Hit a new section of the Little Patuxent River today. The WB&A Trail crosses the river near Odenton, and there's a small parking area off Piney Orchard Parkway. It was about a five to 10 minute walk from the parking area to the river, but the trail is paved. However, the "trail" to get down to the river is pretty dense. I should have brought the machete.
I walked down river for a bit, skipped the first "easy" section because it was clear of trees and I'm sure EVERYBODY fishes this spot. I found a nice spot that had a couple pools bordered by some down trees on the opposite bank. I tied on a silver Shadow Rap and got a hit on the first cast! I started reeling, it didn't feel like a very big fish. And it wasn't fighting that hard. Yup, a failfish. I mean, fallfish.
I had switched the trailing treble hook to a single hook on all my Shadow Raps and some crankbaits because the "nibblers" and the fallfish always seem to bite there. So all three of the treble hooks were in their tiny mouths. Well the trick worked for this fallfish, just hooked on the single hook, so it was easy to release. It's weird because almost all the smallmouth bass I've caught this year are hooked in the mouth by the front treble hook on whatever topwater or crankbait I've used.
About five casts later, in the exact spot I caught the first fallfish, another fish hit the Shadow Rap. It felt a lot like the first one ... and it was another fallfish. Looked like the exact same fish, too. This one was actually hooked in the mouth by the middle treble hook, so it took some work to get it unhooked.
And then I didn't get a fish the rest of the time, fishing for about two hours. I moved upriver and found a couple nice pools and didn't get a thing. I had gotten a four-pack of soft Sebile Magic Swimmers earlier in the week, so I tried those, too. I really liked the action -- they can be jigged to mimic a dying fish, or they can be reeled in slowly. Just holding the lure steady in the current, the action made it look like a fish swimming against the current.
I think I had one hit on the soft bait, but nothing else. I switched to a Rapala Skitter Pop in a really slow moving pool but didn't get even a single rise. It was a nice "fishy" section, and I was really surprised I couldn't entice any fish to bite!
The only drawback about this section of the river is that there aren't a whole lot of easy spots to fish from shore. However, the river is really shallow in many spots, and if I come back again, I'll bring my waders.
I walked down river for a bit, skipped the first "easy" section because it was clear of trees and I'm sure EVERYBODY fishes this spot. I found a nice spot that had a couple pools bordered by some down trees on the opposite bank. I tied on a silver Shadow Rap and got a hit on the first cast! I started reeling, it didn't feel like a very big fish. And it wasn't fighting that hard. Yup, a failfish. I mean, fallfish.
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| Treble hooks replaced with single hooks. |
About five casts later, in the exact spot I caught the first fallfish, another fish hit the Shadow Rap. It felt a lot like the first one ... and it was another fallfish. Looked like the exact same fish, too. This one was actually hooked in the mouth by the middle treble hook, so it took some work to get it unhooked.
And then I didn't get a fish the rest of the time, fishing for about two hours. I moved upriver and found a couple nice pools and didn't get a thing. I had gotten a four-pack of soft Sebile Magic Swimmers earlier in the week, so I tried those, too. I really liked the action -- they can be jigged to mimic a dying fish, or they can be reeled in slowly. Just holding the lure steady in the current, the action made it look like a fish swimming against the current.
I think I had one hit on the soft bait, but nothing else. I switched to a Rapala Skitter Pop in a really slow moving pool but didn't get even a single rise. It was a nice "fishy" section, and I was really surprised I couldn't entice any fish to bite!
The only drawback about this section of the river is that there aren't a whole lot of easy spots to fish from shore. However, the river is really shallow in many spots, and if I come back again, I'll bring my waders.
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