Occoquan 3/18

[jsnyd86]

Had a day on the Occoquan today. Went out for bass. Found bass, but not ones I wanted and I had to give up a lot for them. Today was an off day for me. I forgot stuff, fish finder went dead 10 minutes into fishing. I dropped my brand new ultral light rod n reel in the water, I was snagging left and right, lost half my spinner baits and few other baits. Rough day. anyways, I did catch some fish. Almost my first cast across from the launch I tried a chartreuse spinner bait off the rocks. Got a good hit but whatever it was slipped the hook. Guessing a small bass. Nothing after that. Tried between deep water and bed areas all the way down to 95 bridge and I started to give up. So I fished crappie. Caught 4 and that boosted my spirits. I continued towards the bay, but immediately felt I should work the north rock wall across from the marina. Useing everything in my tackle box I decided to go back to my favorites. Spinner baits. I tied on a white one with white twister tale and got two small large mouth. Then I snagged, lost it, and gave up shortly after. I have a few pics but I'm on my iPhone so I don't know if I can get them up

[jsnyd86]

Oh. I also hooked into something under 95 bridge but I couldn't figure out what is was. I was useing my ultralight reel and whatever it was didn't move around much because I thought I snagged at first and then my drag started screaming. I played with it for about 2 minutes but the line snapped at the hook. I'm thinking large lazy channel cat? I hook him on a 1/16 jig and green cricket bait

[PotomacTide]

Thanks for the report! I was out there today too. But I fished from the banks upstream from you underneath the Occoquan foot bridge up by the rapids. I was checking in on if the shad were running, so I didn't bring my yak.

The shad are officially here! I only hooked into one after fishing for about one hour. However, a lot of the fellas around me were catching more. I fished a golden spoon and darts. The most successful fisherman was using Gitzits (small soft plastic jig/minnows). I think he caught about five within a 2 hour time frame. They all appeared to be hickory shad and were between 12 - 16 in.

We should try to see if we can get Joe and some of the other Occoquan yakers out for a meetup for some shad within the next 2 weeks. Its slow right now, but I think it may peak early in the next couple of weeks.

[jsnyd86]

Thats a great idea! I've never caught shad before, sounds fun!

[ictalurus]

Cool, thanks for the shad update. Hopefully, I can make it down there.

[ILV2F5H]

Shad on light tackle is a blast. After the shad run lookout for schoolie stripers in the Occuquan.