Mattawoman 6-8-13 - Meet & Greet Recap

[chex]

Eyeballing it, I'd say about 15 kayak anglers made it out to this June 2013 Meet & Greet at Mattawoman Creek.

Though the weather looked iffy at first, it turned out really nice and made for a fine day of fishing. We got a little rain, but not enough to soak anyone... the overcast skies kept the temps down to very comfortable levels.

Several of us had lunch at Grinders afterwards. Who knew crabs had balls...

I had my best day yet of bass fishing today, landing 5 LMB (13-13-15-16-17") and missing a good dozen more. Early on, I caught 2 on topwater frogs and missed a bunch of blow ups. After that, I fished my trusty chatterbait and got 3 more on that. I had 4 other hook-ups that didn't make it to the boat for a photo op.

Thanks to Shane for organizing and to everyone who came out to play.

[chex]

More pics...

[YakidiYak]

I got out late but was able to weather the rain to catch 2 nice bass. Missed way to many but I was trying some new lures. Matt didn't tell me you guys were heading-in to go to lunch but I saw all your Yaks as I drove by Grinders. Looked like you had a good lunch crowd. Maybe next time.

Fish2 6.8.13.jpg
Fish1 6.8.13.jpg
Fish3 6.8.13.jpg

[Reelaxin10]

Good times today and thanks everyone for coming out. I ended up with 3 LMB with the biggest at 15" and had several more that spit the hook. Also, got a small white perch on a crank bait. Spent a lot of the time in the thick stuff looking for Mr SH with nothing to show for it. Lunch was good at grinders as usual. Thanks Mike for the pictures!

[Shady]

Glad the bite turned out for everyone. Lol at the Crab balls comment
and Lol at Elaina and Matt Tandem style on the PA!

[sparky1423]

Another great Meet and Greet. It was nice seeing some familiar faces and meeting some first timers. Shane, thanks for organizing and some good eats. Mike, thanks for the photos....and lets keep it professional....crab testicles.

Manage to land my first snakehead, another great moment on the kayak! 24" on a white chatterbait. The snakehead definitely lived up to it's reputation....Lively and Slimy! A special thanks to Rob (yakkinfish18) for saving the day. I couldn't manage to get my fish on the stinger, and it was flopping near the bow inches from the water. Rob pulls out a baseball bat and knocks the heck out of the snakehead...my HERO!

[dhawk]

6 8 2013 021.jpg6 8 2013 017.jpgHad a great time it was my second time at mattawoman and I have to say it turned out better than the first pitching a weightless worm in the thick stuff seem to work for me today caught about 10 most were small between 10 and 11 here a couple pictures6 8 2013 019.jpg6 8 2013 011.jpg

[M_Duong60]

That snakehead had a beautiful pattern they sure fight hard don't they?

[zeebyrd]

Thank you for sharing all the photos. I am glad the weather worked out in your favor. I wish that I had gone. However, I was able to finally drill into my kayak. I have one Scotty mount in place, with more in the future.

[Snakehead Hunter]

Congrats Jeremy. And btw, didn't I tell you that you need a bat for snakeheads?

Another great Meet and Greet. It was nice seeing some familiar faces and meeting some first timers. Shane, thanks for organizing and some good eats. Mike, thanks for the photos....and lets keep it professional....crab testicles.

Manage to land my first snakehead, another great moment on the kayak! 24" on a white chatterbait. The snakehead definitely lived up to it's reputation....Lively and Slimy! A special thanks to Rob (yakkinfish18) for saving the day. I couldn't manage to get my fis, on the stinger, and it was flopping near the bow inches from the water. Rob pulls out a baseball bat and knocks the heck out of the snakehead...my HERO!

[DanMarino]

DanMarino and Son Report

We didn't get to Mattawoman until 12:30PM, but I knew that Berto and Turtle135 were still fishing. We launched from the bridge and the current was ripping down the creek fast. We fished from 12:30 until around 7:30 pm. The water was stained brown but the fishing was good. My son Jacob used a chatterbait all day and immediately caught a 14 inch bass and 18 inch bass. Both were fat and crushed his lure. A couple hours later Jacob called to me because a very big snakehead crushed the chatterbait. The snakehead was massive and took up the whole net. Before we could unhook and kill the thing it jumped out of the net and escaped. We both felt terrible about it and got no photo or measurement. The thing was way bigger than the 26 inch snakehead I caught last year. If I had to guess it was 30 or 32 inches long and the body was thicker than my calf.

