targeting the crashing catfish

[Regan Burmeister]

So last year and this year, while swinging flies with my two-hand rod for shad, the fish crashing the surface around and above Fletcher’s have me wondering.

The guys at the boathouse say they are catfish.

Has anyone been able to successfully target these fish on the fly?  If so, what was the pattern(s)?

Are these fish feeding? Attacking some small prey fish? Or just doing a fish thing we folk don’t understand?

It looks like it would be wonderful fun to hook into one these, especially the very large ones I have occasionally seen.

Thanks, Regan

[Rob Snowhite]

Regan, 

From my observations they are mostly quillback. They are schooling in the big eddy above the bridge- on the bottom. Toss that airflo skagit head with a small fly and see what happens. We got one last year on a shad fly. 

Sent from my iPhone

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[Alex Binsted]

Some of what you see are quillback carp, like Rob said, but the vast majority of large explosions on the surface are blue catfish. Quillback come up and touch the surface and quickly swim back down. They don't make much of a splash.  Not sure what the catfish are doing or how you could catch them.

[Melser Bonilla]

I have seen them doing that late May thru June in Mount Vernon under the bridge. I have caught them with a sinking line and using carp fly's (from Orvis) and clousers against the wall of the bridge.

[Matt Brennan]

I took a video of the quillback popping the surface. A lot of activity, and it was even heavier around sunset. Amazing how many there must be in there! 

https://youtu.be/s3QNkglG85s 

I've seen some advice (http://www.roughfish.com/content/fishing-carpsuckers-quillback-river-and-highfin) on catching them, but all focused on them doing their normal bottom-feeding thing. Nothing explaining why they're coming up to the surface or how to catch them there. Unfortunately, nothing really optimistic about catching them in general.

~Matt

On Friday, April 22, 2016 at 7:53:39 PM UTC-4, Regan Burmeister wrote:

[Hugh Fike]

Thanks for that!

I was out there for 4 hours yesterday and was stunned by the number of them jumping for such a sustained period of time. 

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[Melser Bonilla]

when you see them under the bridge at Mount Vernon you'll notice what appears to be Barn swallows flying low and tight on the water going after insects. Could be that the cat is going after surface bugs or maybe the bird itself. I see that them crashing the surface just as the bird goes by. Go there late May thru June and you'll see it happen right I front of you.

[Jeffrey Silvan]

Well, that just begs the question: Who knows how to tie a barn swallow fly?

On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 10:09 AM, Melser Bonilla <bonil...@gmail.com> wrote:

when you see them under the bridge at Mount Vernon you'll notice what appears to be Barn swallows flying low and tight on the water going after insects. Could be that the cat is going after surface bugs or maybe the bird itself. I see that them crashing the surface just as the bird goes by. Go there late May thru June and you'll see it happen right I front of you.

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[Scott Stankus]

Pat Cohen! See his Merganser fly!

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================================================

"There are 10 types of people in this world, those who know binary, and those who don't"

[GSFeder]

Pat Cohen does. 

http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-made-super-fly-pat-cohen/

Cheers, 

-- Greg

Sent from my iPhone

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[Jeffrey Silvan]

Wow! And I was completely joking... that's crazy!

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[Melser Bonilla]

Wow!! Look at that!!! I tempted to purchase one.

[Deadbait]

Had a quillback on this morning was pumped! then lost it. On a shad dart. They were jumping up near Chain Bridge. Saw several breaching blue cats too.

[TurbineBlade]

Quillback would be unique, but I understand Rob saw someone land a cormorant!  Hopefully it wasn't too injured, because they're a neat, neat bird (and are great fishers).  I wouldn't want to have it's stomach (or intestinal) contents on me however, and it's hard for me to picture that scenario going any differently....  

Gene

[Rob Snowhite]

If you can't get one from Pat check out OMF Fly Co. Dennis is also tying Pats birds:

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 25, 2016, at 10:20 AM, Jeffrey Silvan <jeffre...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Misha Gill]

My theory on the crashing fish has always been that they are chasing caddis emergers. I've never been mindful enough to bring an imitation with me to the river, however. Would be stoked if someone decided to try my theory and actually caught something!

