G-Man Fishing

Ok, been out and about fishing various ponds and lakes in Northern Virginia this month. I’m kind of in a rut. My production during each outing has been decent. Managed at least one catch every time. The problem has been that all the LMB I’ve caught fall into the similar size range: 12″-14″. On average, 1-2 pounds. I’ve been at Burke, Audubon, Newport, the little ponds off of Fox Mill in Herndon, a hidden pond in Sterling, and the Claude Moore ponds in Sterling. My pattern has been pretty similar each time. Work the Texas-rigged plastic worm around targeted fish holding spots. Best times of day have been around dusk or later in the day. The one noteworthy catch I’d like to share occurred today at Claude Moore pond in Sterling. The park actually has two ponds. Both are rather small and shoreline fishing is the only option. There’s plenty of structure to cast to and the ponds are full of sunfish. I caught two small bass during the day and witnessed another fella pulling in a pretty decent sized bass. I found a secluded spot with some submerged timber. The area seemed rather shallow so I casted as far as I could. A few casts later something large took my bait. I fought and fought it and when I finally landed it I realized it was a 4 pound channel catfish. Thats right! A channel catfish went after my plastic worm. It measured 21 inches and my guess was its weight was around 3 or 4 pounds. I’m not into keeping my catch these days so I let it go. Even though the pounds are small, there’s some good fishing at Claude Moore. I read online that the pounds have been restored and that fishing has improved due to the maintenance on the ponds. Its certainly a fun time and a decent little fishery!

The weather was great today so I made a trip to Burke Lake. We’re in the middle of a deep recession and its obvious that people are cutting back on other forms of recreation and instead spending their recreation time fishing. I commend people for that since I think enjoying outdoors is a great and affordable way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Much of the shoreline near the parking areas were crowded with anglers as a result. I saw one angler pull in a decent channel catfish. I, however, decided to hike around the lake and work selected spots without spending too much time on any particular place. I figured that if there are fish I would get bites pretty quickly. I was right. The best spots I found were weeded areas near shorelines with a somewhat steeper drop off. I caught two LMB in total; both of which were in the 1-2 lb range. It was very efficient fishing given that most of my time was spent hiking around the lake with just a few casts here and there. I didn’t spend more than 10 minutes at any particular spot. The places where I caught fish I didn’t spend more than 5 minutes or so. That says to me that the pattern I used was the right one for that day. It was more a matter of finding the right spots while on foot- not always easy given that the shoreline is pretty wooded with few clearings near the ideal fish holding areas. See the videos below for the fishing action.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

This was my first fishing trip in Northern Virginia in a year! The evening was a really pleasant one right after the thunderstorms rolled through. Currently, I’m operating on a limited set of tackle since I’m sort of transitioning back to Virginia and haven’t moved the bulk of my things down yet. I opened up the mini travel-sized tackle box to find just panfish sized jigs, some spinner baits, and other random stuff. My soft plastic selection was kind of limited. So instead of using a plastic worm, I texas rigged a Yamamato double tail grub. Had a few bites from small bass and then caught a feisty 14″ bass that was parked underneath one of the docked boats. It was quite a fighter and even fought like crazy while I was trying to get him unhooked. The sun soon set and unfortunately I had to wrap it up. I’m sure I’ll be back again soon- hopefully with the complete set of tackle! Also hoping to make some trips to the usual NoVa spots. Burke, Occoquan, Brittle, Frederick, Potomac River, here I come!

One year ago, I usually found myself the only angler at Grover’s Mill pond. What a difference a year makes. The last few times I’ve been at Grover’s Mill, the short boardwalk waterfront was crowded with anglers. This has to do with the resurgence of Grover’s Mill pond as a natural habitat. Last year, the pond was dredged to remove silt buildup. The maximum depth now is 9 feet. This improves the water flow and increases oxygen. The pond was also recently stocked with bass, sunfish, and catfish. In fact, the mayor of the town along with the Governor of NJ were there during the fish stocking event. Word is that Governor Corzine released a 7 pound bass into the pond. That extra stirred up attention is probably fueling the fishing attraction at Grover’s Mill. Just about the last three outings have been successful with at least one largemouth bass each time. Average length about 14″-15″. As for the other angling opportunities, it looks like a lot of people are targeting carp and catfish. One guy using bread as bait thought he hooked up with a carp but then reeled in a ginormous snapping turtle! Here are some pics from “the Mill!”

