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I made my first visit today to historic Mallows Bay. This is a small bay on the Potomac about 10 miles downstream from Mattawoman. It is noteworthy because of the large number of burned out wooden ship hulls that are sunk in shallow water. I presumed this would create a huge amount of structure and make catching fish easy -- but it did not turn out that way today.
It was windy today such that it was hard to hold position near a hull for more than a cast or two. Plus the water was very shallow (mostly 2-3 ft between the ships) and dirty brown in color (less than 1 ft visibility). I had pre-rigged my rods with 3/8-oz jigheads, but they were much too heavy. I quickly changed over to one weedless lure, another 1/8-oz jighead with Gulp, and a scum frog on the third. After paddling around the hulls for 2 hours without a bite, I returned to the ramp to have lunch and use the bathroom.
After lunch I paddled just to the right of the launch to the burn basin, where the wooden ships were burned before abandoning them in the outer bay. This area too was shallow. I moved to the upper end of the burn basin, where a stream led into a broad shallow area. I found one short stretch of wooded shoreline on a bend in the stream that had slightly deeper water. I cast out a jighead with 2" white Gulp minnow grub and had my first bite of the day. I kept casting to this area about 50 ft long and 10 ft wide and had bump after bump. I ended up catching a 17" LMB, a small yellow perch, and half a dozen plump crappies. I continued upstream looking for other similar habitat but did not find any.
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I was on the water nearly 5 hours and caught a few fish in one small area. All of those fish hit the same lure (2" Gulp). (It sounds like deja vu from my trip yesterday -- all fish in one area, and most fish on a single lure). With all the underwater structure, this place is a lure sink. I lost several jigheads, some plastics, and a swimming plug to snags. Worst of all, my new light St Croix rod that I bought just a few weeks ago to replace another that I lost overboard decided to take a swim today after the wind pushed me into some bushes and I was extracting another rod from the bushes.
I imagine that a skilled freshwater angler could have done far better today, and that I could have done better on a less windy day when the water was not so brown. But I really enjoyed seeing this unique location. Here are some photos of the wrecked hulls.
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In addition to being a scenic and interesting spot, it has a huge number of eagles. I cannot recall seeing so many bald eagles throughout the day in any other place than Alaska. The photo shows three perched in the same tree.
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It was windy today such that it was hard to hold position near a hull for more than a cast or two. Plus the water was very shallow (mostly 2-3 ft between the ships) and dirty brown in color (less than 1 ft visibility). I had pre-rigged my rods with 3/8-oz jigheads, but they were much too heavy. I quickly changed over to one weedless lure, another 1/8-oz jighead with Gulp, and a scum frog on the third. After paddling around the hulls for 2 hours without a bite, I returned to the ramp to have lunch and use the bathroom.
After lunch I paddled just to the right of the launch to the burn basin, where the wooden ships were burned before abandoning them in the outer bay. This area too was shallow. I moved to the upper end of the burn basin, where a stream led into a broad shallow area. I found one short stretch of wooded shoreline on a bend in the stream that had slightly deeper water. I cast out a jighead with 2" white Gulp minnow grub and had my first bite of the day. I kept casting to this area about 50 ft long and 10 ft wide and had bump after bump. I ended up catching a 17" LMB, a small yellow perch, and half a dozen plump crappies. I continued upstream looking for other similar habitat but did not find any.
011.jpg 012.jpg
I was on the water nearly 5 hours and caught a few fish in one small area. All of those fish hit the same lure (2" Gulp). (It sounds like deja vu from my trip yesterday -- all fish in one area, and most fish on a single lure). With all the underwater structure, this place is a lure sink. I lost several jigheads, some plastics, and a swimming plug to snags. Worst of all, my new light St Croix rod that I bought just a few weeks ago to replace another that I lost overboard decided to take a swim today after the wind pushed me into some bushes and I was extracting another rod from the bushes.
I imagine that a skilled freshwater angler could have done far better today, and that I could have done better on a less windy day when the water was not so brown. But I really enjoyed seeing this unique location. Here are some photos of the wrecked hulls.
001.jpg 003.jpg 004.jpg 005.jpg 006.jpg 007.jpg 013.jpg
In addition to being a scenic and interesting spot, it has a huge number of eagles. I cannot recall seeing so many bald eagles throughout the day in any other place than Alaska. The photo shows three perched in the same tree.
008.jpg
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