Potomac river Catfish 4/5 w pics

[27 sailfish]

Chasing Rock is fun but cool to try different fishing every now / then. Fellow Tfer Charlie S ( Charlie ) made the long drive from eastern shore to meet me in Bowie. We then drove to Fort Washington and met Capt. Mike Starrett with Indian head Charters. Capt. Mike has the 22 foot Mako launched when we got there at 7:15 am.

Hard to believe we were about 10 miles from the White House - Potomac river here is not too built up. We ran to a spot Capt. Mike thought would be good for Catfish - nice sharp drop off. He set out 10 rods - 4 with cut bait and 6 with live black Salty minnows. Some were cast to port - deeper water - some straight back and some to starboard - shallower side. Theory was the Cats would move from shallow water to the deeper as sun came up.

Well , fish being fish - they hit off the deeper side. We did not wait long between hits and the circle hooks worked great to get the fish in jaw. Charlie got the first one - about 3-4 lbs.




Current was out going and wind was from north ( luckily ). This kept the boat right on the ledge. Between strikes - we looked around at Ospreys and saw perhaps a Sturgeon roll. What ever it was - looked big. Few fast bass boats ran by but river was mostly quiet. Again - hard to believe we were so close to DC.

We moved a few times when bite slowed - often hooking up quickly after the move.

The black Saltys got hit a lot but some hit the cut bait as well. It was a relaxing way to fish until Charlie broke out his fried chicken lunch. If you fish - you know what happened next. Bite really took off - at one point we had three fish on.




Most were 2-4 pounders but we did get a few bigger ones.









They fought well - these Blue catfish are aggressive. We caught an Eel on the cut bait but it got away at surface. The full moon made for a very long outgoing current but also brought a lot of sticks and we fished until about 2:30. We ran out of the Saltys - going through about 3 dozen or so. The cut bait worked well - as long as it was fresh. Baits out more then 15 minutes got washed out. We also hooked a few interesting Clams. These were about 3-4 inches long and 2 inches across.

The sun was out and river calm as we ran back to the ramp - that Mako goes fast . Capt. Mike really knows this river - Charlie and I both had a great time. We did not get a monster Cat but hope to try again in fall or next spring.

[catman]

Nice report Skip. Mike has told me about the Black salties. I never used them. What kind of cut bait were ya'll using?

[crabby and son]

Sounds like a fun trip. I have a trip booked with Capt. Mike on April 21st. The Potomac is a world class fishery in the Spring....................Gary

[Hillbilly Boater]

Skip, Thanks for the report. Sounds like a fun time fishing for something different. Glad you and Charlie had some success even if you didn't get the big one.

[reeltor]

Great day to be on the water and nice fishing.

[philk999]

Sounds like fun Skip. It is always nice ot try for something different once in a while.

[Chesapeake TJAM]

Sounds like a fun trip. Never used Black Saltys but was wondering how they would do. Thanks for answering that.
Mike

[5th Tuition]

Charlie needs to buy a condo on the Western Shore!!! Sounds like a fun day.
5th (Marty)

[mlag]

Dang........I thought " I have it bad". That Charlie guy "has it reaaalllllllllly bad". Congrats, looked like a fun trip.............................Mark

[golfish]

Looks and sounds like a fun trip. Catfishing can be very relaxing and enjoyable.
Where do the Black Saltys come from?

Mike