4/3/12 Pohick Bay

[mango]

Spring break for the kids. Decided to take the afternoon off and put in at Pohick Bay. Arrived about 1:30. My daughter came along for her first kayak solo in her new WS Tarpon 100 Blue. She was awsome on the water. When I can figure how to attach pics I will do so but for now we had a great day. Fishing started right off the launch with a 12" LMB. hugged the left shore line as the wind was pushing a bit more that I thought. Casting a small jig head with a 2.5 gulp minow in green/white, Piper my daughter on a green beetle spin. We crushed crappie all afternoon in the one spot we found them. We landed 9 between 11/12" and 1 went 13-1/2". (1) 9" YP. 6 Sunnies all released and 2 other smaller LMB released. We put the specs in the cooler though and looking forward to dinner. Piper caught the largest putting a big smile on her face. She can be my fishing buddy anytime. Great to see a young girl interested in kayaking and doesn't mind throwing in a line. She also brought all the food and drinks. Usually I am in too much of a hurry and go without. Not sure what the tide was doing, but we started pulling them in between 2-4. All in all a great day on the water.

[ronaultmtd]

Awesome- love it when our kids enjoy what we enjoy- they become our best buddies

[ictalurus]

That sounds like an excellent trip. Congrats on nice crappie and getting your daughter hooked on yak fishing.

For attaching pics, there's an attachment button near the top of the reply window. Or you can use an online hosting service like Photobucket, Picasa, etc. They provide a link that you can cut and paste into your post that has an [img] tag.

[jsnyd86]

Great story. Thanks for the post

[mango]

Pohick

Thanks for the reply's, many thanks also to HokieDJ who reminded me about Pohick in my last thread about Fountain Head. I had forgotten all about that place. One interesting note, I was at work just before leaving to go when I ran into a friend of mine who fishes the Bass circuit and had been out to Pohick on Saturday. I asked him about the crappie fishing there and he said the water was to shallow and never had much luck on the specs. (need to send him some pictures)

Wanted to ask a question here on the forum about eating the fish. Any insight from anyone would be appreciated. I always filet and skin the fish I eat, even the sunnies when big enough to keep. I have heard some say they wouln't eat anything out of the Potomac but I belive the real concern would be eating Tilapia I got @ Safeway from China. I am guessing that small cosumtions for the kids would be a good idea. Hell, I ate many a catfish from Fletcher's back in the seventy's when fishing with my dad, I am still here...for now.

OC Kayak Trident Prowler 13 Mango
WS Tarpon 100 Blue

[jsnyd86]

Wanted to ask a question here on the forum about eating the fish. Any insight from anyone would be appreciated. I always filet and skin the fish I eat, even the sunnies when big enough to keep. I have heard some say they wouln't eat anything out of the Potomac but I belive the real concern would be eating Tilapia I got @ Safeway from China. I am guessing that small cosumtions for the kids would be a good idea. Hell, I ate many a catfish from Fletcher's back in the seventy's when fishing with my dad, I am still here...for now.

I think the there is a suggested consumption of no more 8oz a month per person.

[mango]

I think the there is a suggested consumption of no more 8oz a month per person.

Thanks

[ronaultmtd]

Consumption guidelines are depending on location, size/age of fish, degree of pollution in water, etc.

I eat fish caught in the cleaner tribituaries without much concern- smaller blue catfish are what I usually target for the table, as bigger fish have accumulated more toxins in their flesh- I wouldn't eat any fish caught in the Potomac around Blue Plains water treatment plant or from the harbor areas of Baltimore/D.C.

I fish upstream from Indian Head NWS launching from Slavins ramp on Mattawoman Creek and eat the blue catfish I catch that are less than 24 inches long- I usually have one big fish fry a month- don't figure there should be any health concerns with that. That said, I do catch and release a lot of stripers I catch. Once in a while I during the season I will keep a couple for the table, but the blue catfish are a better eating fish to my taste buds- and we are doing DNR a favor by removing them from the waters as they are considered an invasive species.

[mango]

Thanks on the consumtion issue. I think a fried meal once in a while won't hurt anybody. I did read that removing the skin should be a given as some toxins can accumulate between the skin and meat.

[ictalurus]

http://www.mde.state.md.us/programs/...ies%202011.pdf

Not all fish species are listed, and the list of species differs from year to year.

The Virginia advisories are really non-specific, which is lame in my opinion:
http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/epidemio...gy/Advisories/

I saw a recent article in the Washington Post suggesting that the risks from PCB exposure might be overstated. Mercury contamination is still a problem, though.

Regarding fish from China, I won't eat farm raised fish from places besides the US and Canada. Other countries, particularly southeast Asian countries can use antibiotics and chemicals that are not allowed in the US. If the FDA actually got off its butt to decide that something wasn't safe (I don't think the FDA is precautionary enough with its recommendations lately), it really must not be safe. A buddy of mine from China says that people pay top dollar for fish caught or raised in the US because they don't trust that the fish raised in China are safe.