[Scott Stankus]

Misha, I can verify that there were plenty of Caddis coming off the water when Thomas and I were out on Saturday. Also when I was out last weekend. Thomas mentioned your theory and, in fact, we did notice a few times when immediately after a splash, we'd see a Caddis fly off!

On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 5:18 PM, Misha Gill <mish...@gmail.com> wrote:

My theory on the crashing fish has always been that they are chasing caddis emergers. I've never been mindful enough to bring an imitation with me to the river, however. Would be stoked if someone decided to try my theory and actually caught something!

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[Richard Farino]

Grizzly has long held that the splashes were some of the shad were eating caddis on the river.  We took some #12 & #14 Goddard Caddis to the river and swung them for awhile.  We had a few slashes from hickories, but I think the emerging pupa elicit the right movement.  I never had the patience to keep trying.  Someone insisted once that the hickories don’t eat, yet we’ve caught them eating huge #2/0 Sea Habit flies while dredging for stripers.

R

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[Andrew Sarcinello]

The first hickory shad I ever caught were on live minnows in Indian River Inlet in DE. They were going nuts in the tidal rip, and when I could get a minnow out far enough it would immediately get eaten by a 15-16" hickory shad.

I also caught a small one on a black clouser fishing under dock lights in Chincoteague. IDK if the whole "they don't eat" only applies to the spawning run or what. I'll still use shad darts but food for thought...

As for the crashing fish i tend to agree with the emerging caddis theory, the hatches near chain bridge can be decent. Catfish go nuts for the white fly hatch so I don't see why they would ignore caddis. Of course, they could also be eating chubs or other baitfish that are eating the caddis.

[TurbineBlade]

You know, Beth said the same darn thing this weekend...."I think the fish are eating caddis out here" but I just didn't think about it too much.  She also thinks that the shad are eating, and doesn't care what the popular, unclear opinion is about why they hit flies ;). 

Rich -- did you try sinking the heck out of one and swinging it (up) in the water column?  The goddard is a dry right? 

I had a nice brown exploding over and over last year on the Savage and couldn't get him to take no matter what I did.  I suspected it was emerging caddis given his behavior, but there's no way I could get myself into a position to even attempt to mimic that. 

Gene

[arthur...@gmail.com]

I have caught channel cats on popper in Lake Erie near Kelly's island fishing for smallmouth. I have watched them eating hexes and busting minnows on the surface.

Art

Sent from my iPhone

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[Richard Farino]

Gene,

Yes.  I swung a caddis pupa that was heavily weighted with a floating line.  I just lost interest in it.  It’s not the same as when a trout takes it.

R

From: Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders <tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of TurbineBlade <doubl...@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders <tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at 10:30 AM
To: Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders <tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: targeting the crashing catfish

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[TurbineBlade]

Ah, well dern -- worth a try!  Sometimes doing something different works....or you (I) end up in a tree. 

On Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at 10:41:32 AM UTC-4, Richard Farino wrote:

Gene,

Yes.  I swung a caddis pupa that was heavily weighted with a floating line.  I just lost interest in it.  It’s not the same as when a trout takes it.

R

From: Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders <tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of TurbineBlade <doubl...@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders <tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at 10:30 AM
To: Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders <tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: targeting the crashing catfish

You know, Beth said the same darn thing this weekend...."I think the fish are eating caddis out here" but I just didn't think about it too much.  She also thinks that the shad are eating, and doesn't care what the popular, unclear opinion is about why they hit flies ;). 

Rich -- did you try sinking the heck out of one and swinging it (up) in the water column?  The goddard is a dry right? 

I had a nice brown exploding over and over last year on the Savage and couldn't get him to take no matter what I did.  I suspected it was emerging caddis given his behavior, but there's no way I could get myself into a position to even attempt to mimic that. 

Gene

On Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at 9:28:48 AM UTC-4, Andrew Sarcinello wrote:

The first hickory shad I ever caught were on live minnows in Indian River Inlet in DE.  They were going nuts in the tidal rip, and when I could get a minnow out far enough it would immediately get eaten by a 15-16" hickory shad.

