Chain Bridge, 6-6-13

[HJS]

I fished the area of Chain Bridge on the Potomac today from shore, 6-6-13, 6:15am-11:00am. I caught 8 stripers from upper teens to 25”, most were in the low 20”s. Also caught several 12” dink stripers, 3 medium channel cats, and one 14” lmbass. All caught on Bass Assassins, 4” paddletails and 5” rattails on .5oz-.75oz heads. Preferred colors were natural, mostly albino and crystal shad.
CB, 6-6-13-A.jpg

Several great blue herons were still in the area spearing the occasional leftover herring.
CB, 6-6-13-C.jpg CB,6-6-13-G.jpg

Only a couple of guys there and for a couple hours I was the only person in sight. June 6th is getting late for stripers at CB. This tropical storm will undoubtedly increase flow to unfishable levels and put an end to striper fishing there until next year.

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Hmmm...sorta screwed up the attachments of the pics... but you get the general order of things.

[jet]

wow, that's definitely a pleasant surprise for june i would think, well done!

[HJS]

wow, that's definitely a pleasant surprise for june i would think, well done!

Striper fishing in Chain Bridge area is tough to figure out and is VERY hit or miss. This area is a classic example of, "here today, gone tomorrow". Success or failure depends on food, flow, food, temperature, food and clarity... and did I say FOOD! Generally mid/late May is a very productive time slot to fish for stripers there. This is the same time that the last and biggest run of herring, the bluebacks, are wrapping up their spawn. When the blueback spawn is in full swing there are far too many herring in the river to compete with. With every cast, my Bass Assassin has to compete for attention with 10,000 herring, and that's just in one pool alone. Its not until the run is almost over, when there are only the stragglers left, that a fishing lure stands a chance of being noticed. But still, a lot depends of flow and clarity. On June 27, I had one of my better days there catching over 50 nice schoolie stripers up to 25" in 2.5 hours standing on the same rock. But that was back in 2003, 10 years ago, when mid-coast striper populations were a lot higher than they are now.

Chain Bridge is one of my favorite places to fish. It's just so weird to catch stripers in Class III rapids. But the shoreline is definitely as tough to negotiate. The boulders that must be traversed are a killer, and help is a long ways away if something goes wrong... as "bignose" will testify... if he chimes in. I'll attach a pic of the terrain there.

CB - Rough terrain.jpg

[jet]

although i have never fished there, i drive over chain bridge daily and always see fishermen on the rocks, always wondered about it! thanks for the report