Where Are All The Fish?

I had to go back to work this past week, and the "Great American Solar Eclipse" was happening on Monday as well. I decided to try to go fishing for a little bit before my last hockey game of the spring/summer season during the eclipse, since I had to be at work on Tuesday and couldn't go somewhere with totality.

Taylor's Landing during the eclipse

No fish were harmed in the creation of this photo

I got nothing during the eclipse. I couldn't even get any good photos of the sun; my phone and my eclipse goggles didn't cooperate. So, while I got to see the eclipse (at about 80% totality), I couldn't take my own photos. I guess I should have just taken photos of the shadows. 

So, I went back to work on Tuesday, and the rest of the staff came back on Wednesday. We've got eight preservice days because our governor decided to kiss Ocean City's ass. Since we can't start before Labor Day, and we have to finish by June 15 (maybe it's June 16), including snow days, and our contract has stipulated a certain number of professional days, there wasn't much choice. It's very frustrating to know that Ocean City's Chamber of Commerce is more important than the education of students in Maryland, at least to our governor. 

Saturday, I met up with fellow Caps season ticket holders at a DuClaw/Goonda beer pickup at the brewery. 

Then I went home and started brewing a new batch of my cinnamon beer to be ready for Chilibrew, a contest I entered in October. I'm hoping this batch of the beer turns out as awesome as the first one!

I went with two grain bags for the initial steeping versus the one last time.

The first batch had an OG of 1.034. This is better. 

That leads us to this morning, when Pat woke me up to go fishing. Now, the first thing I actually did was pitch the yeast in the wort (long story, but let's just say you shouldn't listen to someone who tells you to "add hot water!" to bring it up to 4.5-5gal). Then I grabbed my stuff to head out to whereever Pat wanted to go this weekend. 

That was Point of Rocks. We haven't been there in over a year, and I think I know why. Because it sucks. First off, we got basically the last parking space, in the regular (non-boat-launch) parking. Secondly, there is little-to-no fishing from the shore for someone like me. Anyway, after attempting maybe a dozen casts near the bridge, I opted to move upstream. Pat had already caught at least one fish, albeit a sunfish. 

I walked. And walked. And walked. I finally saw a small pathway towards the river, but when I looked closer, it was a scramble to get to the shore. I opted to keep walking. 

I found a second path, and followed it, only to find tree-covered shoreline. No good for me. I kept following the path, and came too close to hurting myself severely when I stepped over a log and put my foot squarely in a groundhog hole. I writhed in pain for a bit, then hardened up and kept walking to find nothing. So, I went through "wilderness" back towards the towpath, where I could see something. 

Lockhouse 28

Lock 28

I almost lost my collapsible water bottle at the lockhouse when I put it down to take some photos and forget to pick it up afterwards. I had to hike back a good quarter mile to grab it. So, the second time I passed it, I took a photo of the mile marker. 

I just kept walking, and I probably hit mile 50, considering I walked a good 20min past MM49. I'm guessing the MM50 marker is missing. Anyway, I found another path to the river near where MM50 should be, and it looked promising. 

Panorama view is cool

I tossed a swimbait a few times, to no avail, and a Whopper-Plopper a few times.... only to get it hung up in a small tree on a rock that was within wading distance. I'd already expressed frustration to Pat via text, and then I get a response saying he's willing to go elsewhere. I tell him that I need to get my Whopper-Plopper back and then it would be a 30min walk. 

He left it up to me where to go after that. I opted for the Monocacy Aqueduct, since I knew it was close by and had areas accessible from shore. The last time I was at Catoctin Aqueduct, the fish-from-shore areas were very limited. 

Pat immediately caught a sunfish (he'd caught two at Point of Rocks), and proceeded to catch several smallmouth. Meanwhile, I was still catching nothing. I wasn't even getting bites or nibbles. I trundled downstream past where he was wading, and still, nothing. 

As much as I didn't want to, I finally went up to near where Pat was fishing and started tossing lures. 

It was something at least

On a "junebug" TRD Finesse Worm, I finally caught something, a sunfish that was maybe five inches. I haven't caught a sunfish in thirty-some years. I almost kept it, just for noms sake, but tossed it back. 