Ok, Gmanfishing.com is back online. After almost a year of international travel, I am back in the states and ready for some spring fishing. Today was a blustery NJ early spring day. My dad and I went to Dick’s Sporting Goods to get me a NJ license so I can fish legit. Afterwards, we drove over to Grovers Mill Pond. Normally, during the warmer months this pond is overgrown with weeds and lily pads. Given that its early in the season, there wasn’t much vegetation and the water was cold and clear. I worked a plastic lizard along the shore but with no real structure to target it seemed futile. I then walked over to the small pier and saw some submerged timber close to shore. After a few casts and working the lizard slooooooow, I had a bite and saw the flash of a fish. Another cast and this time a good hookset brought in a 19″ chain pickerel. I was kind of surprised to reel in a pickerel since I’ve caught bass using the same pattern and at the same location. After thinking about it, it seems to make sense. Pickerel are more active in cold water and the bass bite hasn’t really picked up quite yet. Well, not a bad start to the 2009 season. Looking forward to more fishing adventures soon!

Two days ago I made a trip to Lake Carnegie. There were heavy winds as a front was moving through so I added a bullet weight to my Texas rigged lizard. Worked the lily pads and enticed a fish to bite. Didn’t hook him the first time. My second try was a success but…as I yanked it through the lily pads my line broke! Darn. I had just set up a rod with 8 lb mono. Apparently, thats not strong enough for pulling fish out from heavy cover. Fast forward 48 hours. This time I brought my medium-heavy action rod with 15 lb mono. Took a long time to get any bites but then I noticed my line moving away. First try was a miss. Tossed the bait back to the same spot. This time I opened the bail on my reel and let the fish take off with it. One good hook set and I pulled in a nice 14 inch bass. This was a bruiser of a bass! Stocky body with some heft to it. I noticed the last couple of times out that I’ve found fish next to downed timber mixed with lily pads. Both bites came as the bait drifted next to a large log in the the middle of the lily pads in about 1 foot of water. Definitely the type of situation for heavier line. Anyways, I’m glad I was able to avenge my previous lost fish by make a simple tackle adjustment.

I’ve heard there are some big bass in Lake Carnegie. Its a pretty decent sized lake at 237 acres. I would love to take the canoe out on this lake since there’s plenty to explore. But today, I was a bankie. Got a lot of bites near the dam but nothing hooked. Possibly bluegill or crappie pecking at my plastic shad. Walked some more of the trail and found a nice opening in the brush to cast to lily pads. I felt a bite and then set the hook but the bait pulled right out. Tried it a couple more times and same thing. I decided to expose more hook on the plastic shad and then this time I let the fish take off with it and then gave it a good hook set. Pulled it through the lily pads and found myself a 12 inch bass. What is it with me and 12″ bass!?!? Can’t I get a 4 pounder one of these days?!?! I figured that fishing a bigger lake would do the trick but if I’m only going to catch 1 pounders I might as well fish my neighborhood pond. Anyways, I’ve found a pretty good resource for New Jersey lakes and ponds. Here’s a link to a page that cross tabulates many of the state’s public fishing lakes with fish species. Its a pretty useful guide for those exploring a new lake. I’ll be checking out a couple more spots near me soon!

