G-Man Fishing

Hey everybody, so I’ve been Tivo’ing the Bassmaster fishing tournaments on ESPN2 the past year. The program has really changed the sport of bass fishing and has made it accessible and understandable to the average viewer. I actually attribute my recent resurgence of interest in fishing to this show. So when I heard that the latest event was in my area I had to make the trip down to Charles County, Maryland to witness the weigh in for the Capital Clash.Just some background, the Capital Clash is an Elite Series Bassmaster tournament. The Elite Series is the highest level bass fishing tournament. This tournament is held on the Potomac River and the field of anglers starts at 100. The tournament spans four days. The entire field gets to fish for two days and the cumulative weight determines who gets to fish during the third day. The top twelve get to battle it out on the final day. Where an angler places at the end of the tournament determines the payout. Check out ESPN Outdoors for more info about bass tournaments.

Anglers begin the day early and launch their boats at 6am. They are allowed to fish a large span of the Potomac River all the way from Washington DC down to the edge of the Chesapeake Bay. With the high powered motors on their bass boats, they can cover a lot of water and get to their spots in decent time. The problem is finding the fish and finding the technique that will work for that day. When time expires the anglers finish up on the water and come back to the launch point for the weigh in.Being at the event was a great experience. I could not believe that the general public is allowed to walk right up to the bass boats as they pull in for the weigh in. I got some great pictures of all my favorite anglers from the tv show as well as the fish they were bringing in. Here’s one of tournament leader Skeet Reese pulling out a keeper from his live well.

One such angler I had always wanted to meet is Mike Iaconelli. I had just finished reading his autobiography. A friend had bought the book for me since I put it on my wedding registry. Ok, that sounds wierd but I really wanted it! Mike Iaconelli was the Angler of the Year last year and had a great season. He’s also a very colorful guy who gets really pumped when he is on a roll. Its not unusual to see him yell at the top of his lungs, pump his fists in the air, or do some break dance moves when he’s celebrating an awesome catch. That makes for great tv but this guy is the real deal. He knows how to fish and spends lots of time mentally preparing for the challenge.

Mike Iaconelli or Ike as people call him and I actually have a few things in common. First, we are the same age. Second, we both are from New Jersey. Ike grew up in South Jersey and I grew up in Central Jersey. Ike’s family used to vacation in the Poconos and that was where he honed his skills as a youngster. My family used to take me to the Poconos too when I was a kid and one of my best fishing days ever was on a small lake there. So you can imagine what a great pleasure it was for me to meet Ike today. Its not the greatest picture of me but here’s a pic of our meeting:

I even got to shoot the bull a little with Ike. It went something like this:

Gman: What’s up Ike?Ike: Hey how’s it going?
Gman: Hey man I’m from Jersey.
Ike: Oh yeah, what part?
Gman: By Princeton, in Central Jersey. You ever fish Assunpink?
Ike: Oh yeah! I’ve fished Assunpink. I’ve fished Farrington and I’ve fished Carnegie too.
Gman: Really? There’s good fish in Carnegie?
Ike: Oh yeah, Carnegie is where its at.
Gman: Cool, I’ll have to check it out.
Ike: Carnegie is awesome. The fishing there is great.
Gman: Thanks man. Hey, great to meet you.

So there you have it, Ike says Lake Carnegie is great so I’ll have to take his word for it. This guy’s a pro afterall!

For the second consecutive weekend I made a trip to the Potomac River at Riverbend Park. This time it was with a buddy and we rented a jon boat. The cost was $15 for 3 hours and included the boat, oars, life preservers, seat cushions, and an anchor. Notrolling motor unfortunately.It was another beautiful morning at 7 AM but the forecast was for a hot day in the mid 90s. We paddled across the river to some rocky areas with fallen trees. Again, the fishing action was fast and furious with bluegills pouncing on my small floating Rapala minnow jerkbait. I had it rigged the same way as last week, with a split shot about one and a half feet above the lure. When we got to a section of shaded shoreline, I caught a little smallmouth bass. A few moments later I felt another hit and started reeling fast. This time the fish seemed to be heavier. When I got the fish to the boat, I saw that it was not one fish… but two smallmouth bass hooked on my lure! Wow, thats never happened to me before. I’ve seen that happen only on the Bassmasters show on ESPN2. 7/7/07 must really be a lucky day!We fished some more and got probably at least 6-8 smallmouth bass and many more bluegill. None were really big but the fishing was still fun.

Oh what a beautiful morning it was. Cool. Temps in the 60s. Perfect for a 7 AM Potomac River excursion. We brought the canoe over to Riverbend Park near Great Falls, VA this morning for some early fishing action. This part of the Potomac is navigatable by canoe/kayak in both upstream and downstream directions. The bottom is rocky and some parts may require some tricky paddling to avoid bumping into the rocks. The scenery is beautiful with outcropped rocks, small islands, abundant wildlife, and more. The fishing was swift and fast. We used both jigs and small floating Rapala minnow jerkbaits. The lures were productive on the aggressive Bluegill and Smallmouth Bass. We must have caught about a dozen Bluegills and one baby Smallmouth by 8:30 AM. To cover more area, we decided to troll the small Rapala minnow. To get it to dive a little deeper I added a split shot weight about 1.5′ up from the lure. More Bluegill hits! After some more trolling, I got a hit and expected to reel in a Bluegill. Then I saw a 15″ Smallie do an acrobatic aerial dance over the water. Unfortunately, he jarred himself loose and got away. Darn! Anyways, we had a great time and didn’t mind just catching these little scrappers. If you haven’t tried the Potomac at Riverbend, give it a try. Although the fish are likely to be on the small side, you are guaranteed plenty of action.