I wasn't getting any other action from the junebug, so I switched to a swimbait. On a Reaction Innovations swimbait (I think it was a "Spanish Fly" coloration), I finally had a hit from the Potomac mainstay, and fought it to the shore. It wouldn't stop thrashing, even out of the water, and managed to disengage itself from the hook. I was able to grab it before it thrashed itself back into the water. 

Smallmouth fury! All 12" of it.

The only other thing I would catch would be another 5-6" sunfish. 

I guess I need to get either waders or a fishing kayak to open up my possibilities. Pat -- wading -- was able to get so much more that I did. 

Another week of preservice training, then Labor Day Weekend. Maybe we'll go camping! :)

Lazy Sunday

Pat woke me up this morning to go fishing on the Potomac. I am not an early riser by any means, but I dragged myself out of bed and grabbed my rods and bag.

He'd restrung two of my reels last night, so I felt obliged to bring all three of my rods. He also graciously gave me some campground tubes and a few jigs for them, so I scooped those up and into my gear.

Today's destination was Antietam Campground, which we last hit before my road trip. Considering I'd caught walleye at Dam 4 on Thursday, I was hopeful to continue the streak.

Pat trekked upriver, towards his current favorite spot, while I walked downriver to where I caught the walleye last time here. The river was very still, and a bald eagle flew overhead.

I started off with the Whopper-Plopper, and in the first thirty minutes, had three solid hits. The last one, I even almost landed the damned fish before it shook off the lure and swam away. Topwater lures are awful like that. You get frustrated, and say "One more cast!" and then you get a hit, and you just want to keep casting.

Stupid topwater.

So, after being teased with the Whopper-Plopper, I finally switched over to swimbait. Second cast in, and I've got another hit!

Not a very big fish

It fought well, and I was happy to actually bring it in after the topwater failures.

Shortly thereafter, two other guys showed up and started fishing maybe twenty yards from me. I was a bit annoyed, and intentionally cast near them to show my annoyance. They moved further away and cast downriver after that, though they never left the area.

I think they were a jinx. The only fish I saw after they showed up was a big 'ol carp that startled me, swimming maybe eighteen inches from my feet.

Carp don't care. Kinda like musky, but no one wants to catch a carp

Meanwhile, Pat says he caught five fish, though the fifth one was allegedly sixteen inches and there is no photo...

Maybe I'll go fishing tomorrow, pre-eclipse. It'll be my last time for weekday fishing for a while, as I have to go back to work on Tuesday.

Dam, I Caught A Fish!

Since I've returned from the roadtrip, I've been feeling blah. I guess it's a bit of a wanderlust hangover, knowing that the end of the roadtrip signals the beginning of the school year, and when I need to go back to work. So, yesterday, I made the effort to get out of the house by going fishing before heading down to Kettler Capitals Iceplex for a skating session for season ticket holders.

Pat has started calling the Weverton Cliffs area on the Potomac the "community pool," and sure enough, there were some people wading when I got to the end of the first path out to the river. I don't understand the people who wade and swim in areas where I lose a ton of lures (and their associated hooks), but that's their problem. Anyway, I moved a bit upstream, and with my Under Armour Bozeman boots, had no problem traversing some marshy area to get out to a group of rocks to fish from.

It ended up being a frustrating two hours of fishing. Early on, I had a fish on a Whopper Plopper that escaped. I switched over to a swimbait, and had a hit.... that evaporated when the line broke; I could clearly see the dark shape swim off with my lure. I had another one on a swim bait that again escaped during a leap into the air.

I should have brought a cup. I could have at least come home with a ton of crayfish.

How many crayfish can you find in this photo?

Just before I was ready to leave, I was visited by Mr. Sneaky-snake. I'd seen this snake swim by maybe a half-hour earlier, and then it came back to poke around in the rocky area directly in front of me. It decided to swim up and poke its head out just feet from where I was standing.

