Four Mile Report and Snakehead Theory

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FlyTimesDC

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Aug 13, 2012, 9:42:38 AM8/13/12
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Hi all,

I fished Four Mile Run yesterday from 11-3pm. Beginning with the bottom stages of the low tide and fishing until halfway through the high, I managed to hook into twenty-plus fish. A size-8, white and olive clouser and a size-10 ghost shrimp pattern on the rip-rap and shade lines produced the usual mixed bag variety of catfish, LMB, SMB, pumpkin sunnnies (one of the prettiest fish color and pattern wise in the river, see image below), bluegills, and white perch. The biggest bass was about 2.5lbs.

In other news,  I saw a bunch of shad swimming around by the bridge on Mt. Vernon and by the water plant too in Four Mile (probably Gizzards). It was a great day on the water, but I can't wait for the weather to cool down and for the striper bite to pick up again. I saw a few nice Koi and no snakeheads.

I'm beginning to think that the dynamic tide swings at four mile do not make it an ideal habitat for NSH (at least up by the water plant). Check out the article on my site for more info (Snakehead Article), but because snakeheads are sedentary creatures, the tide swings at Four Mile would eliminate a significant amount of potential real estate. When the tide bottoms out, the majority of the creek bed is above water. While they can live in shallow water, I doubt they'd subject themselves to being imprisoned in a tidal pool where they cannot properly ambush or hide from would be predators (osprey). This means that the only places that could consistently hold  NSH are going to be below the water plant and probably more around the mouth or opening to Four Mile Run. Just a theory, but it would explain why I've only seen three NSH (one a legitimate 3-footer on a rising tide) in the area around the water plant in over 40 trips to the run this summer.

Tight lines,
Remick
FlyTimesDC

Vic Velasco

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Aug 13, 2012, 8:00:08 PM8/13/12
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I started plying the web after the "Off the Hook" show last weekend - the episode with Eric fishing for Snakeheads - CAPT Shane (the guide) has several videos on youtube - one of which where he describes his snakehead catching tactics (cast to the ledges - the snakeheads will be resting with their tails to the land, heads to the deeper water).  I went to Calvert Marine Museum this weekend and their snakehead exhibit centerpiece was resting in the shallow part of the display with it's head pointing towards deeper water.  

Art Friedlander

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Aug 13, 2012, 8:31:07 PM8/13/12
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Looking for advice about "tying" salt water poppers without popping for $8 each.
I was looking at kits from Feather Craft and also from Wapsi.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Art

Scott Stankus

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Aug 13, 2012, 9:01:38 PM8/13/12
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GSFeder

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Aug 14, 2012, 10:33:00 AM8/14/12
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Look on Midcurrent. Tim Flagler recently did a good 2-part video.  

Cheers, 

-- Greg

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 13, 2012, at 8:31 PM, Art Friedlander <just...@yahoo.com> wrote:

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Art Friedlander

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Aug 14, 2012, 7:15:39 PM8/14/12
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Thanks Scott and Greg for the website. It looks to be very helpful with some clever solutions.

Art

--- On Tue, 8/14/12, GSFeder <gsf...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> From: GSFeder <gsf...@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} salt water poppers
> To: "tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com" <tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com>
> Date: Tuesday, August 14, 2012, 10:33 AM
> Look on
> Midcurrent. Tim Flagler recently did a good 2-part video.
>  
>
> Cheers, 
> -- Greg
> Sent from my iPhone
> On Aug 13, 2012, at 8:31 PM, Art Friedlander <just...@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
> Looking for advice about
> "tying" salt water poppers without popping for $8
> each.I was looking at kits from Feather Craft and
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