Saturday 04/13/2013 - Kayak Fishing Marshall Hall on the Potomac River

I was itching to get some pullage since I have not been able to get out on the kayak lately due to work, but finally, this weekend would be my opportunity. I was really looking for some fish that I can keep and eat, besides blue catfish. I decided that white perch would be my target species. I was not sure where to go to catch any white perch, so Kevin Fry recommended Marshall Hall in Maryland off of the Potomac River. This was a free boat launch with two concrete ramps.

The advance weather forecast early in the week, did not look ideal. At one point they were predicting winds of 13mph with gusts over 20mph. Temperatures were predicted to be around 65 degrees. A cold front was coming through after the Friday morning rain. Well, as usual, I decided to ignore the forecast and go with my gut. Well, all I can say is that Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day with afternoon temperatures reaching 74 degrees. The sky was partly sunny. The water was really warming up. It was up to 61 degrees.

I met Kitkatyaker and KevinFry at the boat ramp at 8:30 to 9:00 am. The tide was incoming and it was high. The was no wind or a light breeze. There was not real chop on the water. It was going to be a beautiful day. Today would also be the first time that Kay would be using her new electric motor for her Hobie ProAngler. We launch around 9:45am and headed straight across the river to the channel to fish the deep towards the Virginia side. I immediately started catching white perch on a top and bottom rig, and also on my yellow perch rig on 6 lb test line. The bait was night crawlers. I also had a stronger rod for catfish. The catfish rod was equip with a fish finder rig tipped with raw chicken tenders. Fishing was pretty good. Sometimes it was hot and heavy and at other times it was quite with occasional action. We kayaked about 5 mile in total catching many species of fish. I ended up with over 40 white perch. Only one was a 10 inch keeper. I also caught 3 channel catfish at 15 and 18 inches. I also caught the surprise of the day, a 23 inch eel. Finally, blue catfish were caught on my chicken tenders and fresh perch fillets. My biggest blue catfish measured 28.5 inches, which I gave to Kay. I gave KevinFry a 23 incher. I caught another 8 blue cats that I released. I release all fish accept for a perch and two blue cats. Needless to say, I got my pullage, I just did not get my stringer of keeper white perch.

KevinFry kepted a mess of catfish for his freezer. He and Kay both caught plenty of what we called "micro white perch". Kevin also caught a small yellow perch to my surprise just outside the ramp's south side. We ended the dat just before 5pm. It was great fishing with them. The weather for the day could not have turned out any better. I guess the winds cooperated because Bill did not fish with us, beside Kevin.

[Shady]

Nice report, sounds like a great day.

[coop1486]

Looks like fun day of catching.

[sparky1423]

Great report Martin, itching to get a stringer full of WP myself

[MetroMan]

Fun day on the water you all had!

[kevinfry]

Yes, the Ictalrus/Kevinfry combination was not in play so the winds never showed. IUt was beautiful
I had a great time fishing with Moc and KitKat.....surprzingly, for a while my anchor was the only one grabbing so Kat tied alongside ad caught perch after perch while I caught an occasional Catfish.
Oddly enough, It took me awhile to catch a Blue catfish. All I was catching were channel cats which I had never caught in that location in past visits. I also caught a 17 inch white catfish.
Things changed suddenly when, with Moc fishing nearby, a big fish rabbed the bait and started screaming off line. It ended up being my personal best 28 inch Blue Catfish
Eventually we crossed the river and switched to fresh perch as bait.....that was a great decision. I caught big cats at a pretty fair clip. At one point I had a triple on--one on each catfishing pole (2) and a micro perch on my little microlite spinning rod. While i was trrying to get the little pole squared away, I held one of one of the poleswith my knees....an explosive run from the big cat sent the rod flying towards the river! I was so lucky that the reel handle snagged on a bungee or it wold have been goodbye! LOL Here are some pics of the day

[ictalurus]

Nice! I'm sorry I missed it, but it was probably for the best for all involved. Not surprisingly, there was a pretty good breeze at my house today. I kept it here for you guys. I think I'm going to try and christen my new catfish combo at Bushwood tomorrow.

