Mattawoman Wed, 5-2-12

[tufnik]

With snakehead fever going around, I thought I'd try again. Those critters have eluded my hook since the Fall of last year when Ron and I first began this obsession at Mattawoman. Several follow-on trips ended up in skunks.

Anyway, no snakehead today. Caught catfish and SMB, all released.

Seems like if you fish for snakeheads, you can't catch them. If you like and fish for perch, SMB and LMB, you can catch a snakehead. What's going on? Maybe I need an attitude adjustment

Oh, I hit the water at 0715 hrs, just before low tide. Water was pretty calm and it seemed like it was slack tide for a long time.

[ictalurus]

Hmmm... I'm definitely fishing for bass and crappie on Saturday, then. Definitely not fishing for snakeheads. Not interested in the least. Also, I'm definitely not bringing a ball peen hammer for dispatching them.

Did you launch by the bridge farther upstream? I'm surprised there are smallmouth there. I haven't caught one of those in ages, so that would be cool. Way cooler than catching a snakehead, for instance.

[DanMarino]

Smallmouth Bass?

Is there really smallmouth bass in Mattawoman Creek?

[dDreadnaught]

From what I hear, there is a shallow pond at the intersection of the Indian Head rail trail and Bumpy Oak Rd that holds large numbers of snakehead. I have never been there, but have posted map links.

Google Map - Shallow Pond Location

Google Map - Street View

Anyone have info or experience with this pond?


.

[tufnik]

Bill,
And another thing. For the first time, as I was all hyped, I brought a priest. So, don't bring a club of any sort because you don't need it for perch, bass, etc.....lol

Oops, come to think about it, it didn't have distinctive vertical stripes. So, I guess it really was a LMB, not SMB. I didn't pay attention to the mouth.

I launched off Mattingly Road (Slavins). I fished both sides up to that wreck. First time I've seen that wreck so exposed at low tide. I also went up that side stream across from the wreck.

There was also a lot of carp splashing in the water plants here and there. Big ones. Were they spawning? Courting?

Oh, I used rat-L-trap, money frog, bass assasin swimbait and spinnerbait. All fish were caught on the spinnerbait.

I may have to try that shallow pond, dDread. Of course, my target won't be snakeheads.

[Redfish12]

That pond on Bumpy Oak definitely holds Snakeheads. I drive by it all the time and on several occasions I've seen people either landing them or loading them in their car.

[mepps3]

There are posted signs "No parking" along the road there, and there isn't much room....but people still park along the road there and fish it. So I guess the cops don't care. I have hooked and lost snakeheads there. The locals say there is nothing but snakeheads in there, cannibals. I don't know if that is true. But it used to be a great bass and crappie pond with nice panfish and some pickeral as well. I have only seen snakeheads in there the last year, though. People use frogs and wacky-worms to catch them. A lot of weeds, to you need a weedless setup with heavy line.

[tufnik]

Cool, and we don't have to use the yak to catch them at that pond.

Thanks for the intel. I may go there to get the monkey off my back.

[Southerly]

i'd like to catch a snakehead too but have no personal experience with the things.

watched em do it on tv. they said they only get 1/2 their hookups to the boat. it's hard to get a good hookset and you need to really drive it home.

a very well known potomac charter captain told me they will be back in places where you don't really even expect a fish at all. he said they'll be holed up in the back of mud flats during low tides and generally live in holes under stumps in very shallow water etc.

it makes sense but i can't personally verify it, and i'd suppose a lot of that depends on tide and season - but good luck in your endeavors here.


ps - just one more reason noodling has got to be a rush - i mean besides muskrats, nutrias, snakes, snapping turtles,...

[DOGFISH]

Are there snakeheads near the Mallow bay ships? There must be other small creeks and coves with snakeheads. They may be snakeheads, but there is alot of pressure on them. After a period of time, any fish would become selective with all that pressure.

Good Luck.

[Capt C-Hawk]

Are there snakeheads near the Mallow bay ships? There must be other small creeks and coves with snakeheads. They may be snakeheads, but there is alot of pressure on them. After a period of time, any fish would become selective with all that pressure.

Good Luck.

According to the volunteer caretaker at the ramp there the creek is full of them, especially when the vegies reach the surface

[tufnik]

Dogfish/C-Hawk,
Mallow bay ships? Creek? Where is this place? Do I need my yak there?

[Capt C-Hawk]

Look up Mallows Bay Park. it's in So. MD. The ships are in the Potomac just out from a small creek. The park has a ramp as well as one of those kayak launchers like Mattawoman. Plenty of free parking and no access fees.

[tufnik]

Found it. It's at the end of Green Manor Drive, which is off Riverside Rd. Looks like Green Manor is a dirt road. At the end of the road, and what looks like a boat ramp, there's a creek on the northeast side. I guess that's where the snakeheads are.

I can even see the ship profiles in the bay.

[loupa5]

Directions to Mattawoman

I've never been to Mattawoman and I would like to go tomorrow (Sat 5/5). Can anyone recommend best place to launch? Directions too...