This past weekend was spent in the lovely town of Williamsburg, VA. While in town, I just had to check out some local fishing. Luckily, we stayed with friends on the banks of Lake Ajacan. Its a small lake and mostly surrounded by private property. This lake is full of largemouth bass. H caught one in the morning as we had a quick 15 minute fishing session before running some errands. That set the tone for the rest of the day. When we got back in the afternoon, we set up shop on the banks of one of the coves. Working both a plastic lizard and plastic worm, I caught a total of 8 largemouth bass within 2 hours. Average length was 12 inches with the longest being 13 inches and the smallest about 9 inches. But here’s the fish story of the day. While working the plastic worm I had a bite and set the hook. All of a sudden, the line started shooting out of the reel as the fish took off! Now I normally have the drag set kind of tight so whatever it was it was huge. I tried lifting the rod tip high but couldn’t manage to get the rod higher than ten o’clock or so. There was a small circular platform about 3 feet wide in the cove which was a fountain. I saw it rock back and forth with the surface of the water churning around. After battling the fish for several seconds, it broke my line. My adrenaline was on high octane at this point as I tried to figure out what had just happened. This is what I could gather… My equipment: 6′6″ medium action Uglystick spinning rod, spinning reel with 8 lb test fireline, texas rigged curly tail purple worm. All the bass I had caught were in the 12″ range. Now there could certainly be a lunker bass in that lake. But how big can I expect a lunker bass to be? 6 lb? 10 lb? Would I be able to handle a 10 lb bass with a medium action rod with 8 lb test fireline? Perhaps. But my hypothesis is that I must have hooked one of the lake’s gigantic carp. According to our Williamsburg friends, that lake has some gargantuan sized carp. Carp are omnivorous and I imagine that a large one might go after a plastic worm. After being hooked, it must have taken off towards the deeper water. Since the fountain has a pipe underneath, it must have gotten wrapped on it as I saw the fountain shake side to side. And of course the 8 lb test is no match for a raging ginormous carp so it broke free. Unfortunately, I have no pics of the fish so I can’t be 100% sure that my hypothesis is true. But what I do know now is that I am curious about the excitement of carp fishing. I’ll have to invest in some heavier tackle so if anybody out there has a favorite setup for large carp please let me know!

Grovers Mill. The place where the martians supposedly landed. The pond was truly a mystery to me. When I was growing up around here in the 1980s, the pond was dried up. Then, either the engineers re-flooded it or water levels came back. Either way, I had remembered it being more of a duck weed infested swamp than a pond. Apparently, its now thriving place for recreation. The park on the banks is a place for kids to play and people were kayaking in the pond. There’s all kinds of wildlife around from geese to bullfrogs to turtles. As for fishing, there’s tons of cover for bass. Just like some of the other ponds in the area, Grovers Mill has a lot of lily pads along the shore. Using my trusty plastic lizard, I was able to bring in two bass from out of the lily pads. Both around 13 inches. There was a lot of top water activity all around the pond so I tried a Heddon Torpedo but didn’t get any strikes. I’ll probably focus on the soft plastics some more on this pond since you can see the lily pads move as the fish were cruising underneath so you know they are there. All you need to do is get your bait into the thick cover where they are. Check out the videos of the fishing action.  

Ok, there you have it. I’ve given up the name and location of my neighborhood pond. But the thing is, Google doesn’t show any relevant results and its hard to find on any map. I do now know that anglers come on a regular basis. I know this because I ran into a couple of guys launching a canoe. They said that the pond is full of largemouth bass but most are in the 12 inch size range. I’ve confirmed that statement this past weekend as I’ve caught two around that size; one of which was about 13 inches or so. Been working the lily pads with a plastic lizard on my 6 ft light action rod. It doesn’t cast very far but thats okay since the lily pads are all around the shoreline. I’m starting to like fishing soft plastics now. I used to not have the patience or skill to work them but I’m learning fast. One great thing is that I don’t get hung up all the time. I can work the thickest cover and not have to cut loose. Another great thing is that I’ve found that if I miss my hook set, I can cast back to the same spot and the same bass will still go after the same bait. That gives me more than one try to hook the same bass. I used to confuse the bumps you feel from your bait hitting the cover to actual bites. But now I can distinguish the fish by feeling the tension and weight of the fish. Sometimes the fish will run off with the bait and I can actually feel it swimming away. A little pause before setting the hook increases the chances of a hookup since the the pause gives the fish some time to inhale the bait fully into its mouth. The soft plastic feel allows the fish to hang on longer than usual thereby helping my chances further. One of these days I’ll get the canoe out into the middle of the pond. That will allow me to work other parts of the shoreline that aren’t accessible by foot. Should be a fun time regardless of how large or small the fish are since on a light action rod everything feels like a monster!