Fishing News
It Might Be Cold Out, But Fishing Can Be Hot
By Gene Mueller, [email protected]
Considering that it's January and many fish suffer from cold-water lockjaw, catches of bass, crappies and resident yellow perch are definitely possible. Top Stories
It begins in the Potomac River's best-known tidal tributary, the Mattawoman in Charles County, Md. The gravel bars, ledges and creek channel drops from around Deep Point near the mouth, clear up to and past Slavin's boat ramp, can deliver largemouth bass and occasionally a few well-fed crappies � not to mention a yellow perch now and then.
Shoreline anglers who find access to the water above Slavins, past the townhouses, can connect on crappies with minnow-baited bottom rigs, but boaters who know how to use Mann's Sting Ray grubs or Berkley Power Tubes and curly-tailed Power Grubs will see action on all three fish species as long as they take their time and work the plastic "baits" very slowly across the bottom. One-eighth-ounce jig heads (heavier ones if the tidal pull is strong) work well with the grubs even though the hook point is fished totally exposed. So what if you lose a rig now and then? It's all part of the game.
Word also comes from the Occoquan River � run to it from the Mattawoman mouth at a slight upstream angle straight across the Potomac � where bass and perch haven't been all that bashful about inhaling a scented, plastic grub. Yes, our gang likes a fish attractant known as Smelly Jelly. If your local tackle shop doesn't carry it, ask it to stock it for you. (In Maryland, the Texaco station and tackle shop on the Routes 5 and 6 intersection in Charlotte Hall, St. Mary's County, Md., has it. So does the Guy Brothers Marine Store on Route 234 in Clements, Md., also in St. Mary's County. Or check out Ruth & Dells Bait and Tackle in Woodbridge, Va., on Route 1. You could drop a note to the manufacturer: Catcher Co., 5285 Northeast Elam Young Parkway, B-700, Hillsboro, Ore. 97124. The best flavors for us have been crawdaddy or baitfish.)
If you head up the Potomac toward the Wilson Bridge, boaters and shoreline fishermen who want to work the waters of the Spoils Cove could do a lot worse. Bass and crappies are more than willing some days, not so cooperative on others. It all depends on the stage of the tide. If it's moving � especially toward the low stage � you'll find crappies and bass among the concrete slabs all around the cove, but shoreliners may have to satisfy themselves with casting toward water-logged wood and stickups.
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