Jacob went went on to hook up with two more snakeheads but didnt land them. One snakehead crushed Jacob's chatterbait right at the side of the kayak and then took a dive straight down. Jacob's drag was way too tight and the fish tipped him over and out of the kayak and flipped him into the water. Jacob ended up losing the fish and the brand new paddle that I bought to replace the other one Jacob lost last month on our way to the Upper Potomac to fish for smallies.

I caught 4 bass. 2 were 10 inches, one 14, and another 17 inches. All of mine on a redfish magic spinner bait.

We only fished a little ways past the steel wall. We met up with Berto and Turtle135 there. Both of them were catching plenty of fish. I believe Berto had 3 snakeheads for the day and we witnessed him catch a large and beautiful creature on a hollow body frog. I didn't hear the final measurement, but it was a very big fish. I learned a lesson about dealing with them quickly. Once the snakehead was in Berto's net, he then began clubbing it in the head with a stick (old table leg according to Berto). Once the snakehead was stunned sufficiently, Berto then stabbed it behind the base of the head to kill it. We will be using that technique in the future. Much thanks to Berto for giving us one of his smaller snakeheads to eat.

Turtle135 was doing well on the bass and also caught a large snakehead. He indicated his snakehead escaped as he was dealing with it like the one my son had caught.

Since my son lost his paddle, it was a long journey back up the creek (I think there's a saying in there somewhere). I was a good father and towed him up the creek while he paddled along with the net. It was slow going for sure and the current was still ripping fast when we got to the top end to get back to our vehicle.

Another fun trip with some lessons learned. I think my son will want to head back again soon.

Here's a few photos.



18 incher



17 incher






One observation that I made is that half of the bass my son and I caught yesterday had black melanosis markings on them.

[wedge]

Tom, I'm glad Jacob got the skunk off of him at Mattawoman...glad you guys made it and it sounds like you had a good day. I'm heading there this morning with my 12 year old grandson, his first time on a yak fishing...should be an adventure! PS...get Jacob a paddle leash for Christmas..LOL.

[Turtle135]

I launched up top at the 225 bridge before sunrise. I had expected to encounter the Meet and Greet group somewhere down the creek but the bass fishing was pretty good in the upper end with the increased current positioning the bass in current protected breaks. I think Berto met up with me around 9:00 A.M. and DanMarino with his son later in the day. At a certain point I realized that the group had probably headed off to lunch. Sorry we missed you guys. We did our part to "represent" in the upper reaches of the creek.

I wound up fishing until sunset and finished with 18 largemouth bass and 1 snakehead. Most of the bass were the "Potomac Specials" (those largemouth that measure around 14 inches) but 5 of them were large enough to score for kayak wars. A few early ones came on a spinnerbait but most of my bass came on a 1/4 ounce arkie headed jig with a baby Paca Craw trailer.

I did refine one technique that I had dabbled with before. Mid-day when the bite slowed down and the sun came out it seemed the bass had moved just inside the pad (spatterdock) line. I would quietly move the kayak just into the edge of the pads. With just 3 to 4 feet of line out I would slowly lower the jig into any spots that had a good canopy creating some shade. I would bounce the jig a couple of times, lift it out and lower it into another spot a few inches away. The tricky part is when you see your line jump and you try to figure out how to set the hook at such close range,

My one snakehead came on a weight-less plastic worm. He came into the kayak with a "death grip" on the hook. When I finally pried the hook out of his mouth he shot up the footwell like a slim rocket to freedom. Note to self: "kill snakeheard first, then unhook him".

A couple of greenies from the day:





Berto, aka "The Snakehead Executioner"

[Berto]

I caught 12 Bass and the biggest was 18" all caught on a Scum frog.

18" LM





I was messing around with my camera and made this video. You can see how high the water was @ the creek by 225 bridge

Here is the 3 Snakeheads that I caught and all of them was caught on the same Scum frog.



28"+ I think this one has a broken back? If it was straight it might have got 29"- 30"?




23"




26.5"

[Strummerfan]

I caught 12 Bass and the biggest was 18" all caught on a Scum frog.

18" LM





I was messing around with my camera and made this video. You can see how high the water was @ the creek by 225 bridge

Here is the 3 Snakeheads that I caught and all of them was caught on the same Scum frog.



28"+ I think this one has a broken back? If it was straight it might have got 29"- 30"?




23"




26.5"

Very nice!