the water. Heart in throat. Big struggle at the side of the boat. She manages to get underneath the kayak and wrapped up on a pad stem underneath me. I drag her out and she goes nuts dancing around the surface and I miss lipping her about 3 times. Finally I manage to lip her. I clip her to my fish grip to let her swim while I get the board and camera ready. Picture taken and checked, I then slide her back into the water. Yeesh!
For the rest of the fishing day I would catch another 14" to 15" with ever increasing infrequency. I did briefly leave this stretch to drop my jig next to the outer most pad in a couple of other pad fields (as that was where the 19" was positioned) but caught no fish at any other location.
If anyone has a pattern or presentation to share from yesterday I would love to hear about it.
humpback!
in dense pads:
outer edge at low tide:
the lures I caught all my fish on:
a 3/8 ounce football jig with a Tiny Paca Craw in "Alabama Craw" as a trailer
a Confidence Baits 1/4 ounce Draggin' Head with a 7" Culprit Fax Max Worm in Junebug
I did see everyone hitting them but I couldn't get any love.
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