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Quick Mattawoman trip, 8/10
My long-time buddy, Tom, is in the Army Reserves and just got back from Afghanistan not long ago. We really haven't had a chance to catch up since he got back, and he thought chasing snakeheads would be a good opportunity to do so. Our schedules finally lined up yesterday, so we hit the water a bit after 5pm, which was close to low tide.
Tom has fished from a canoe before but never from a kayak. It was also his first time on the Mattawoman. I set him up in my Tarpon with a spare rod and some of my favorite Mattawoman lures, and we headed upstream. The wind was blowing hard and in the same direction as the current (still ebbing), which wasn't optimal. It took Tom a little while to work out how to position the kayak to get in a good cast, but he got the hang of it and started working the weed line like a pro. I set him up with Spro popping frog at first and then a Rage Tail toad, but the fish weren't interested in either. I think it was still too early in the evening. I did see a snakehead stick its head out of the water back in the Hydrilla mats. It must've gotten stuck because it wiggled around for a while before submerging again. Tom put the popping frog right where the snakehead had been, but it wouldn't hit it.
I picked up a nice bass in the same area on the outside of the Hydrilla mat:
I'm not purposely wearing my hat at a jaunty angle in that pic--that's just how hard the wind was blowing. I wish I had measured that fish because I think it might've been a personal best. Based on the width of my fingertip, the bass is 17.98" long, give or take. It hit a 1/4oz white chatterbait with a 4" white Zoom fluke (a la camelbird). I was using a Stanley chatterbait because I thought it would hold up better to a snakehead than the Z-man's model. The Stanley bait has a more side-to-side action, but the blade seems to get stuck in certain positions, and it stops chattering. Apparently, the bass didn't care. I think that bass should've been much heavier than it was given the size of its head. Catching big-headed bass seems to be a specialty of mine.
I also picked up a 13-14" inch bass on a square-billed Rapala that I dunked in Smelly Jelly. I didn't get a pic of it because there were a bunch of bass boats around, and I didn't want them horning in on our spot. Tom had a couple blow-ups on the Rage Tail toad but didn't connect.
Tom doesn't get the "smile for the camera" thing, either.
The bite seemed to die at low tide when the current slowed down. Then we got calls from both our wives warning us about impending thunderstorms. According to the weather radio, it sounded like the storms were heading north of us, but we headed in anyway. It was a shame because we were approaching the Magic Hour, but we didn't want to press our luck with the storms (which did miss us) or our wives.
We topped off the trip with dinner at Grinder's where we continued catching up. The trip was shorter than planned but still lots of fun. 
Tom has fished from a canoe before but never from a kayak. It was also his first time on the Mattawoman. I set him up in my Tarpon with a spare rod and some of my favorite Mattawoman lures, and we headed upstream. The wind was blowing hard and in the same direction as the current (still ebbing), which wasn't optimal. It took Tom a little while to work out how to position the kayak to get in a good cast, but he got the hang of it and started working the weed line like a pro. I set him up with Spro popping frog at first and then a Rage Tail toad, but the fish weren't interested in either. I think it was still too early in the evening. I did see a snakehead stick its head out of the water back in the Hydrilla mats. It must've gotten stuck because it wiggled around for a while before submerging again. Tom put the popping frog right where the snakehead had been, but it wouldn't hit it.
I picked up a nice bass in the same area on the outside of the Hydrilla mat:
I'm not purposely wearing my hat at a jaunty angle in that pic--that's just how hard the wind was blowing. I wish I had measured that fish because I think it might've been a personal best. Based on the width of my fingertip, the bass is 17.98" long, give or take. It hit a 1/4oz white chatterbait with a 4" white Zoom fluke (a la camelbird). I was using a Stanley chatterbait because I thought it would hold up better to a snakehead than the Z-man's model. The Stanley bait has a more side-to-side action, but the blade seems to get stuck in certain positions, and it stops chattering. Apparently, the bass didn't care. I think that bass should've been much heavier than it was given the size of its head. Catching big-headed bass seems to be a specialty of mine.
I also picked up a 13-14" inch bass on a square-billed Rapala that I dunked in Smelly Jelly. I didn't get a pic of it because there were a bunch of bass boats around, and I didn't want them horning in on our spot. Tom had a couple blow-ups on the Rage Tail toad but didn't connect.
Tom doesn't get the "smile for the camera" thing, either.
The bite seemed to die at low tide when the current slowed down. Then we got calls from both our wives warning us about impending thunderstorms. According to the weather radio, it sounded like the storms were heading north of us, but we headed in anyway. It was a shame because we were approaching the Magic Hour, but we didn't want to press our luck with the storms (which did miss us) or our wives.
We topped off the trip with dinner at Grinder's where we continued catching up. The trip was shorter than planned but still lots of fun.
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