steveb1

Yes. 1/2 ounce.

I'd be willing to bet the large rolls are carp. They are already very active. I was fishing a water discharge near Quantico, pulling a silver buddy out of the heavy stream into the slack eddy, and hooked up with a 20lb carp. Had a terrific battle for over 10 minutes. I'd get him close to the boat and then he'd rip out 30 feet of line. I'd rather catch bass, but that was a lot of fun.

I couldn't pass up another of these gorgeous days, so I took a day off and went fishing. The bass were very hungry, The key for me today was finding warm water along sandy or pebble banks. Average main river temp was 56 degrees, but the bite was in more protected water with a temp of 59 to 61. I was using Sonars and rattle traps.

I've caught a few Snakehead this year and last. Common patterns - very shallow weedy still water. They will attack just about anything that moves near them, so save your expensive frogs and throw plastics. Pretty much anything rigged weedless, but I use buzz frogs that can be presented in a variety of ways, buzz it across the top of the grass, or let sink into the holes, or twitch along the bottom. Target very very very shallow water, over two feet and you're too deep.

I went fishing out of Algonkian Park for the first time this season in the upper Potomac and was amazed by the lack of grass mats. What's going on? I mean, no grass anywhere, for as far as the eye could see. Normally the river has grass mats all over the place by mid-August. I also went over the Point Of Rocks bridge recently, and there was no grass there either.

Rebel BumbleBug slays them! Best color is beatle metalic green. This is my alltime favorite for Bluegill.

I am already getting Spring Fever. I plan to get out early this year for the Perch run on the Potomac. Is Occoquan river a good spot for Perch? I know its going to depend on the weather, but when approximately is the earliest that Perch can be expected to be caught?

I've been in there a few times. It's hit and miss for bass, but there are plenty of snakehead. I've had better luck for bass on the grassbed out in front of the bridge before you enter the creek.

I'm going to head out of Leesyvania tomorrow and will be fishing the tidal portion of the Potomac. I'll probably head over to either Mattawomen or Quantico creek. I have been told that with the fall weather, the bass will move up into the creeks following the bait fish to fatten up for the winter. But, its supposed to very cold tonight with tomorrow being sunny and cool, and I am wondering if the fish will stay in the deeper (warmer?) water in the morning and wait to move up into the shallows until the afternoon, after the sun has time to warm things up. So the current idea is to fish the the offshore points at the heads of the creeks in the morning with crankbaits and spinner baits, and then move into the creek channels as the day warms up. Looks like I am going to miss low tide (7:30AM) by about a half hour. Looking for input on general patterns to employ on the Potomac this time of year.

I caught my second Snakehead yesterday in Powell's Creek. I've had three other Snakeheads bite off my line. The Snakehead I caught yesterday was ~5lbs. If you want to catch Snakeheads just target very shallow weedy areas well back into the creeks. Throw anything that a large mouth would be interested in. They will hit topwaters, buzzfrogs, lizards, jigs, etc.. The first one I caught was in Quantico Creek, and the ones that bit me off were in Mattawoman. They will definitely (eventually) become a very popular sport fish. They're big, they fight extremely hard, and they are very good to eat (PCB levels aside).

Where's everyone going to be this weekend? I'm planing on launching from Leesylvania and heading to Quantico Creek. Going to start on grass edges casting into the thicker stuff with a buzz frog, and alternating with a weightless Senko into the pockets. If things don't work out there, I'll head over to Mattawomen and try the same pattern in the grass along Marsh Island, and also try a chatterbait or spinnerbait parallel to the grass.

You could launch out of Pohick Bay State Park without any trouble on a quiet day. Pohick Bay is very shallow and the waves don't get that big. Launch, turn left follow the shore and head for the pads. There is a feeder stream that you can follow way back into the pads. Be prepared to land a monster Snakehead.

By far, the largest and most scenic lake to shore fish in the Sterling area is Beaver Dam Creek Reservoir in Ashburn.

But where's the fun in that? Thousands of people are paying big money to get into Six Flags, for a ride we're getting for the cost of gas.

Went out from Leesylvania on Sunday and crossed over to Mattawomen for the first time. The way over was smooth, but the way back was rough. I was totally clueless on how rough the Potomac can get. I am extremely glad I decided to get a 19' boat, instead of the 18's I was originally looking at. Went all the way in to the very back, and worked my way out. Mostly throwing plastic worms and lizards on wood or structure where I could find it. Did pretty well (for me anyway), caught 11, with my best five weighing in at 12 lbs. Mattawomen is a sea of grass. I am more comfortable in fishing wood and banks. Ok, survey time. How do you fish the grass in Mattawomen?

Took the family camping at Pohick Bay State Park this weekend. Went fishing yesterday and did pretty well. But this morning we went out about 8:00 am and the water level was way down. Didn't realize it at the time, but I just barely managed to get the boat into the water. I thought that with the water as low as it was, that this had to be low tide, and it would rise a little by the time I was finished. Wrong! Fished for about 3 hours. Fishing was miserable. Cold and windy. Decided I'd had enough and went back to the launch and found I couldn't get the boat to the ramp! Water had dropped another foot. Stuck in the mud about 20 feet out. I've never seen the water level this low. While I was sitting in the boat, some other boaters where on the dock, that had showed up to launch and found out they couldn't. We were talking and they also had never seen it this low. I guess we had hit optimal low tide and in addition there had been a steady NW 20mph wind all night that had pushed all the water out. One guy mentioned that Leesylvania launch was closed due to low water. Turns out that the side of the ramp I was at was a little shallower than the other side, so I pushed the boat out of the mud and tried the other side and just managed to get in close enough to get it on the trailer. Another little snag occurred at this point. One of the concrete sections of the ramp bed under water was missing and my trailer tire went into the hole. Again, I got very lucky, and just managed to drag the boat and trailer out of the hole. On my way out, another boater arrived with a large boat and was debating on trying to put in where I had just come out from. His boat had to be at least 25 ft cabin cruiser. I went over and told him about the hole on the ramp bed, and strongly recommended that he NOT put in. He ignored my advice and tried anyway. Sure enough he got stuck.

