Late April/Early May DC Area Fishing

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pmk00001
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Late April/Early May DC Area Fishing
<p>&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">After the Clinch River my buddy Chris came down to DC to fish with me for a few days.&nbsp; These are really special times for me, we were great friends from Elementary thru High School and reconnected a few years ago.&nbsp; Growing up in the NYC &#39;burbs there weren&#39;t alot of outdoors types so we naturally gravitated toward each other.&nbsp; 35 years later we are still out there doing it.</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Friday we baited up a spot for carp in the morning and then went around to the Tidal Basin to see float fish for carp and see what else was going on.&nbsp; The float fishing was spectacular and we were into nice strong pre-spawn fish, some of which probably went close to 20lbs.</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><img alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-XuoESGC9-J8/UX5SjCDKuII/AAAAAAAAbCs/tvawuvJQSNw/w597-h478/IMGP1974.JPG" style="width: 597px; min-height: 478px;" /></p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><img alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-0kUs_pVR1xg/UX5Ssho_7QI/AAAAAAAAbD8/8E-7IIMnEDw/w572-h478/IMG_20130426_113538.jpg" style="width: 572px; min-height: 478px;" /></p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><img alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-FmD-ujlqsL8/UX5SuJ2NcJI/AAAAAAAAbEM/1gS8VD5QSA0/w637-h478/IMG_20130426_115715.jpg" style="width: 637px; min-height: 478px;" /></p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">After awhile I switched up and managed to catch 5 Northern Snakeheads in a couple of hours.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><img alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-O1BeVsKyQfQ/UX5Sn6iuBHI/AAAAAAAAbDU/RztUiqIiDKs/w527-h478/IMGP1979.JPG" style="width: 527px; min-height: 478px;" /></p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><img alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-rXl4qJBvAhY/UX5SpZxoBHI/AAAAAAAAbDk/w7_ODShgfW8/w558-h478/IMGP1981.JPG" style="width: 558px; min-height: 478px;" /></p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Chris tried for Snakeheads and ended up with a decent Largemouth.</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><img alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m4z44gZPPgA/UX5SwkR6AHI/AAAAAAAAbEs/l-x1ZbuZLks/w637-h478/IMG_20130426_151119.jpg" style="width: 637px; min-height: 478px;" /></p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">We packed up earlier than usual and went to a Baseball games and were lucky enough to watch Jordan Zimmermann throw a one hitter.</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Saturday we hit up the spot we prebaited the day before.&nbsp; While waiting for bites I sight fished a Tessellatted Darter.</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><img alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ZaPKdrgaAiU/UX5S0hemxQI/AAAAAAAAbFU/6EEUuOqeKew/w646-h372/IMGP2049.JPG" style="width: 646px; min-height: 372px;" /></p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Chris was really on top of the carp and eventually some bigger ones started to put in an appearance.</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><img alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-y7RFI7ngsT8/UX5S3qZ3AHI/AAAAAAAAbGE/Vm7t73NnS-k/w523-h478/IMGP2061.JPG" style="width: 523px; min-height: 478px;" /></p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><img alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-0thU1_g11eo/UX5S8zL3DlI/AAAAAAAAbHE/inNFaOc2i8M/w596-h478/IMGP2072.JPG" style="width: 596px; min-height: 478px;" /></p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><img alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-LgJGg2lGRQ8/UX5S-6B164I/AAAAAAAAbHc/YNDY8bSB_rg/w622-h478/IMGP2075.JPG" style="width: 622px; min-height: 478px;" /></p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Sunday we went back to the Tidal Basin and managed a bunch more floatfished carp, this time of a smaller size.&nbsp; I did some panfishing as well.&nbsp; My wife came down and fished with us for awhile too. &nbsp;Chris loves floatfishing and hammered the carp as usual.</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><img alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-_98f5iCGS0o/UYWPEnw4bxI/AAAAAAAAbWg/tRIaZZAOelQ/w645-h364/IMG_20130428_154026_565.jpg" style="width: 645px; min-height: 364px;" /></p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">As you can see from the picture it was kind of overcast, with that in mind I brought some worms and fished for a fish that&#39;s been bugging me. &nbsp;I&#39;ve caught a large number of them but never took a picture.</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><img alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-w3TnINyGS_U/UX5TDFArARI/AAAAAAAAbIU/fB7JPFWniw4/w642-h519/IMGP2081.JPG" style="width: 642px; min-height: 519px;" /></p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">The panfish bite was also really good, with nice sized spawning crappies and pretty good bluegills.</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><img alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-uJjDXLp7UMs/UX5TEeQB4bI/AAAAAAAAbIk/At3iuI4vc4U/w646-h343/IMGP2083.JPG" style="width: 646px; min-height: 343px;" /></p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><img alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-6Jxl8bSRrMk/UX5TG9g31bI/AAAAAAAAbJE/z217iVbIzgM/w646-h485/IMGP2088.JPG" style="width: 646px; min-height: 484px;" /></p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">My wife came down for awhile and caught a load of panfish, including this White Perch.</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><img alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-XfWqtEK8oEU/UYWO1TOjOQI/AAAAAAAAbTY/hLKNXY2QfBY/w293-h519/IMG_20130428_144746_114.jpg" style="width: 293px; min-height: 519px;" /></p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">And probably the biggest carp of the day!</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><img alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-DZsJ6A-o1mA/UYWPIFQGfDI/AAAAAAAAbXA/iuY9FcBlUYc/w581-h519/IMG_20130428_154541_046.jpg" style="width: 581px; min-height: 519px;" /></p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</p> <p style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">All in all a great weekend with an old friend, and even got the wife out for a few fish!</p>
pmk00001
pmk00001's picture
 A few days later my buddy