I also caught a small one on a black clouser fishing under dock lights in Chincoteague.  IDK if the whole "they don't eat" only applies to the spawning run or what.  I'll still use shad darts but food for thought...

As for the crashing fish i tend to agree with the emerging caddis theory, the hatches near chain bridge can be decent.  Catfish go nuts for the white fly hatch so I don't see why they would ignore caddis.  Of course, they could also be eating chubs or other baitfish that are eating the caddis.

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[Melser Bonilla]

So would that mean that barn swallow also is targeting the caddis? Also, I'm not a insect expert but do caddis hatch under fast current? I ask because at Mount Vernon (under the bridge) the tide is always moving high or low with about an hr of slack tide. I've notice the splashes at high tide or low. Thanks

[Rob Snowhite]

Baboom on the shad jig

Sent from my iPhone

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[bpmck1]

Nice fish!

On Wednesday, April 27, 2016 at 10:55:47 AM UTC-4, Rob Snowhite wrote:

Baboom on the shad jig

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 25, 2016, at 7:49 AM, Hugh Fike <hugh...@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks for that!

I was out there for 4 hours yesterday and was stunned by the number of them jumping for such a sustained period of time. 

On Monday, April 25, 2016, Matt Brennan <matty....@gmail.com> wrote:

I took a video of the quillback popping the surface. A lot of activity, and it was even heavier around sunset. Amazing how many there must be in there! 

https://youtu.be/s3QNkglG85s 

I've seen some advice (http://www.roughfish.com/content/fishing-carpsuckers-quillback-river-and-highfin) on catching them, but all focused on them doing their normal bottom-feeding thing. Nothing explaining why they're coming up to the surface or how to catch them there. Unfortunately, nothing really optimistic about catching them in general.

~Matt

On Friday, April 22, 2016 at 7:53:39 PM UTC-4, Regan Burmeister wrote:

So last year and this year, while swinging flies with my two-hand rod for shad, the fish crashing the surface around and above Fletcher’s have me wondering.

The guys at the boathouse say they are catfish.

Has anyone been able to successfully target these fish on the fly?  If so, what was the pattern(s)?

Are these fish feeding? Attacking some small prey fish? Or just doing a fish thing we folk don’t understand?

It looks like it would be wonderful fun to hook into one these, especially the very large ones I have occasionally seen.

Thanks, Regan

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[TurbineBlade]

Cool catch! Redhorse?

[Rob Snowhite]

Quillback silly

Sent from my iPhone

> On Apr 28, 2016, at 11:25 AM, TurbineBlade <doubl...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Cool catch! Redhorse?

>
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[TurbineBlade]

Ah -- good deal.  

Gene

On Thursday, April 28, 2016 at 1:24:42 PM UTC-4, Rob Snowhite wrote:

Quillback silly

Sent from my iPhone

> On Apr 28, 2016, at 11:25 AM, TurbineBlade <doubl...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Cool catch!  Redhorse?
>
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[TurbineBlade]

Man, they get bigger than I thought!  

Gene

[arthur...@gmail.com]

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 23, 2016, at 12:18 PM, Alex Binsted <a.bi...@gmail.com> wrote:

Some of what you see are quillback carp, like Rob said, but the vast majority of large explosions on the surface are blue catfish. Quillback come up and touch the surface and quickly swim back down. They don't make much of a splash.  Not sure what the catfish are doing or how you could catch them.

On Friday, April 22, 2016 at 7:53:39 PM UTC-4, Regan Burmeister wrote:

So last year and this year, while swinging flies with my two-hand rod for shad, the fish crashing the surface around and above Fletcher’s have me wondering.

The guys at the boathouse say they are catfish.

Has anyone been able to successfully target these fish on the fly?  If so, what was the pattern(s)?

Are these fish feeding? Attacking some small prey fish? Or just doing a fish thing we folk don’t understand?

It looks like it would be wonderful fun to hook into one these, especially the very large ones I have occasionally seen.

Thanks, Regan

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