I actually hissed at it to make it go away

My first thought was that it was a copperhead, but Pat says it could have been a "northern watersnake." It was a bit pale brown compared to all of the northern watersnake photos I could find. But, when it swam, it was completely underwater, which I don't think is characteristic of copperheads. I didn't get close enough to see the shape of its head.

The trip down to Arlington for the skating session was awful. Traffic was more miserable than usual, and then of course both Elizabeth and I miss out on winning cool prizes by only a few numbers. We had 273165 and 273265, and 273163 and 273267 were called. :( We consoled ourselves at the former World of Beer location just a block or so away, before calling it a night.

So, this morning, I woke up wanting revenge on the fish who'd escaped me.

I decided to try my luck at Taylor's Landing, and chose poorly. Ninety minutes in, and nothing. No nibbles, just several lost lures.

Giving up there, I drove out to Dam 4. Last time I'd done these two in conjunction, I'd caught nothing at Dam 4, but a smallmouth and a walleye at Taylor's Landing.

My first spot, I was vying with two idiots that if I didn't know any better, I'd just call them frat boys. Loud, obnoxious, and just trying to be disruptive. I just kept casting, and didn't say a word. They quickly got tired of trying to antagonize me, but they'd clearly scared the fish away. When I was sure they'd left the area (and so wouldn't think they'd "won"), I moved further downstream from the dam.

I cast for about fifteen minutes with nary a nibble. I moved further downstream and tried again. Nothing. I moved a total of four times before I found a place with fairly calm water, albeit a huge log about five feet off shore. It was going to make casting interesting if I wanted to reel in directly in front. I opted to cast so that I was bringing in the bait at an angle to the log, and hopefully missing it.

Now, I'd been trying everything I had. Topwater (Zara Puppy and Whopper Plopper). Swimbait (Reaction Innovations Little Dipper and BPS Sassy Sally). TRD Finesse Worms. Nothing was getting even sunfish bumps. So, I went back to my old school setup -- the Spider Classic hook with a BPS Sticko Split-tail worm (minnow color).

The second cast, I felt something, and figured it for a sunfish (which I'd seen chasing some of my bait on the way in). I was wrong.

I'm probably the only person who is disappointed to catch a walleye

It was a skinny little thing, and came in just over eleven inches. Figures, considering I now have a stringer to keep the larger ones! I tossed it back and kept casting, only to lose the lure a few moments later.

I put on a swimbait and promptly caught another walleye; again, it wasn't quite twelve inches. All I could think was that Pat was going to be upset that I'd caught two walleye, and couldn't keep either one.

The swimbait was pretty beat up after the walleye (as usual), so I swapped it out for another one. A few more casts, and I'd gotten it hung up on a log (not the one I could clearly see) twice, bad enough that the hook was slightly bent. It was getting close to six, and I was thinking I should go home, but I wanted one more cast. Just one more.

I tossed out the line, then actually started walking downstream as I reeled it in, to try to avoid both the visible log as well as the one I'd gotten hung up on the past two casts. Then it hit, hard. I knew it had to be a smallmouth. I set the hook and reeled for all I was worth. When I saw the fish, I thought, OMG, it's a monster.

A good 14-15" fish, and a hell of a fighter

I think it looked like a monster right off because of how skinny the walleye were. Still, this fish was feisty, and it was hard for me to even get it off the hook. It was thrashing so much, the swimbait flew off, and I was nervous I'd end up with the naked hook in my hand. Obviously, it calmed down enough that I was able to grab it by the lip and remove the hook.

Since I was pretty satisfied by that last cast, I packed it up afterwards and headed home. Pat scowled at me when I returned, but I will put money on us going fishing this weekend, and him outdoing me. :) Though I might catch more walleye.... ;)

Aqueduct Action

Pat woke me up this morning, saying, "I'm going to go fishing, bye!" I was groggy and was confused. Then he said, "Just kidding."

I was a bit more confused. Was he going fishing or not? I pondered this for a bit, until I heard the ice maker dispensing product. I got up and went to the kitchen. "Are you really going fishing?" He said yes. "Can I come?" He said yes. So I got changed and loaded my Bass Pro Shops Megacast and the Abu Garcia Vendetta into the Lightning, along with my tackle bag.

