Virginia Shad

[ictalurus]

That striper hatched last year. It looks like it did pretty well through the winter. It's interesting because we don't see that size often in the various fish survey gear, but I've caught them on several occasions while shad fishing. I wonder if they hang out farther upstream than the surveys go?

I'm hoping to get another shot at the shad this weekend, but it looks like there are more storms on the way. We'll see, I guess.

[tj06sti]

Thanks for the info! How far up do the surveys go? Seems like a skip and a jump up to the rocky area past the water treatment plant from where that particular one was.

Hit it again this morning, water was down a foot or two, still muddy. I didn't catch a single shad from my previous location, but managed four near the big dry boat storage. A couple guys in a canoe in the middle were catching them pretty regularly though, they had them dialed in for the conditions of this particular morning. The shad I did catch were again very good quality and large. Lots of big shad jumping everywhere in the river, and I saw several Cormorants go diving and come up with wriggling large shad! The river seemed packed full of em if you can figure out how to induce em to strike on a given day, but that's the name of the game.

That striper hatched last year. It looks like it did pretty well through the winter. It's interesting because we don't see that size often in the various fish survey gear, but I've caught them on several occasions while shad fishing. I wonder if they hang out farther upstream than the surveys go?

I'm hoping to get another shot at the shad this weekend, but it looks like there are more storms on the way. We'll see, I guess.

[ictalurus]

The Virginia seine surveys, which are run out of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in Gloucester Point, VA, go up to within 10-15 miles Fredericksburg on the Rapp and 10-15 miles on the James. So they go pretty far upstream and all the way down to the mouth of each river. I can't remember where they stop on the Mattaponi and Pamunkey.

The Maryland Seine survey doesn't hit any Potomac tributaries that I'm aware of, and I can't remember how far they go.

Fishing for shad in the Occoquan is different than fishing at the fall line on the Rappahannock. On the Rapp, they seem to stack up by ledges and other obstructions, but I don't know how they choose where they hang out on the Occoquan. I would think they would go all the way up past the water treatment plant, but I haven't had much luck there. Go figure.

[tj06sti]

It is different, I agree. Must be just as different at Fletcher's! I have been going by the same theories, trying bends and shallower sheltered areas. Guys in the canoe were across from the strange large metal dock thing with large tires mounted on it, I wouldn't have thought that to be a good spot but they were catching regularly while I cast my arm off with only a few to show. Using the same colors!

Fishing for shad in the Occoquan is different than fishing at the fall line on the Rappahannock. On the Rapp, they seem to stack up by ledges and other obstructions, but I don't know how they choose where they hang out on the Occoquan. I would think they would go all the way up past the water treatment plant, but I haven't had much luck there. Go figure.

[ictalurus]

Shad and Virginia bluebells

I hit the Occoquan Saturday evening for a quick trip with my father. We fished from about 4:30 to 7:30 (we weren't sure when the park closed). I managed 6 hickories that were between 13" and 17" on a 1/8oz chartreuse darts. Dad missed several fish, too. Things really heated up around 7pm with fish jumping everywhere. I wish we could've stayed later.

Most of my fish were this size:


Here's the biggest one, which was one of the bigger shad I've caught in a while:


The most interesting event of the evening is I ran into the snakehead slayer. He caught a couple of snakeheads that evening that were around 24" or so and said he caught bigger ones on Friday evening. He fished out of a nice red Manta Ray 14, but I forgot to get his name. I might have to go on a snakehead hunt the next time I visit my folks.

Sunday morning I went with my folks to Bull Run Regional Park to see the largest expanse of Virginia bluebells on the East Coast. The spring beauties were also in bloom, and the mayapples were flowering, too. Parts of all of these plants are edible, so I know where I'm going when the apocalypse happens.

Bluebells:


Bluebells in the woods:


Spring beauties:

[tj06sti]

Thanks for the pics and report Bill! Nice big shad. How was the river looking ? My grandpa wanted to goto Fredericksburg since he has been going there every year for a long time, so I drove us down. He had a great idea! River was pretty dirty and a little high, but they were hitting pretty fast, a fish every other cast, and they were still hitting when we left at 2.

http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1303952949
http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1303952986

[ictalurus]

Sounds like an awesome trip with your grandpa,and those were some nice fish. I always enjoyed fishing with my grandfather and my father. It was funny having three Bills in the boat.

High and dirty works well on the Rapp. There's a warning about wading when the gauge is over 3.2, but we've waded and fished it when it was 4 or 5 from a spot I get to from the Falmouth side. We had to pick our path pretty carefully, and felt soles and a wading staff were required.

The Occoquan wasn't high, but it was pretty stained and a bit faster than the past few times I've been there. Fishing near the fall line would definitely require an anchor, but there were plenty of eddies to hang out in between the last bridge at the fall line and the foot-traffic bridge before the water treatment area. The wind was blowing up the river and worked well to hold us against the flow or move us slightly upstream. It looked like most of the debris had flowed past and there was only few sticks here and there coming down the river. Fish were jumping everywhere.