[walk the plank]

Very productive day, I'm glad y'all had fun.

[Sun]

Congrats on the great day of catching. Glad you guys got some.

[chex]

Those are some nice cats! Kevin, congrats on the big one.

[Sidemadder]

Good reports!

Were you tempted to bait up the eel for stripers?

[J.A. Veil]

Good report. It sounds like you had a fun day.

[russ498]

I would be very leery of keeping the large ones. They contain PCBs and other toxins. There were quite a few advisories about eating fish out of the Potomac. I will occasionally keep catfish, but only small ones 15 to 18 inches or less.

From the Washington DC Fishing Site:

Public Health Advisory

DDOE urges limited consumption of Anacostia and Potomac river fish. PCBs and other chemical contaminants have continued to be found in certain fish species caught in the Potomac and Anacostia rivers and their tributaries, including Rock Creek, within the Distric's boundaries. Because of these findings, DDOE advises the general public to limit consumption of fish from all DC waters, as follows:

• Do not eat: Catfish, carp, or eel.
• May eat: One-half pound per month of largemouth bass, or one-half pound per week of sunfish or other fish.
• Choose to eat: Younger and smaller fish of legal size.
• The practice of catch and release is encouraged.

To prepare, skin the fish and trim away fat. Cook fish and drain away fat because chemical contaminants tend to concentrate in the fat of the fish. These recommendations do not apply to fish sold in fish markets, grocery stores, and restaurants, since commercial fishing is prohibited in DC waters; thus fish from these venues will not be from the Potomac nor Anacostia Rivers.

My biggest blue catfish measured 28.5 inches, which I gave to Kay. I gave KevinFry a 23 incher. KevinFry kepted a mess of catfish for his freezer. He and Kay both caught plenty of what we called "micro white perch". \

[Meadeo]

Take into the consideration that bluecats grow very rapidly and age determines the amount of PCD's and other chemicals that have accumulated. I would still not eat anything over 24" inches.

Meadeo

[kevinfry]

I am aware of warnings---they do not extend below the wilson bridge and we were far far downstream from there....and I am also aware of mixed signals on fish consumption. I'm not going to fish in Balt or DC home waters, ...and, accordingly, I am generally going to eat the fish I catch.
First, I usually only eat the smaller fish, but 28" is by no means an "old" catfish- remember they grow to 50+ pounds. Frequency of consumption is key, of course. Also PCB concerns, like that in Baltimore, is local to certain areas in metropolitan area. Of course we are fishing far south of DC. I usually eat cats from Bushwood which is FAR FAR south. Based on a study of PCB in the Deleware river, high levels up stream do not necessarily translate to PCB contamination in down stream populations, especially in species like catfish that have limited local home range http://www.state.nj.us/drbc/library/...Bs-estuary.pdf. Blues caught in the DC area are likely to have lived their whole lives in those PCB rich waters. Those up and down stream are likewise far less exposed (again- there is no MD warnings for the stretch of water we fished).

REMEMBER- up to 4 years ago canned tuna had a very similar warning label, addressing mercury levels. A lawsuit in 2008 (in health conscious California) and clearer/broader nutrition discussion resulted in canned tuna having the EXACT OPPOSITE type pf label. Albacore Tuna, the highest in mercury, now has 3 different places on the label touting the health benefits of the tuna....one of which is mandated.

Catfish, especially wild catfish, is high in protein, low in fat, low in mercury, and fat it does have is Omega 3 rich. Much healthier than Tunahttp://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list.

Of course it is a catch 22 for Gov. They want blue cats destroyed, but they need to warn us about possible health threats too. The latter is usually a worst case approach.

I doubt my 5-6 meals of blue cat a year will harm me......it is likely far more beneficial to my health. Smaller cats are tastier, however, an occasional larger fish won't kill me either.