Potomac River blue cats, 1/29

[ictalurus]

kevinfry and I went out on a cat hunt today. I initially wanted to launch at the National Colonial Farm at Bryan Point. The website said there was a kayak launch near the fishing pier and boat pier, and it was close to deeper water. When we got there, we found that it would take a 4-wheeler or several mules and an elaborate pulley system to launch and retrieve kayaks there. The forest was kind of thick around the shore, and there was a good drop off down to the water. I'd love to know what kind of kayaks they think can be launched there.

Our second choice was a boat ramp at Marshall Hall, and that turned out to be a good one. It's a nice boat ramp, and there is deep water relatively near by. I don't know what time we hit the water, but it was probably around 11:30 (a few U-turns were involved on the way to both places). I headed toward deeper water looking for marks while Kevin started drifting. I found some nice marks between 20-25ft of water, anchored, and rigged up. I had a fish finder rig using a 1oz bullet weight on one rod and another fish finder rig with a float and 2oz pyramid weight on the other rod. The float was between the weight and the hook to keep the bait off the bottom. Around 12:30, I noticed the rod with the float was bouncing. As I reeled in that fish, my other rod went off.

Here's the first fish, which was my biggest for the day and was only around 20" or so:


I had to remove this fish from the gene pool because it managed to gut-hook itself on a circle hook.

The other fish was a bit smaller:


Shortly thereafter, Kevin hooked up:


I picked up 17-incher a little while later, and Kevin came up with a double, too:




All told, I ended up with 4 cats, all caught on cut menhaden. Kevin ended up with 5, all of which came in on nightcrawlers and minnows. I tried nightcrawlers to no avail. I saw a bunch of different marks in deeper water (25-28ft), including what appeared to be bigger cats, stripers, and perch. I wanted to try a bottom rig with nightcrawlers to see if any perch were around, but I was having serious issues with tangles today. The wind and current were at odds all day, which made drifting really hard. Even anchoring was a problem because my kayak kept ending up side to the waves, which continued to build until we left, which was around 2 or 2:30. I think I caught all my fish while anchored. The water temperature according to my sonar at the end of the day was 42-43*, which I think was probably pretty accurate. The water felt fridge-cold but not freezing cold. Water temperature at Piscataway was 39* earlier this month, and it's been pretty warm lately.

It was good fishing with Kevin again, and he added a new species to his resume as well as his January fish. I was happy to get a January fish that wasn't foul-hooked. Plus, it was cool checking out a couple of new spots. I'd like to fish that area more thoroughly on a nicer day.

[Salmo trutta]

Cool report. I don't think I've ever seen a blue cat that small but it's still pretty cool. To target the larger fish, use much larger baits and hooks. Like 7/0 circle, 3 foot leader to swivel and 3 oz egg sinker or bank sinker on a fish finder rig. Then rig half or a third of a 15" gizzard shad. I usually get two or three baits out of a 10-16" gizzard shad. THe head and middle section are best, cut the tail off, and go with the last few inches. So palm size baits are best, fresh is very important too. Live salties like 5 inches long are good baits, eels work, as do blue crab, blue fish and such. Frozen bait is usually useless. You were in the right area I just think you had the wrong size bait.

[ictalurus]

Cool report. I don't think I've ever seen a blue cat that small but it's still pretty cool.

Small fish are my specialty. I've had days where I've gotten Bay slams without catching anything over 12".

Thanks for the info. There were definitely some bigger marks there. I was using a 6/0 hook based on what I read on another website, but the menhaden (which were frozen) chunks I was using filled the gap, which didn't seem optimal. It also sounds like I should lengthen my leader. I tried to find fresh gizzard shad but could only find frozen menhaden. Do you have any suggestions for places that sell fresh gizzard shad?

[Salmo trutta]

They will be piled up at 4 mile creek warm water, blue plains, and a few other areas like creek mouths. Hardly anywhere will sell fresh gizzards because they have no market. The warf or the fish market on Maine avenue or the south west water front in DC has a huge selection of fresh, or non frozen fish. I wouldn't exactly call it fresh but you never know. You could find anything you want there. The herring there is usually useless. People still buy it to eat though. When you see the rib cage popping through the skin than you know you have rotten meat. YOu can buy whole white shad there from NC. That often works well. Probably anything will work really, just find the firmest, freshest looking meat. Don't need to go far from the water front to find huge cats either.

[FishingRod]

I think you could have launched at Piscataway Park off of Wharf Rd

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/boating/p...eGeorges11.pdf

It's right next to the National Colonial Farm. I've heard there are some good catfish holes at the mouth of Piscataway Creek. Marshall Hall area is good too. There is a flat south of the Marshall Hall ramp that supposed to hold some stripers in the spring for C&R fishing. I tried it a couple years ago for stripers and also drifted small spoons to see if there were any shad around making their way to Fletchers. I caught no stripers and caught a couple catfish on the spoons. The catfish bent up the spoons.