The current situation at Beaverdam is unlikely to change, and as far as I am concerned that is great news. The reason for the current state is Beaverdam Creek Resevoir is owned by Fairfax county and Fairfax has no interest in improving a facility for Loudoun county residents. Loudoun county on the other hand will not improve property that they do not own. A wonderful catch 22, that gives us this fantastic hidden treasure. A little bit of trash (which I try to pick up a bit on each visit), is preferable to having the place overrun by hoards of people. Which would happen, if it was improved into a park.

Thats cuz u havent went fishing with me. I been catching at least 10-12 fish almost every time I go out. Thats not slayin 'em but catching some is better then nothing. Usually stay out for 3-5 hours or so. Lots of 2-3 pounders and a few bigger ones. U just gotta lemme know when u guys are avilable to go. That u pizzay ? I'm almost ready Steve. I'm sure you remember, but just a little reminder, you gave me some nice advice on this forum on buying the boat I eventually ended up with. I took the "new to me" bass boat out for a couple of shake out runs, and it turns out it needed new rectifiers for the charging circuit (wouldn't recharge the batteries), and the lower unit had a very minor leak that I decided to go ahead and fix. The mechanic talked me into replacing the water impeller. He told me that since they have the lower unit off anyway to fix the leak, the water impeller is easy and cheap to take care of, and you never know when its going to go. There's a 50/50 chance they will have it ready before this weekend. If not, then it will definately be ready for next weekend. I'll pm you when I know the boat is ready, and hopefully we can get together on the Potomac.

Fairfax lake in Reston is stocked with trout.

That's the place.

Crappie spawn is on at Lake Anne in Reston. Pulled in at least 30 in about an hour and a half. They were sitting on nests along a rocky shore. They were hitting a bucktail jig, hot pink head with white tail. Just jigged the lure within a few feet of the shore and they couldn't resist. One thing I noticed was that I had to jig the lure above their heads. They would only strike upward. They wouldn't touch anything that was below them, or being dragged across the rocks.

Usually Jonboats have the right angle lever style plug that goes on the inside of the boat. Have you tried using the "screw" style plug that goes on the outside of the boat? The different section of the tube may be better for achieving a good seal.

I was out on the Occ Res Saturday with my son. It was cloudy early and took a lot longer to warm up than I expected. My little 5hp Eska Ebay special has stopped spitting water. Every time I stop I get a small cloud of steam. Once I noticed that I wasn't spitting, I only ran the motor for short ~5 minute spurts to the next likely looking spot, and gave the engine a chance to cool down. I heard that the small Eska's (which I have the Sears version of) can actually run without the impeller working.(another poster on iboat said that Eska actually states this in early printed material). I felt the engine and it didn't feel very hot. I don't know if this is true, and I plan on figuring out how to replace the impeller. It looks like there is one large machine screw and and one large bolt holding the bottom piece of the leg on just above where the propeller comes out, and just below where the water goes into the leg (screw and bolt facing upward toward the head). Unfortunately the large screw is a simple regular head and is stuck fast, and I can't figure out how to apply some real torque without stripping the head. On the couple of attempts that I tried, the screw driver slipped out of the slot and I can see that I have just started to strip the slot. One thought I have is to actually epoxy the screwdriver into the head of the screw. Once I have the screw out, if I can't get the epoxy off, its a simple task to get a machine screw replacement. Its a stupid design, they should have had two bolts instead of one of them being a screwhead. If anyone has actually replaced the impeller on a 3 to 10hp Eska (or other small outboard in general) please PM me with any further info on the subject. Any way, back to the subject of fishing, I asked the oldtimer at the rental desk what was working. He said that because the conditions are cold muddy high water, that I should try going all the way into the back of the shallow bays. He said the muddy shallow water gets a chance to warm up under the sun faster than the deep water and the bass like it there. He suggested white spinnerbaits and to even try a buzzbait. Tried what he suggested without much success.

Steve I see what you are saying. I plan to get some type of a small boat but for now I just want to get on the water. I have a truck with a tow package. I just got to find a place to store a boat also (d**n HOA) > I will get a boat because I know the rentals are a joke. Thanks for the suggestion. The rental price for the jonboat alone is pretty cheap at $11, its the full setup with trolling motor and life jackets that end up costing $50. If you get your own accessories its not too bad. I already had a trolling motor for my canoe, so I lurked on Ebay until I had a chance at a cheap older small 5hp clamp on outboard. Now it just costs me $11 for the full day. If you bring your own jonboat on a trailer, I think the lauch fee is $5, so you're only paying an additional $6. And you don't have to load or trailer the boat.

Went out from Pohick Bay State Park to try out the new boat (new to me) and got skunked. But had a blast getting the boat up to about 2/3 speed. Motored around the bay but didn't go out into the main river. As I got close to the main portion of the river you could size large, I mean tree sized, logs floating all over the place. While I was fishing the Park side, I saw a guy pull in a good ~3 pounder about 50 yards away. So the fish were there if you knew how to catch em. When I got back in to the dock, there was a kid ~27 looking for a band-aid. He had been bitten by a Snakehead. Said they caught 2 Snakeheads. By the way, how do you fish for Snakeheads? Same as for Bass?