 


A few days later my buddy Santosh came to town.  He really wanted to do some floatfishing for carp, and catch some snakeheads.  I had to work and couldn't fish with him the whole time, but managed to get the morning off of his arrival.

 

First target was Northern Snakehead, he'd never caught one before and was really psyched for it.  It was a perfect, we arrived at the first spot and saw snakeheads everywhere.  After a load of adventures he finally got his first one on the bank.  

 

 

I got one as well and then it was time to go work.

In the afternoon and the next day Santosh fished the Tidal Basin for carp on the float, catching a ton of fish with about 18 being the biggest and his new PB (and very rare from the Potomac) Koi.

 

 

 

I had the following day off and we started the day out going for Northern Snakeheads.  It was an odd day, we didn't see half as many as two days ago, but they were more aggressive and we ended up with 7 on the bank.

Couple of the best pix.

 

 

 

 

I had to crop the background on this one.

 

 

We headed upstream later in the afternoon to go for Shad and Striped Bass.  Santosh's first ever Hickory Shad.

 

 

I really wanted to catch an American Shad, another fish that I've caught in the past but don't have a photo of, but it wasn't meant to be, I really reached into my bag of tricks too.

 

The funny thing is it worked for another one of those photo lifers, Blueback Herring, I've only caught a handful in my life but ended up with half a dozen on the afternoon.

 

 

In addition to the herring we had a pretty slow bite with the Hickories, and quite a few White Perch and about half a dozen Striped Bass.

 

 

 

No American Shad but a nice surprise fish and nice variety and good times with a good friend.

 

SNOOK99
EPIC!!!!  

EPIC!!!!  

Hengelaar
Hengelaar's picture
Wow!

Fantastic variety in alll your reports!

But those Snakeheads..... Dang. So baddass looking.

Great stuff.

Fishn sure is neat

Moose439
Moose439's picture
Jesus man, your killing it up

Jesus man, your killing it up there. I need to get on a plane asap....

Did they drain your canal or is the park the preffered spot this time of year?

Thats a really cool Koi btw...

pmk00001
pmk00001's picture
Canal is still in business

But you can catch them everywhere at the moment!

drphilwv
drphilwv's picture
Oh, I am going back there soo

Oh, I am going back there soon for snakeheads...... very soon!!!

Hell, I'll fish in a mudhole