GP Fishing Report 10_29_2013

[Trent Jones]

I hit GP for about an hour this morning from maybe 6:45-7:45. It was a gorgeous morning and a lot colder than I expected. I found fellow TPFR member Remick and two other anglers had beat me to the water. As I debated if I should just watch these three fish or pop over to the Duck Pond…which has still been producing Largemouth Bass as of last Monday, an opening came as one of the three had to report to work. I popped in and picked off about a half dozen schoolies in the 12”-16” class  over the next hour. The Bigger fish were in the heaviest water and deep. I used a 250gr sinking line with 4ft of 0x, and some size 2 clousers I tied with Steve Farrars flash blend material. Pretty slow morning as far as GP goes, but not a bad stop before opening up the shop. If you get up early to fish it, you may want a backup plan as it tends to get crowded at Gravelly Point this time of year. Maybe look to the Pentagon Marina outflow, or Rock Creek where it hits the Potomac. I haven’t hit either as of late but they have produced for me in the past during this time of year. Maybe try the Duck Pond as well, I pulled about 15 LM bass out last Monday morning…mostly small ones but a few pushing 14’’-15”…get out and get your fishing in while we have the nice weather!

-T.Jones

[Daniel Davala]

Great report Trent, and thanks for posting!  I know a lot of folks have been hitting Gravelly lately and having good results.  I think some are reluctant to post maybe due to the wading/legality issues.  There still seems to be no consistency in the rules.  I had a customer in the shop the other day who said a Park Police officer told him he cannot wade there "unless he is wearing a PFD".  I could live with that even, but like you said on the other thread, so long as you're not there at 2AM there doesn't seem to be a problem.

 

So come on folks, Trent showed you his!  I know there is a tendency to keep quiet, but ask yourselves honestly if you would have ever gone and fished for Stripers at Gravelly if you had not learned of it through TPFR.  Remember the feeling you got when reading the reports and seeing the pictures from others.  No doubt it got you fired up and motivated to learn the tides, and to get out there in the dark, or rain, or cold, to chuck a Clouser into the current and take a chance.  Now is your time to be that motivation for those who have yet to experience the thrill.  If you have recently been to Gravelly, or the Basin, or Little Hunting, or Hunting at the mouth of Cameron, etc., etc., etc., and have been tying into some linesides, let's hear about it!  Don't think of it as boasting, see it as paying it forward to the next in line.  I'm looking forward to hearing some of the stories and seeing some great pictures.

 

Post them if you got them!

Dan Davala 

On Tue, Oct 29, 2013 at 11:15 PM, Trent Jones <tjon...@hotmail.com> wrote:

I hit GP for about an hour this morning from maybe 6:45-7:45. It was a gorgeous morning and a lot colder than I expected. I found fellow TPFR member Remick and two other anglers had beat me to the water. As I debated if I should just watch these three fish or pop over to the Duck Pond…which has still been producing Largemouth Bass as of last Monday, an opening came as one of the three had to report to work. I popped in and picked off about a half dozen schoolies in the 12”-16” class  over the next hour. The Bigger fish were in the heaviest water and deep. I used a 250gr sinking line with 4ft of 0x, and some size 2 clousers I tied with Steve Farrars flash blend material. Pretty slow morning as far as GP goes, but not a bad stop before opening up the shop. If you get up early to fish it, you may want a backup plan as it tends to get crowded at Gravelly Point this time of year. Maybe look to the Pentagon Marina outflow, or Rock Creek where it hits the Potomac. I haven’t hit either as of late but they have produced for me in the past during this time of year. Maybe try the Duck Pond as well, I pulled about 15 LM bass out last Monday morning…mostly small ones but a few pushing 14’’-15”…get out and get your fishing in while we have the nice weather!

-T.Jones

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[Paul Kalajainen]

I was there from about 5-6:30 yesterday to try and hit the outgoing tide in then evening. Turns out I was a little early, there was little to no water movement. I fished clousers across where the current would have been. When that didn't produce I tried hitting the shoreline with clousers, wooly buggers, and a variety of surface bugs.

This makes 7 or 8 trips there for me without so much as a nibble. I'd love to tag along with someone to learn how to approach that spot if anyone wouldn't mind some company.

Paul

[FlyTimesDC]

Nothing good ever happens after midnight......

[Jeffrey Silvan]

Paul, I'm in the same boat as you. I've only fished it a couple times, but the best I've ever done is caught a spinning rod and reel.

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[Paul Kalajainen]

I'm gonna hit it again tomorrow morning at 7:30.  I'm hoping to hit the right combination of outgoing tide, morning hours, weekday morning non-crowded-ness, and luck to break my skunk streak.

[Paul Kalajainen]

Success! 

I fished from about 7:45-8:45am this morning.  I started with a white and olive clouser with no effect.  After a while I switched to an all white version.  Not long after that Aden arrived several yards down from me, giving me some reassurance that I was finally in the right place at the right time.


About 8:30 I pulled in my first fish from GP, my first striper on a fly, and my first fish on a clouser minnow all with the same catch.  That was my only catch of the morning, but it was extremely satisfying.

[Charlie Church]

Congrats, thats a nice fish

[Daniel Davala]

Way to go Paul!  A special catch all around, thanks for sharing your trials and success. 

