The warmwater itch is coming on strong. I went to check out my favorite smallie spot last week and confirmed what I already knew...it's too early. Cold, swollen water from the recent rain and few spots to wade. No fishing that night.
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u262/OldDominionAngler/DSC_18412.jpg)
Tonight, I turned to plan B and checked out a tidal pond. Scouted it before but never fished it.
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u262/OldDominionAngler/DSC_1887.jpg)
It's definitely not your average pond experience...the widebody jetliners fly so close to the water that you can taste the exhaust. There's also a solid layer of grocery bags, bottles, sheetrock buckets and who knows what else lining the bottom of this thing.
That said.....I've heard it holds good largemouth, a variety of panfish, carp, catfish and from time to time, gar, striper and the new bullies in the neighborhood...Northern snakeheads. Can't imagine what it takes to get the slam here...
I paddled the shoreline for about two and half hours before dark, boated a few chunky bluegill, some small bass, got a big, ugly snakehead to chase...and then called it a night. Hoping to do some more exploring next week.
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u262/OldDominionAngler/DSC_1872.jpg)
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u262/OldDominionAngler/P5222339.jpg)
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u262/OldDominionAngler/DSC_1889.jpg)
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u262/OldDominionAngler/DSC_1911.jpg)
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u262/OldDominionAngler/P5222348.jpg)
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u262/OldDominionAngler/DSC_1924.jpg)
Dang, I really hope the biologists can figure out a fix for the snakehead invasion.
Was that first picture Riverbend?
Dayum, you seem to reside real close to some of my haunts from my days living in Maryland. Snake heads? :o Shit man, I thought they thinned em out after Long Duck Dong decided to be a prick and stick em in that pond up the street from my old place in Crofton b'; Speaking of Maryland, I needs me a bushel of bluecrab doused in Old bay and several pitchers of Yuengling, you keen?
Thx for the trip down memory lane... ;D
Quote from: The Dude on May 23, 2011, 07:34:34 AM
Dang, I really hope the biologists can figure out a fix for the snakehead invasion.
Was that first picture Riverbend?
Not Riverbend, but just a few miles downstream inside the beltway.
I think they're here to stay. They came into the system in 2002 and spread pretty quickly...they're supposed to be resilient to a lot of different conditions...salinity, water quality, temps,, etc. Last year a friend of mine saw couple big ones (like, 2-3') attempting to clear Little Falls like a salmon. I've seen them gulping air on multiple occasions up there. Still not many anglers catching them, the occasional bass fisherman lucks into one.
"Northern snakeheads have been documented in the Potomac River from Great Falls downstream for almost 100 miles to near the Chesapeake Bay. Although they have been found in the nontidal section of the Potomac and its tributaries above Washington, D.C., most snakeheads are still found in the tidal waters from D. C. downstream to Colonial Beach (and in tributaries of D.C., Maryland and Virginia within this reach). Snakeheads are abundant in all of Virginia's tidal tributaries to the Potomac River within this reach (e.g., Little Hunting Creek, Dogue Creek, Pohick Creek, Occoquan River, Neabsco Creek, Quantico Creek, and Aquia Creek)."
http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/snakehead-faq.asp (http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/snakehead-faq.asp)
Nice looking pics, man. It's a shame to hear that it's so littered there. I hate that. Part of fishing for me is also exploring all of Mother Nature's beauty, as I am sure it for many of us here.
I fished a stream a few months ago and caught some very nice trout. The whole experienced was damn near ruined for me due to all the litter in and around the stream. Refrigerators, washers, dryers, tires, wheels, dead calf, dead deer, bottles, cans, furniture, TV's, etc. It was unfreakin' believable how the locals have destroyed the beauty of that stream. It was so nasty I don't think I could ever wet wade there. I was really expecting to eventually walk up on a dead body. :o
Quote from: Transylwader on May 23, 2011, 10:25:26 AM
Speaking of Maryland, I needs me a bushel of bluecrab doused in Old bay and several pitchers of Yuengling, you keen?
If I can swap the Yuengling for Flying Dog, I'm hosting.
Nooice! Im all in. let me know. V:;
I want to see a picture of you with one of those snakeheads! You will be one up on all of us! -0-
She continues to produce.
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u262/OldDominionAngler/lm2.jpg)
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u262/OldDominionAngler/lm.jpg)
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u262/OldDominionAngler/P5282355-1.jpg)
5x, here's one of the Potomac's most wanted...he/she was captured on Monday. (Woolly, we need a vomiting emoticon) It made a huge wake chasing the fly. Weirder than the fish itself was the fact that it had open wounds all over its head. I first thought, "Oh shit, lesions." After a closer glance, I'm pretty sure someone caught this thing, stabbed it in the head 6-7 times with a filet knife and threw it back....and it lived. You can see the biggest on the gillplate there.
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u262/OldDominionAngler/P7122621.jpg)
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u262/OldDominionAngler/P7122626.jpg)
That is impressive! Maybe who ever caught it before should have shot it. -0-
Quote from: 5xTippett on May 23, 2011, 20:16:16 PM
I want to see a picture of you with one of those snakeheads! You will be one up on all of us! -0-
X2
Well I see you have already produced
Again...heads and shoulders above the rest 'c;
thing looks alot like a bowfin but with a rattlesnake pattern :o
Snakehead on a flyrod. WOW... and scary crap. Glad we dont have them here in OK that I know of. As for Yuengling and Flying Dog.. Both are pretty good stuff other than the fact that we cant get Yuengling down here.
I could really go for a Primanti Bro sammich and a Yuengling black an tan for lunch.
Dang stabbed with a fillet knife and still lives to eat again. I guess you finished the job? So do those things have teeth? I am glad you don't have them around here either, that we know of anyway.
STU
Quote from: Stuart R. on July 29, 2011, 11:02:22 AM
So do those things have teeth?
STU
(http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGC/StaticFiles/Images/Show/34xx/344x/3449_hooked-fishzilla-1_05320299.jpg)
Quote from: Stuart R. on July 29, 2011, 11:02:22 AM
Dang stabbed with a fillet knife and still lives to eat again. I guess you finished the job? So do those things have teeth? I am glad you don't have them around here either, that we know of anyway.
STU
I was knee deep in pond muck without a knife when I landed it so I threw it back. Had I been better prepared I'm still not sure I would've killed it. You're not required to by law and I figure it's an invasive competing for habitat with a ton of other invasives. Turns out they've been in the river since 1997 (before the Frankenfish headines took off) and eradication stopped being an option a long time ago. VDGIF is still figuring what threats they pose and how to manage the fish. I do know that they have a serious taste for the banded killifish...but I've also heard that they somehow get outcompeted by largemouth in their native habitat. Not sure anyone knows what to make of the whole situation except these folks...
Swarm of the Snakehead Trailer (2006) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpbafxClIS0#)