Do you know what time the park closes? The website just says "dusk", and I forgot to look when we came in.

[tj06sti]

Thank you, he is 79 now and I am always happy to see him catch some fish. I called the park and asked back in March, and they told me 6ish then, I will give them a call tomorrow and ask again since the days have gotten much longer since then. Yeah, this being the first river I have really yakfished, I learned about staying close to shore, there are a lot of rocky outcropping's and other eddies to stop in. Paddle yak is easy on the shoulders to load, but more effort in the current.

I am going to hit the Occoquan on Friday probably, I want to try live lining or cutting up some Herring for catfish, but I am having a tough time figuring out how to identify a herring from a hickory shad, even using the web.

[ictalurus]

It's pretty tough if all the fish are in the 13-14" range. Hickories and Americans have multiple spots on their shoulders. They can be tough to see sometimes but seem to be more obvious when viewed at an angle. I caught a few fish that I thought were herring until I let them go when the spots were obvious as I looked at the fish from the tail-end.

Probably the most definitive way to separate alewives and bluebacks from hickories is look at the line of the lower jaw when the mouth is open. The upper edge of the lower jaw rises steeply in bluebacks and alewives like this:

http://www.fishbase.org/photos/Pictu...ecies&TotRec=6

The jawline of hickories looks like this:

http://www.fishbase.org/Photos/Pictu...ecies&TotRec=4

That diagnostic works even when the fish are only 2" or so.

Good luck on your catfish hunt.

[jffoley]

TJ, Bill,
Nice reports and pics. Been following this thread with some jealousy! I've been jonesin' to get after some shad but due to weather, high, muddy water, family visiting and whatever I just haven't gotten out. Nor have gotten my April fish! Snagged some gizzard shad a week ago in a Potomac creek but that don't count.

Well, finally did get some last night. Went below Chain Bridge and caught maybe a dozen hickories and herring. Also a small LM bass. April fish? Check! Whew! 4 for 4. It was getting late!

The river is still high and running hard but the creek mouth and various eddies and pools are fishable. Well, maybe not for long after this latest round of storms! Hickories were stacked up and spawning. White perch below them. Looked like they were feeding on the eggs. Cool to watch.

Had to compete with guys with nets and fish spears looking for snakeheads. I only saw one snakehead but one of them did catch one in a cast net. Learned something from one of those guys. Several had lights. He said they catch a lot of snakehead at night. Maybe that's the time to try for them at this time of year. They never seem interested in anything I throw at them when I've seen them. Always exceptions but others report the same for the most part. Seen any in the Occoquan?

[Redfish12]

I was fishing next to John last night but mostly snagging trees... I caught a few hickories in the mouth and a few in the side. I also caught a few herring which was a new species for me on h&l so that's always cool. I caught a few small white perch and I immediately remembered why I hate catching them in the kayak. Oh well, it was good to have something pulling at the other end of the line!

TJ- looks like a great trip you went on with you Grandfather. I love fishing with my grandfather, he's 91 now but still hunts or fishes just about every day. His love was flathead catfish, or mudcats as they call him, and he caught some monsters out of the New in his day. I should show him a picture of that blue cat you caught last year, that thing was a hoss.

[ictalurus]

Nice work at Chain Bridge, gents. I'm not sure I'll get another shot at 'em before the run is over. I might poke around closer to home.

There are definitely snakeheads in the Occoquan and big ones at that. Another kayaker showed me a couple he caught that were in the 20-24" range, and he said the ones he caught the day before were even bigger. When my dad saw those fish, I think he got the bug to hunt them, especially since they'll hit bass lures.

[tj06sti]

Thanks for the information Bill! That is a great way to identify them, I am carrying the diagrams with me tomorrow. I called the park, they literally close at dusk, well, about 20 minutes after dusk, which he said was around 8:15 to 8:30 currently.

Good you guys pulled something other then snags outta that mud! That is great that your grandfather still gets out to fish at 91! The New is full of some monsters, and Claytor lake near there, I am sure he has seen some huge catches!

That is interesting about the snake heads right in the Occoquan, I am going to target them tomorrow a bit. I had heard of lots of catches in Pohick and Belmont Bay's, but won't have to go that far apparently!

[tj06sti]

WOOO! Americans!

I took my grandpa down to Fredericksburg this morning and we did some more fishing. I think the Hickories are finnishing up, we only caught a handfull of those. Then I nailed something that felt quite heavy, and just was pulling towards the bottom, no aerial show. Figured I had hooked into another small catfish, but when I saw it flash in the water and saw its head, I knew it was something different.



I switched to a larger dart, and then after a few casts, I hooked into one that felt much nicer. He just pulled and pulled, gave me a fun battle. No mistaking this thing for a hickory! My first two American/White Shad in my life.

[ictalurus]

Outstanding! Those are some monster shad. I've only caught a few Americans, but you're right about being able to tell the difference. Pretty cool.