washout: Big Storms muddy water, slow down bite

Last Friday’s rain storm sure messed a lot of things up. The hot shad bite we had been experiencing cooled down with the rain and muddied water…..the shore bite disappearing altogether on Monday. The striped bass and largemouth bite also cooled significantly with the rain and subsequent post front conditions. But fish can still be caught dragging big, dark flies in and around structure. Water temps dropping from 70 degrees to 60 in the course of a week didn’t help things either. However, this shouldn’t come as a surprise –the Potomac and its tributaries are adversely affected by big rains. That’s not to say that fish were not caught this weekend. When big rains effect the Potomac - community ponds, public lakes, and other areas without extreme runoff become hot spots. The infusion of fresh oxygen into the water usually ignites the bite in a big way.  But muddy water and blue bird skies don’t make things easier. Period.

Unfortunately for fishermen this past weekend, the big storm happened on Friday – leaving the river a muddied wasteland for most of the fishable weekend. High skies and zero cloud cover didn’t help ignite the bite as much as squash it. Even hitting the water on Monday, there were noticeable mud lines and very few patches of “clean” water. Knowing that the shad bite would significantly cool down at Fletcher’s in addition to the largemouth and striper bite – I decided to check out some areas for Snakeheads down river.

I chose the Tidal Basin not only for its somewhat robust snakehead population, but also because the snakeheads in the lower part of the river do not have lock jaw (unlike the spawners upriver at Chain Bridge). In what I like to call, “Urban Whale Watching” – snakeheads will come up to breathe air every 20 minutes or so, giving away their position with a telltale boil – I waited to see if any fish were around…and were they.

In my experience, the tidal outlet on Ohio Drive holds good numbers of these fish.  There are some monsters in there too (3.5ft+) so be prepared for anything and everything.  I found fish on the incoming tide nearest the inflow on Ohio Drive.  I worked the gate for about an hour or so with no luck. Every pattern I tried failed. Including the Sex Panther…..I then walked the sea wall for a few hundred yards covering all water between Ohio Drive and the FDR Memorial. Still, nothing. Somewhat tired and defeated (beautiful weather, ugly water) I decided to give it one more shot at the bridge. I’m glad I did.

On the second cast, I felt a big bump and strip set hard on what I figured to be a catfish or bass. Snakeheads are too smart, too finick,  I thought to myself. Man, do I need to keep the faith more. My rod doubled over, a monster snakehead erupted from the water, and my adrenaline started flowing. After a spectacular display of brutish strength, I got the fish to the wall….only to realize that A) the tide was still too low for me to boga grip it and B) my net was too small. A good problem to have I guess….until I got the fish’s head in the net, the fish slid backwards out of said net, and the hook dislodged from its toothy gullet. I’ve never come closer to snapping my rod.

So…. sorry for being long winded, just thought I’d share that moment of truth.….

Water will clear up by today or Wednesday with a return to fishing normal spring patterns. Chartreuse has been the color for shad recently as they’ve collectively decided to swear off the pink stuff. For stripers look for current and bait (incoming, outgoing tides at creek mouths) and for largemouth, look for fish holding on shallow structure.

Stay fly. 

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