He wouldn't say where he had in mind on the trek down MD100 to I-70. I thought maybe he'd head to the Monocacy Aqueduct, since I'd had some success there on Wednesday. Or maybe to the Lander Road boat ramp near the Catoctin Aqueduct, since he's talked about going there previously, but I'm not sure if he actually has. In the end, it turned out that our destination was the Antietam Aqueduct, where we often camp (and have reservations for next weekend).

Oops. I did it again.

I started off upstream of Antietam Creek while he wandered downstream somewhere. The first place I went, there were four college-aged kids, along with a pool raft. I turned around and went just a little further downstream to another area with enough open air for me to fish from shore. Sadly, it was only about a 100yds downstream from the brobeans and their girls. While they splashed around and the girls "tee-hee-heed" to some really awful commentary, I tried a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper (lost it in the rocks) and then settled on a TRD Finesse Worm. The Ned Rig was getting some interest, but for the most part, no actual bites. I had one fish almost hooked, but it jumped and the hook went one direction while the fish went elsewhere.

Hearing one of the girls say that they needed to leave by 10AM was heartening. They cleared out around 9:40, and I thought maybe some action would come back. Just some tap-tap-taps, but nothing else. By 10AM, I was done in this area, and figured I'd look elsewhere.

I knew that Pat and I had biked further down from the creek previously, but I couldn't remember how far down. I hiked down to a trail I semi-remembered from a prior trip; it was steep, and it was tough to get out an area where I could cast from shore without getting tangled up in trees or other vegetation, but before long, I was set up. I tossed the TRD Finesse Worm a few more times before it got caught on something, and I laid down that rod.

It was about my third or fourth cast with the Spanish Fly Little Dipper that I felt a hit. It felt like a hard hit, but when I went to set the hook, it seemed more like a big branch. Still, there seemed to be something on the other end, and the closer it came to shore, the more it acted unbranchlike. Finally, I could see it through the water, and my heart dropped.

Using the Megacast as an impromptu ruler

It was a walleye. And I still didn't have a stringer to keep it until we were ready to go home.

Of course, it had to be bigger than the walleye I caught before my Acadia trip.

This one would measure in over 17 inches. It would have made a tasty fillet tonight, but sadly, I tossed it back into the river, hoping to meet it again one day.

These teeth are no joke!

I had to switch out my swimbait after the walleye, because it was pretty beat up. I replaced with the same thing, still the Spanish Fly coloration, and shifted a bit to my left so that I could safely cast away from some downed trees.

It didn't take long to get another hit, and this one was, as Pat likes to say, angry!

A good 13-14" fish

I didn't have my Megacast nearby, nor a ruler, so my best gauge said this was a 13-14 inch fish, though I initially thought it was bigger. It sure fought like a bigger fish, but that's what smallmouth bass are known for, right?

Little fish

I had to do some damage control after that bass, as somehow I'd managed to cut my finger. Fortunately, I have a mini-first aid kit in my tackle bag, and after I got cleaned and bandaged up, I was ready to catch some more fish.

The first few casts were awkward, as the bandage really interfered with what I was doing. Once I got used to the lack of sensation when casting due to the bandage, I was on a roll again, before I shifted a little further to my left, even closer to a weedbed and a rocky area. Lo and behold, I caught another smallmouth, a dinky little 9-10 inch thing.

Then Pat texted that he was done and waiting for me back at the truck. It was time to pack up and head out. :(

Evidently, he had only landed one smallmouth, and lost another while using a topwater lure. :(

I should note that I shouldn't have been surprised to catch a walleye here, as Pat had caught one about a mile further up the river when we'd camped during the beginning of my Spring Break. He'd even caught it on a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper.

We headed over to my mom's in Sharpsburg to say hello to her and the spaz dog before heading home. Bruce was, as always, super happy to see Pat.

One more week until the road trip, so I know we'll be back here next weekend! :)

Potomac Monsters

I'm not a big fan of meetings, especially when they don't really impart any information that couldn't have been distributed via email or newsletter. Trainings that drag on for hours because they are catering to the lowest denominator also kill me, especially for computer based things. Just give me free rein, and I'll figure the thing out myself. I'll ask a question if I need more.

