Memorial Day monster mash

Last week I fished Gravelly Point, the Tidal Basin, and Chain Bridge. The Potomac River continues to provide action to those seeking it. Snakehead, Gar, Carp, Striped Bass, Largemouth, Smallmouth, and pan fish action are all heating up as the Shadams family starts wrapping it up before their migration back towards the Ocean.  Look for LMB and panfish on shallow spawning beds (hard bottom, shallow water) until the end of the June. Also – CICADA action. Tie em up and get em wet.

 Recently, I’ve been night fishing the outgoing tides in areas where bait is concentrated. In these areas, striped bass, walleye, LMB , smallmouth, and crappie have all been the usual suspects with a few random catfish mixed in. Until this weekend, a 6-7 wt rod has been the perfect amount of backbone for most of these fish.

On Sunday night, albeit a full moon and slightly off color water, the conditions were right to find some stripers around Reagan Airport. There were some fish around ( a few pops on top but not a ton), but none fell for the size 6 baitfish imitation I was throwing. However, where the stripers failed me – big gar and catfish did not. Attempting to find some deeper water in the current, I ended up getting dragged into my backing 4 times in one night and crossing two species off my list. Considering this a hiccup – the Potomac’s version of a practical joke – I left the 8wt in the car and ventured out into the darkness the next night with my 7wt again. Big mistake.

 Immediately I was into something big that took me into the backing (5 fish, 5 backing runs). After a ten minute struggle, I brought my first golden of the night to the net. After snapping a few pics, I went back to my spot and gave it a few more casts by the outflow before venturing off to fish the deeper bowls.  It was a good call. Although bites were spread out over 15-20 minute periods, I managed to hook into another large blue cat (27”, 8lbs), my second big ghost of the night (33”, 15lbs), and a mystery fish (which took me 15 yards into my backing). After the second ghost of the night and the clock approaching 3:30am I decided to call it quits. In two nights of hunting for stripers there were a total of 7 bites, 7 runs into the backing, and 0 striped bass caught.  Talk about getting weird.


Stay fly.

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