4 Mile Run Triumph

[Lane Smith]

Went out to 4 Mile Run this evening and managed several firsts. Until today, I've caught only bluegill in there. After trying poppers, clousers, wooly buggers, crayfish, terrestrials, minnows, etc. (and with all kinds of presentation), I tried nymphing; right on tap of the discharge. It worked a LOT. The nymphs I used were size 12-14's I think but with a heavier bead, white aentennae, black and dark red thorax segments. Perhaps they're meant to be a small crayfish? Not sure. They're awesome. I included pictures of my first ever catfish on fly (took 10 minutes to land, what a fight) and my first 4 mile smallie. I'm ecstatic I found something that worked.

 

Early in the afternoon when I reached the discharge, I witnessed something massive and dark doing something right in the middle of the discharge where the flow is probably strongest. About a 1/3 of its body (the back end) was just kinda hanging out above the surface when BOOM, a bit more scissored out of the water and slashed forward in (I can only assume) an attack, which sent hundreds of shad(?) swimming towards me up stream. It did this for a minute or two and then kinda loafed back into the flow and disappeared gradually. I've never seen anything like it in real life. The tail was definitively snakesnakehead but the sheer size of this thing ... man. So of course I slapped on the biggest deceiver pattern I had and cast into and around the discharge. Nothing came of it until I just let my deceiver pattern roll on the discharge while I considered around in my fly box for what I'd try next. Low and behold I kinda look up and there, about 2 feet behind and deeper than my fly (which almost had drifted back to me by this point), was a rather large head. I thought I was staring at an anaconda for a moment. I kind of freaked out rushed back a bit. Unpreturbed, what turned out to be a fish nonchalantly looked at me for a beat and then kinda reblended into the depths below the foam or whatever it is which the discharge creates.

 

My first thought was I'd just seen the same enormous snakehead close up. Thinking back though, I'm not sure. My sense was that the head connected into a bulkier body than a snakehead typically has. I think it might have been an enormous largemouth. Maybe over 10lbs. I lack the expertise to hazard a reasonable guess. Thoughts?

[TurbineBlade]

Is that a smallmouth?  It almost looks hybridish.....nice fish regardless!  Well done! 

 

I need to hit 4MR sometime....

 

Gene

[Matthew Longley]

I've definitely seen strange fish movements like the one you describe out there, the snakehead is a crazy fish.  Would love to catch one on the fly...

Were you wading out there?  I always have trouble finding good shore spots at 4MR

On Wednesday, October 10, 2012 2:02:41 AM UTC-4, Lane Smith wrote:

[Fly Fish]

The photo looks like an LM.  The visible lateral line and white belly are Large Mouth markings.

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[Jeff Silvan]

CG, I tend to agree with you on the markings, but the bigger question in my mind is the mouth. The mouth typically extends a ways beyond the eye on a largemouth when the mouth is closed, where a smallmouth's mouth typically only extends to the mid-eye. The mouth is slightly open in this picture, so it might be distorting the view a bit. I don't know the spotted bass well, but is it possible that's what Lane has? I believe spotted bass look similar to largemouth's with the lateral line, but do have a mouth similar to that of a smallmouth.

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[darin]

Lane,

I've never fished 4MR, but am definitely interested after reading your post.  Where do you generally go, and where do you park/ what are some landmarks around the area to look for?  I'm not quite sure how to get to the spot I've seen on this forum that talks about the discharge.  Thanks!

Darin

On Wednesday, October 10, 2012 2:02:41 AM UTC-4, Lane Smith wrote:

[darin]

[Lane Smith]

I was wading Matthew. Your question about wading and the snakehead comment jogged my memory about something else. Anyone ever wade along the shallow really muddy parts on the south side of 4MR with the plant vegetation growing out of the water? Whenever I do there's inevitably a bunch of commotion along the grass. I imagine there are catfish back in there, but what about snakeheads? I've heard the love really shallow water.

 

Darin, if you search topics above within the forum for 4 Mile Run, there's years worth of info in here. However, I park at the 4 Mile Run parking lot right by Mt Vernon bridge and wade downstream to where the water treatment plan discharges into the stream. You have to wade through some pretty nasty pluff mud to do it, but I like to be thorough. Alternatively, I think if you walk east from that parking lot down the service street, you can wade in a bit closer to the discharge. Again, pluff mud so be careful, but it's not as bad as my normal wade in point up stream.

 

The mouth didn't extend very much further than what you see on that bass so I just assumed it was a smallie. He's a lil grimy cause I dropped him on the ground :(

On Wednesday, October 10, 2012 2:02:41 AM UTC-4, Lane Smith wrote:

[Jeffrey Silvan]

Darin - 

I made a rudimentary map on google to show you another way to access the discharge. It's a bit of walking, but the wading is very easy, and you don't have to trek through a muddy bottom. It'll be easier to see how to get there if you use satellite view.

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=210202510930927031458.0004cbb54a71e8c616397&msa=0&ll=38.842432,-77.05523&spn=0.011448,0.022724

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[Victor Fels]

Definitely a largemouth bass. You can tell by the coloration, the
lateral line, and the mouth.

On Oct 10, 8:31 am, Fly Fish <caglo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The photo looks like an LM.  The visible lateral line and white belly are
> Large Mouth markings.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

> On Wed, Oct 10, 2012 at 6:04 AM, TurbineBlade <doublebc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Is that a smallmouth?  It almost looks *hybridish*.....nice fish

> > regardless!  Well done!
>
> > I need to hit 4MR sometime....
>
> > Gene
>
> > On Wednesday, October 10, 2012 2:02:41 AM UTC-4, Lane Smith wrote:
>
> >> Went out to 4 Mile Run this evening and managed several firsts. Until
> >> today, I've caught only bluegill in there. After trying poppers, clousers,
> >> wooly buggers, crayfish, terrestrials, minnows, etc. (and with all kinds of
> >> presentation), I tried nymphing; right on tap of the discharge. It worked a
> >> LOT. The nymphs I used were size 12-14's I think but with a heavier bead,
> >> white aentennae, black and dark red thorax segments. Perhaps they're meant
> >> to be a small crayfish? Not sure. They're awesome. I included pictures of
> >> my first ever catfish on fly (took 10 minutes to land, what a fight) and my
> >> first 4 mile smallie. I'm ecstatic I found something that worked.
>
> >> Early in the afternoon when I reached the discharge, I witnessed

> >> something *massive* and dark doing *something* right in the middle of

> >> the discharge where the flow is probably strongest. About a 1/3 of its body
> >> (the back end) was just kinda hanging out above the surface when BOOM, a
> >> bit more scissored out of the water and slashed forward in (I can only
> >> assume) an attack, which sent hundreds of shad(?) swimming towards me up
> >> stream. It did this for a minute or two and then kinda loafed back into the
> >> flow and disappeared gradually. I've never seen anything like it in real

> >> life. The tail was definitively snakesnakehead but the sheer *size *of