So, after a second "fun-filled" day of meetings and training for my summer resource teacher work, I was a bit stir crazy. I'd grabbed two of my rods and my fishing bag on the way out this morning on a whim, and so when I left Gaithersburg High School, I plugged Monocacy Aqueduct into Waze instead of going straight home into rush hour traffic on I-95.

The Mouth of the Monocacy

I knew Pat had fished here recently, and I was pretty sure that I remembered him catching some decent fish. I'd chosen it because it was far enough up, I knew I wasn't in danger of being in tidal waters (which needs a special license), but it was still within a reasonable distance from home for a weeknight where I had to go to work the next day.

While setting up my two rods, I saw a young man and woman leaving from an area just 75-100 feet away from me, and I asked, "Catch anything?" He shook his head. He'd been fishing for bass, but thought he wasn't able to cast his bait far enough to entice them. Looking at what I was about to throw into, I opted for a Ned Rig (TRD Finesse Worm) on my old school Bass Pro Shops Megacast rod, and a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper swimbait on my Abu Garcia rod.

As I was prepping the rods, I saw an eagle majestically swoop down and pluck a fish from the water right in front of me. I knew there were fish to be had.

I cast for about 20 minutes at the confluence of the Monocacy and Potomac Rivers, with nothing. There were a few bumps on the worm, but the swimbait was getting no love. A big old water-striding spider nearby started threatening me (for real), so I opted to move a bit downstream on the Potomac, to an area with some weedbeds and a little shade from the shoreline trees.

There were actually two of them here at one point. Frighteningly, I don't know where the other one went!

I tried the worm again, and promptly got it caught on a log that I could clearly see. I'd lost the swimbait off the other rod earlier and had already tied a Whopper Plopper on it, so I figured, "What the heck?" There were tons of little bugs on the water, to the point that it almost looked like rain drops on the surface, and the smaller birds were having a field day grabbing at them. So, I thought maybe a topwater lure would be a good choice, even though both Pat and I have been skunked when using them for quite a while now.

I tossed to an area just over to my left, which seemed to be kind of weedy and reeled in. Nothing. A second cast, and it was like a slow motion video as the smallmouth came up and grabbed the lure. I was like, "Oh my god, did that just happen?" I set the hook and reeled frantically; the fish tried to jump a few times, but got nowhere as I was keeping the rod tip down. All I could think of was the last time I'd had a smallmouth on a Whopper Plopper, only to lose it just before landing it.

This time, I managed to keep the fish on the hook as I brought it to shore, and it was a pretty good sized Potomac smallmouth.

A good fight, my man!

Just over 14 inches!

I was pretty psyched. While I had the one fish hooked on the Susquehanna, I'd never actually caught a fish with a topwater lure, and definitely not a 14 inch fish on the Potomac! I cast several more times in the same vicinity, but nothing.

Switching to a blue craw TRD Finesse worm (since the coloration was similar to the Whopper Plopper I used), I was able to get some interest from.... something, but no bites. I tried a swimbait again, and promptly got it stuck, again. So, it was after six, and I was thinking, Maybe I should go home.

So, I tied on my other Whopper Plopper, and committed to "10 more casts." The first toss.... nothing. The second cast.... was like a replay of the previous catch. The fish rose up and grabbed the lure as soon as it hit the water, and the game was on. I set the hook, and this one fought big time, but never rose to the surface, so I wasn't sure if it was a little feisty guy, or a monster until it was about four feet from me.

It was more on the monster side!

Using my Megacast rod as a guide, the second fish was just a tick over fifteen inches, easily my largest smallmouth on the Potomac.

I tossed the Whopper Plopper a few more times, just for the heck of it, then packed up to head home. I was satisfied with the two I'd caught, and how I caught them.

But... I have more meetings and training tomorrow. So, maybe I'll hit up the Potomac again? I guess it depends on just how hot and miserable it ends up being. The forecast is pretty awful.

The aqueduct is pretty awesome.