Chain Bridge or Fletchers on 4/19/14?

[DanMarino]

I'm headed to Chain Bridge and/or Fletchers Saturday morning. Anybody else headed that way? I'll be fishing from shore. My first time ever going down there. Hopefully I can figure out where to park. I'm thinking I'll try to fish more in the Chain Bridge area if possible, but have no idea really what the terrain is like. I'll post a report if I catch anything.

13

[HJS]

Let us know how it goes. I'd be very interested in knowing the water clarity and if the hickory are still biting after all this cool weather we've been having.

[DanMarino]

I drove this.....


To here.....


And caught these.....

[firemunkee]

Well done! If I had seen this post earlier, I would have joined you. I've been wanting to check out the chain bridge area.

[chex]

Very nice! Silver was the color of the day I see.


Sent from my YakPhone using Tapatalk

[DanMarino]

I caught about 10 or 12 in the 2 hours I was there. The folks around me weren't doing so great. Howard's bullet weight rig worked swell. It is amazing how small a lure the shad will hit. I only had 1/8 ounce bullet weights, so that went ahead of the swivel. Then I tied on a 1/8 ounce or 1/16 ounce panfish jig head with a small white curly tail grub.

I was in a very good spot it seemed. There was a nice eddy at the shore where I stopped. Then mid river there were a couple of large boulders that also created a sill water pocket.
Generally, I caught more fish the farther out I was able to cast. Next time I'm bringing a longer rod.

Lots of neat birds on the river today too. I have no idea what they were, but they looked kinda like some sort of loon thing. Had a longish neck, were dark brown, and would dive under water to eat things.

Lots of hispanic guys all over the place putting anything they caught into walmart shopping bags to take home. Saw several guys put shad into bags. Didn't see any striper, bass, or snakehead action.

I'll be going back next weekend.

[bignose]

The birds are most likely cormorants.

I tried fishing this area last year, and I nearly had to be medivaced out of the area.
It looked do-able on Goggle Earth.
It is pretty rugged, more than my 62 year old fat butt could handle.
Large, wet, slippery, house sized rocks, with deep water and very strong currents. The entire volume of the Potomac River is being squeezed into a very narrow funnel just upstream at Little Falls.
And that's on the Maryland/DC side.
The Virginia side is a very steep, almost sheer, cliff, but there are some risk takers who enjoy that sort of death defying challenge.
If you are not comfortable with very strenuous hiking, and rock scrambling, you'd be better off putting in at Fletcher's, about a mile or so downstream, and hiking up the well worn, muddy path until the river narrows and the rocks take over from the meadows.
It is not surprising that law enforcement is pretty lax in this area. It would be just as hard for the DC Park Service personnel to access this area.

[J.A. Veil]

Nice work Tom. Those silvery rascals are fun to catch.

[DanMarino]

Yes, the Virginia side of the river there is crazy and almost a sheer cliff. There was probably a dozen hispanic guys scrambling around and fishing. Didn't see any of them catch anything. I think they were going after catfish by the size of their rods and tackle.

I could have stayed a couple more hours and I bet I would have caught 20 more fish. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was my first time there and I was only hoping to avoid getting skunked. I got there early enough that parking was a breeze, the weather was great, and the fish were cooperative. The drive home went quick and after a quick lunch I got my yard work chores completed.

Today was probably one of the best days I've had in a very long time.

[HJS]

Get'um while the gettin's good. Good hickory action is tough to beat if you are hunting for fun C&R fishing. Maybe have about 2 weeks left of the hickory run depending on weather. As you get into the later part of April, a prolonged warm-spell in the mid/upper 80Fs will bring a quick end to the run. Did you snag any gizzard shad? Sometimes when gizzards are in thick you can't help but snag one almost every cast. It's like you can't fish through them to get to the good fish. The area you were fishing can also provide very good striper fishing. Did you get to the big concrete platform, big like 40'X60' slab of concrete?

Y'all heed what bignose said. The area of Chain Bridge and upriver a ways is a major rock-scramble area, many as big as trucks. So wear very good hiking boots that are high enough to cover your ankles. Hipboots or chesthighs are a waste in this area... matter of fact, they are a liability. There is no mud there that you need to muck through.

