I decided to hit the Mattawoman last night after reading all great reports lately. I fished from 5-8pm, which bracketed low tide. I wanted to see what lures/rods I should bring for Saturday and to test out an alternative net storage option on the yak.
I headed upstream looking for areas that conformed to the bass and snakehead pattern I found at Leesylvania State Park last month. The low tide didn't help with this. I found a likely area and started working it with a Rage Tail toad, Live Target Frog, a chatterbait, and two different types of square bill/shallow-running crankbaits in firetiger. Nothing. I whipped out the Smelly Jelly, smeared some on one of the crankbaits (it made an oily sheen when it hit the water), casted out, and BAM! fish on:
It wasn't what I was looking for, but it was a nice 8" bluegill. At least the skunk was off. I can't believe it hit a fat 2"+ crankbait. On the second cast, I caught a 9" bass. On the 4th cast, the water exploded right next to my yak as I brought the lure in, and the drag started zinging. I thought I had a nice snakehead, but it turned out to be this guy:
It was deep hooked, so it was invited to come home for dinner. That area produced a bunch of 14-15" bass, both on the Smelly Jelly/crankbait combo and my trusty Rebel Pop-R:
That convinced me of the Smelly Jelly effect.
I moved upstream a bit and noticed some spatterdock moving and a big, recurring swirl that I thought had to be a nice snakehead. I threw all kinds of stuff at it but only managed to spook it a couple times. I came back a while later, and this guy took a perfectly placed popper:
While not the fish I was looking for, it was the biggest fish of the evening at 17". I picked up another 14-incher on the Rage Toad, which was my first fish landed with that lure.
I didn't have any luck upstream of the barge. I decided to work my way back downstream as the sun was setting when tragedy struck. I stopped to take a picture of the sunset, put my trusty Bass Pro Extreme spinning rod in my RAM rod holder, took a few pics, and went to grab my rod only to find that it was gone! It didn't even make a sound. I'm pretty diligent about leashing my rods when I'm no using them, but I didn't leash it this time. I guess I didn't tighten the RAM holder and it tipped over and fell out. I can't believe it did that without making a sound. That was one of my two favorite rods, and it was my do-everything rod. It could cast everything from 1/8oz to 1.5oz and was the first "nice" rod I ever bought. It was always in my truck, went on nearly every fishing trip, and felt like an extension of my arm. It was my "grown-up" version of my blankie. It also had my Pop-R tied on. I lost a lot of mojo in one drop. Of course, I had forgotten my sonar display, I didn't have anything heavy to drag, and it was rapidly getting dark. I'll bring some stuff to drag at low tide on Saturday, but I don't think the odds are good. To add insult to injury, the picture wasn't particularly good, especially since it was the most expensive photo I've ever taken:
I worked the Rage Toad along the shore on the way to the ramp and picked up a couple more 14-15" fish and missed some nicer ones. In all, I caught around 20 fish, which made for a really good evening trip despite the low tide, but my truck was noticeably emptier on the ride home.
I headed upstream looking for areas that conformed to the bass and snakehead pattern I found at Leesylvania State Park last month. The low tide didn't help with this. I found a likely area and started working it with a Rage Tail toad, Live Target Frog, a chatterbait, and two different types of square bill/shallow-running crankbaits in firetiger. Nothing. I whipped out the Smelly Jelly, smeared some on one of the crankbaits (it made an oily sheen when it hit the water), casted out, and BAM! fish on:
It wasn't what I was looking for, but it was a nice 8" bluegill. At least the skunk was off. I can't believe it hit a fat 2"+ crankbait. On the second cast, I caught a 9" bass. On the 4th cast, the water exploded right next to my yak as I brought the lure in, and the drag started zinging. I thought I had a nice snakehead, but it turned out to be this guy:
It was deep hooked, so it was invited to come home for dinner. That area produced a bunch of 14-15" bass, both on the Smelly Jelly/crankbait combo and my trusty Rebel Pop-R:
That convinced me of the Smelly Jelly effect.
I moved upstream a bit and noticed some spatterdock moving and a big, recurring swirl that I thought had to be a nice snakehead. I threw all kinds of stuff at it but only managed to spook it a couple times. I came back a while later, and this guy took a perfectly placed popper:
While not the fish I was looking for, it was the biggest fish of the evening at 17". I picked up another 14-incher on the Rage Toad, which was my first fish landed with that lure.
I didn't have any luck upstream of the barge. I decided to work my way back downstream as the sun was setting when tragedy struck. I stopped to take a picture of the sunset, put my trusty Bass Pro Extreme spinning rod in my RAM rod holder, took a few pics, and went to grab my rod only to find that it was gone! It didn't even make a sound. I'm pretty diligent about leashing my rods when I'm no using them, but I didn't leash it this time. I guess I didn't tighten the RAM holder and it tipped over and fell out. I can't believe it did that without making a sound. That was one of my two favorite rods, and it was my do-everything rod. It could cast everything from 1/8oz to 1.5oz and was the first "nice" rod I ever bought. It was always in my truck, went on nearly every fishing trip, and felt like an extension of my arm. It was my "grown-up" version of my blankie. It also had my Pop-R tied on. I lost a lot of mojo in one drop. Of course, I had forgotten my sonar display, I didn't have anything heavy to drag, and it was rapidly getting dark. I'll bring some stuff to drag at low tide on Saturday, but I don't think the odds are good. To add insult to injury, the picture wasn't particularly good, especially since it was the most expensive photo I've ever taken:
I worked the Rage Toad along the shore on the way to the ramp and picked up a couple more 14-15" fish and missed some nicer ones. In all, I caught around 20 fish, which made for a really good evening trip despite the low tide, but my truck was noticeably emptier on the ride home.
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