 

Dan Davala

On Thu, Oct 31, 2013 at 9:33 AM, Charlie Church <charlie...@gmail.com> wrote:

Congrats, thats a nice fish

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[Steve F]

That's a lot of firsts, congrats on the milestone!  Two years ago about this time I did the same.  

I've had luck in the past at night on those olive over white clousers tied with a fair amount of copper flash.  If there's anything I've learned, don't be afraid of going BIG when fishing for stripers. Even the little guys will absolutely slam a 3.5 or 4" clouser and there's a better chance of moving the big guys if they're lurking in the deeper holes. 

[TurbineBlade]

Nice!  I caught my first fly rod fish at GP as well with Rob....just over a year ago now I believe.  I've only gone back once, and just got a needlefish and something else....don't remember.  

So GP is always a neat spot to me, if for no other reason.  

Most of the success I've had since then I can attribute to a really great deal I made with Satan several months ago.  Well, he said he was Satan anyway.  

Gene

[FlyTimesDC]

Trick or treated at GP last night before the park closed. Good call.  Landed a dozen or so schoolies including a few pushing 20" and had one breakoff from something bigger...Nice to see some bigger fish still hanging around 

On Tuesday, October 29, 2013 11:15:00 PM UTC-4, Trent Jones wrote:

[Paul Kalajainen]

So I've picked up that the best times for GP are an outgoing tide in early morning or late evening.  What happens when the outgoing tide is some time mid-day, or even earlier evening/late afternoon?  Is the fishing still good or is it better to hit other spots until the tide and time of day align for GP?

-Paul

[Miles]

I was out there from 10 to noon today -- nice nasty weather for stripers. I caught about a half dozen, not counting one that screamed down the flow before throwing my hook. Fish to hand were mostly 12" to 17", including a small largemouth. Fishing was better when it was raining, and the bite tapered off as as it brightened up a little.

I was fishing a fly I've been working on, and the problem in those situations is that you never really have a good control group for your experiment. Fortunately, a guy with a spinning rod showed up and began throwing chartreuse, white, and pink and white curly tails at them. He said he usually catches them, and was a little frustrated that I was and he wasn't. I think we can call that a positive result.

Miles

[Paul Kalajainen]

Does anyone use a stripping basket at GP?  I found casting to be somewhat cumbersome trying to shoot line out that was sinking and getting stuck on stuff and dragged in the current.  I've never used one before but it seemed like it might be useful there.

[Vic Velasco]

Does anyone have an idea of the effect the moon phase has on striper behavior?

I was out yesterday at GP from 8-11 am (top of the high tide through the halfway to low) and got skunked hard.  I bumped into TPFR'ers Charlie and Zack who were there a bit earlier than I - and they left empty handed too.

Besides it being slightly brighter (with the High tide happening later yesterday than when it occurred in some of the earlier posts on this thread), I was there during the same relative conditions (current flowing out, cooler temperatures, bait fish all around), but didn't get to catch.  Ergo the moon phase question - 

It's a New Moon now (which I thought would be better for fishing, but I guess it would have to be dark for that to matter - can you sense the frustration in my typing??? )

Vic

On Tuesday, October 29, 2013 11:15:00 PM UTC-4, Trent Jones wrote:

[Daniel Davala]

Generally speaking, Stripers prefer to feed in lower light conditions.  There was a pretty bright sun yesterday at that time which is likely what kept them out in the main river.  This is not to say it isn't possible to have a good bite in bright sun, it is just less likely, especially in shallow water like Gravelly.  My favorite Striper conditions are the early morning or late evening outgoing tides when it is actually dark outside.  Daytime outgoing tides can produce very well though when there is a thick, heavy cloud cover, so think overcast/even drizzly rainy conditions.  When all of the above line up - dark, rainy, cloudy, outgoing tide, it can be phenomenal, but then again, some times the conditions are perfect and the fish are nowhere to be found.  Keep trying, and keep the fly in the water!

 

Dan Davala

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[Senor_denito]

Hit GP last night with Mauro and worked the end of the incoming and some of the outgoing tide.  The bite being "slow" and the colder than expected conditions made for a tough night on the water.  However I managed to hook up with this striper which ended my skunk.

On Tuesday, October 29, 2013 11:15:00 PM UTC-4, Trent Jones wrote:

[Misha Gill]

I hit Gravelly the morning after the gov't shutdown ended and it was prime. Tons of stripers were in the moving water (outgoing tide around 9:30 am) and they were blitzing bait every ten minutes or so. I was getting hookups on nearly every cast once I figured out my drift. At one point I got a hookup on four casts in a row. Silver Kreelex with heavy dumbell eyes was the ticket.

The best fish was, of course, the one that got away. I hooked up with a smallmouth that would have gone over twenty inches. I know because I saw him twice, first on a jump right after the hookset, and second on the jump that threw the hook. I played it for probably about five minutes (divide by three to compensate for my slo mo perception of time) before it got away. Makes me wish I hadn't debarbed the hook but I'm grateful for the encounter! 

In total I probably caught around 15 fish during the hour that I was there. Noteworthy fish were two stripers around 16-18", one smallmouth (escaped), and one decent largemouth around 15". But of course you already know that because I attached the pictures and your eyes went there first. 

Gravelly is a good spot but it's hit or miss. This trip was my third visit to Gravelly, and the previous two times I caught jack squat. I think it has to do with timing and also pressure. If a spin fisher is on that spot right next to the concrete all, forget it or get yourself a boat. 

[Nedak]

Nice first picture.