The Latinos there are mostly market-fishing. They mainly target stripers, snakeheads, and smbass. Many use snagging gear or cast nets to catch fish. Both of these methods are illegal in DC waters. Many years ago, when striper populations Bay-wide were at a high, stripers would gather in the Chain Bridge area to gorge on spawning hearing. At that time it was fairly easy for a lure chucker like me to stand on one rock and catch a couple dozen keeper-grade stripers in a couple of hours. At this time poachers were carrying out stripers by the trash can full.

Sometimes there is an enforcement crackdown every couple/several years in the Chain Bridge area prompted by out-cries from enough honest fisherman. Generally, the big crack-downs are a combination of DC Harbor Police, Nation Park Police and MD DNR Police at invitation since it's not MD waters. A big crack-down clears out the poachers for a year or two but then they start creeping back. The illegal fishing there really depresses me at times.

[Turtle135]

Nice work on the hickory shad Tom! Looks like a wonderful (but dangerous) spot on the Potomac.

[DanMarino]

I'd love to go back today, but it's not gonna happen with Easter.

Howard, nope I didn't make it up to the concrete platform. I saw it on Google Maps though.

It seemed like I was catching more fish than anyone within eye sight. I witnessed a few guys catch a shad or two, but most people were catching nothing and getting snagged on the rocks.

At one point there was a Spanish explosion of voices on the Virginia side by the bridge and one of the amigos had caught something large. I assumed it was a catfish since it looked like they were all bottom fishing.

I had a great time and will go back. Yes, the poaching is depressing.

[HJS]

Xxx

i'd love to go back today, but it's not gonna happen with easter.

Howard, nope i didn't make it up to the concrete platform. I saw it on google maps though. The concrete platform is easy to get to. From chain bridge hike down the hiker ramp and walk the tow path upriver (west) about 1/2 mile until you see a small poorly maintained service road on the left. This service road leads directly to the concrete platform. It's so easy that grandma could get there in her 3 wheeled electric scooter. I ride my mountain bike there all the time... Faster than walking there.

it seemed like i was catching more fish than anyone within eye sight. I witnessed a few guys catch a shad or two, but most people were catching nothing and getting snagged on the rocks. Yep, that whole area is major snag city. But once you get to know the river after years of snaggy break-offs, you eventually get to know the bottom and how long to let your jig to sink before getting into trouble.

at one point there was a spanish explosion of voices on the virginia side by the bridge and one of the amigos had caught something large. I assumed it was a catfish since it looked like they were all bottom fishing. There are several eddies upriver from chain bridge were giant blue cats tend to hole up while forging on herring, maybe 20-30 pounders or more. At times they are quite common during the herring runs and can be a PITA. I've hooked several while fishing 5"-8" albino bass assassins on 3/4oz jighead. I can't even come close to stopping them in that heavy current even when using heavy gear that included 30# fireline and 40# mono leader and a rod to match. The past few years I've taken to fishing these lures totally barbless so the jumbo blue cats have a chance to work out a broken off jig.

i had a great time and will go back. Yes, the poaching is depressing.

[bignose]

An interesting comparison is to look at the Google map and then to look at the Bing map of the same area.

The Google map looks like it was taken at a summer low flow period, judging by the water level and foliage. You can even see a couple of kayaks in my version, probably one or two of you, above Chain Bridge and near the observation platform Howard mentions.

The Bing map looks to have been taken at about this time of the year. The foliage is not very grown in, and the river level appears to be much higher.

And the rocks don't look as big as they do up close. Look at the 2 nd picture DanMarino posted to get a perspective.

As much as I despise poachers, it is unlikely that in this particular area, that they can make a much of significant impact. Anyone who is crazy enough to fish off of the Virginia cliffs with a throw net, is obviously desperate to feed a family. lol.
Yeah, I've seen them haul out the occasional Striper, Snakehead and Bass, but also Carp, Herring, Suckers, and Shad. Anyone who would eat a Hickory Shad, is, well, not interested in what is considered palatable by most of us, anyway.
Like many poachers, they view the fish as a food source, and do not comprehend the concept of sport fishing.
And any fish, from the smallest bluegill, to the largest catfish is going to be kept.
Not saying that it is right, or supporting them, just trying to understand their mindset.

Every year several people are drowned in this area. Please be careful and if you chose to wade from the Maryland side, wear a pfd. If you try to wade the Virginia side, you are obviously suicidal and beyond help.

[DanMarino]

Thanks guys. I'll head up towards the platform next time.

The amount of trash there is also discouraging. Seems like the bucket brigade leaves all their trash.
I don't see a need to wade at this place, especially at current river level.

I'm glad I went and it was a goal of mine for 2014.