The one that got away

[Collin Tatusko]

Fishing the Tidal Basin teaches lessons in humility and patience.  

 

Hit the Basin yesterday morning as the sun was coming up.  Many fish stirring about....and after a few hours of nada top side or below the surface with streamers and the like...switched over to the bottom dwellers.

 

Put on a nice black hellgrammite looking bug-thing.  Not one cast later...BAM...and for the next 15 minutes (and a few folks passing by to watch)...played the fish on my line.  Guessed by the hard fight and staying deep (tide was on its way up) it was a catfish.  Sure enough...it was.

 

So there I was....big catfish on the line, finally tired him (or her) out, and got it up to the wall.  Pulled around my net, which was excessively small and decided 'hey, Mr./Mrs. Catfish isn't struggling so much, maybe I can lift it straight up the 6-8 inches and get it on the path".  That little voice in my head said bad idea; I heard the voice and brushed it off.  

 

Sure enough, started to pull straight up and POP...down went the fish and I swear...the catfish was smiling as he/she slipped back into the brown depth of the Tidal Basin.

 

So, heed my lessons.  And...if anyone catches a nice 15-20 inch big catfish with a hellgrammite lure firmly attached to its lower left lip...you are welcome.

 

I absolutely love fly fishing. 

 

Cheers

Collin

[Sean Steele]

Great post!

** Via iPhone **

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From: tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com <tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Collin Tatusko <tatu...@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, June 3, 2019 10:13:01 AM
To: Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders
Subject: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} The one that got away

 

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[Misha Gill]

Awesome story!!

[namfos]

A not-so long distance release! ;-)

Mark

[John Hammill]

Good story. I had a prehensile looking cat break the tip off of my 4 wgt in rock creek park right below the zoo when that section was open. Wow. That sucker looked at me like he wanted to beat me up, take my wallet, and THEN eat ME. I tried to get the clouded minnow out of his mouth but ended up cutting Tippett. Fabian retreat!

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 3, 2019, at 10:49 AM, namfos <mark....@gmail.com> wrote:

A not-so long distance release! ;-)

Mark

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[Jamie Carracher]

Wow, I had almost exactly the same thing happen to me a couple weeks ago at the Tidal Basin! Except my knot on 3X tippet didn't hold and the fish gave it a mighty shake and broke my fly off. Learned my lesson there--now just using 1 or even 0x there from now on and also checking my knots. Never know what you'll get in there. I got it just to the surface and it made a really strong jerk and all I could see was brown as it flashed back to the bottom--also think it was a cat. I was using an articulated streamer at the time and stripping slowwwww... 

It's funny, my best "got away" story so far this year was a couple weeks back down in Rock Creek close to my house. I was chasing whatever I could get into. Tied on a popper, threw it up current to a calm area behind some rocks and something grabbed it right away. It was fighting me like crazy on my 4wt, meanwhile I was whooping and hollering. And then somehow the hook came loose and it was gone. Think I got distracted and let off for a millisecond. But it was the best fight I've had on my new Winston Kairos rod. Was either a bass or one of the freaking huge bluegills I spotted from the bike path that looked to be close to 10 inches.

[Fly Fish]

if you happened to grab the leader, that can can cause breakage .  

The strength of the leader system is based on it's length and ability to stretch as well as rod flex.  If you grab the leader near the hooked fish, you negate a lot of the leader strength and often the line will break. 

On Mon, Jun 3, 2019, 10:33 AM Misha Gill <mish...@gmail.com> wrote:

Awesome story!!

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[John Hammill]

Jamie where do you fish along rock creek? 

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[velazquez]

I was there this evening, funny enough!

On Monday, June 3, 2019 at 6:47:56 PM UTC-4, John Hammill wrote:

Jamie where do you fish along rock creek? 

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 3, 2019, at 3:07 PM, Fly Fish <cagl...@gmail.com> wrote:

if you happened to grab the leader, that can can cause breakage .  

The strength of the leader system is based on it's length and ability to stretch as well as rod flex.  If you grab the leader near the hooked fish, you negate a lot of the leader strength and often the line will break. 

On Mon, Jun 3, 2019, 10:33 AM Misha Gill <mish...@gmail.com> wrote:

Awesome story!!

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[Lane Smith]

I’ve fished rock creek several times this year, but no luck as yet. My efforts have been confined to areas below the P st bridge though. Maybe I’ll try above, since that’s yielded results for some of you.

[Jamie Carracher]

I've fished the entire length of Rock Creek (where it's legal) over the years. I've caught fish pretty much everywhere. The key is covering lots of water and looking for the "fishy" spots. Lots of bush-wacking or climbing into weird positions (I don't wade in there). I caught a nice sunfish a couple weeks ago standing on top of a big sewer drain (it's not for everyone). For example, that piece of water behind the zoo that's closed off right now nearly always holds some fish--especially catfish and carp. There was a spot you can only access from within the zoo where I saw a giant largemouth at the head of a pool--I couldn't entice him. I saw two big snakeheads up as far as Cleveland Park last summer, too. I will say, I've been hassled once by a zoo police officer when I was within the zoo territory right off the bike path. Rock Creek Park rules say anything south of Porter is fair game but he didn't believe me.

The big bluegills/sunfish I saw recently were hanging out south of the Connecticut Ave. bridge. There's also a good spot where the canal and creek converge in Georgetown that can be productive. When the canal has water, it's fun to hit both. Only area I am not too keen on anymore is that stretch that goes through Foggy Bottom. It's a hangout spot, and I prefer to get away from people. There is a good pool under the M Street bridge, though.

On Monday, June 3, 2019 at 10:13:01 AM UTC-4, Collin Tatusko wrote:

[John Hammill]

Yeah the big curve in the creek where they’ve shut the trail down (on the opposite shore from the zoo) holds lots of fish. On the day Das Cat Shark broke the tip of my 4 wgt I caught a bunch of sunfish and some perch. I saw a big largemouth and put streamers in front of it to drift and fake swim but it ignored me. I used poppers for a while, but I didn’t catch anything until I switched over to Clauser minnows and green woolly bugger’s.

Sent from my iPhone

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