Karen and I went camping again, this time at the Antietam Creek site on the Upper Potomac. It was somewhat of a first for me on Saturday -- taking part in my two main hobbies on the same day.
Saturday morning, I awoke bright and early for an Autocrossers, Inc., autocross in Waldorf, Md., to drive my friend Kirk's 1973 Datsun 240Z. You remember, Kirk, right?
After finishing up (and even getting some fun runs in a 2015 Camaro SS), I headed up and met Karen at the campground. She had already set up the tent and everything but didn't have any luck catching fish. When I got there, it was almost 6 p.m. with the sun ducking behind the trees, and I decided to fish with nothing but topwater lures. One rod was rigged with a Heddon Zara Puppy, and on the other I tied on a Whopper Plopper.
Downriver from the campground, I waded out in the clear, low Potomac River. First thing I tried was the Zara Puppy on my usual jig rod/reel -- Pflueger President reel with a medium-light St. Croix rod. The Zara Puppy isn't very heavy, but with this setup, I was able to make long casts.
Lots of action on the lure from what I suspected were sunfish. Finally it was confirmed -- yup, sunfish (see picture to the left). Not wanting a repeat of last week where I just caught nibblers and dink smallmouth, I switched over to the rod with the Whopper Plopper.
This lure is great for the lazy fisherman. Fire it out, retrieve it slowly, and the tail churns across the surface. Cast, reel, cast, etc. Maybe sometimes vary the retrieve by pausing for a few seconds.
After a few casts, I caught a smallmouth that was around 10.75 inches. Actually, it was 15.75 inches because when catching a fish on top, you can add five inches to the fish's length! Every fisherman knows this.
A little while later, I landed another smallmouth, this one just a bit smaller.
The Whopper Plopper was getting some swipes, which I assumed were smallmouth because the lure was really too big for panfish to attack.
Just smallmouth bass to find here. That's all. Nothing else in this river would be interested in a festively plump topwater lure.
Except a muskie!
A few casts after smallmouth number two, I lobbed the lure to the middle of the river. After it sat still for a few seconds, I began reeling it in, but something smacked it and started causing a ruckus on the surface thrashing about. It looked like a nice sized fish -- definitely not a cookie-cutter smallmouth!
After the splashing subsided, the fish stopped fighting back, but it was still hooked. As it got closer, I could make out the milky white belly of a fish floating Tango Uniform through the clear water.
It wasn't a muskie.
It was ...
... Mr. Whiskers.
Mr. Whiskers looked to be at least 18 inches. The front treble hook was in the fish's mouth, and the rear treble was on the edge of the gill.
I started dragging the fish -- still hooked -- through the water toward the bank figuring it would be easier to deal with it on the shore. And I texted Karen asking if she wanted me to keep it. One hand had the rod trying to keep tension on the fish, and the other hand texting with my phone.
Tell your friends not to text and fish, people!
Usually I don't keep fish, but Karen is always disappointed to hear me tell tales of releasing something that would be good table fare. And I'll admit since catching-and-releasing a good "eater" size catfish in June, I've been wondering how Mr. Whiskers would taste after spending time on my smoker.
I was maybe two feet from putting my boots on the shore, and the line snapped! The catfish started thrashing thrashing at my feet. I tried grabbing it with my hands, but it was like trying to catch agreased pig wet catfish in a river. The fish was in his element and disappeared leaving only a cloudy mess of churned-up river bottom.
Oh and taking my $13 (those are American dollars) Whopper Plopper with it.
The end of the 8-pound Trilene was really frayed, so Mr. Whiskers probably did that damage causing a ruckus on the surface after getting hooked.
After that, nothing. It was like all the fish scattered from the danger area.
This morning, I awoke bright and early and hit the water again armed with another Whopper Plopper -- Karen offered me the one from her tackle box.
Starting off in the same area as the encounter with Mr. Whiskers yesterday, something big swam past the lure on my second cast. Later on, a smallmouth clamped on, leaped and freed itself from the two big treble hooks.
Moving down river to a set of exposed rocks and riffles, I finally caught three smallmouth -- the biggest around 11 inches. Karen texted saying she had breakfast ready, so I headed back to the campsite. After sausage and scrambled eggs, I decided to fish the river right behind our campsite. The water didn't look all that great -- really shallow, but still lots of rocks and rock formations scattered throughout the river bottom.
After no topwater action, I switched to a TRD Finesse worm and caught one cookie-cutter smallmouth. It was the only bite I had on that. Switching to another comfort lure -- a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper -- landed me another cookie-cutter smallmouth.
The weather was fantastic today. Kind of chilly in the morning but improved around 9 a.m. so that it felt really comfortable. Fall is here and supposedly this is when the smallmouth start fattening up so they can relax in their winter hideouts.
Saturday morning, I awoke bright and early for an Autocrossers, Inc., autocross in Waldorf, Md., to drive my friend Kirk's 1973 Datsun 240Z. You remember, Kirk, right?
After finishing up (and even getting some fun runs in a 2015 Camaro SS), I headed up and met Karen at the campground. She had already set up the tent and everything but didn't have any luck catching fish. When I got there, it was almost 6 p.m. with the sun ducking behind the trees, and I decided to fish with nothing but topwater lures. One rod was rigged with a Heddon Zara Puppy, and on the other I tied on a Whopper Plopper.
Downriver from the campground, I waded out in the clear, low Potomac River. First thing I tried was the Zara Puppy on my usual jig rod/reel -- Pflueger President reel with a medium-light St. Croix rod. The Zara Puppy isn't very heavy, but with this setup, I was able to make long casts.
 |
| Sunfish like it on top. |
This lure is great for the lazy fisherman. Fire it out, retrieve it slowly, and the tail churns across the surface. Cast, reel, cast, etc. Maybe sometimes vary the retrieve by pausing for a few seconds.
After a few casts, I caught a smallmouth that was around 10.75 inches. Actually, it was 15.75 inches because when catching a fish on top, you can add five inches to the fish's length! Every fisherman knows this.
A little while later, I landed another smallmouth, this one just a bit smaller.
The Whopper Plopper was getting some swipes, which I assumed were smallmouth because the lure was really too big for panfish to attack.
Just smallmouth bass to find here. That's all. Nothing else in this river would be interested in a festively plump topwater lure.
 |
| Always amazing how small fish hit big lures. |
A few casts after smallmouth number two, I lobbed the lure to the middle of the river. After it sat still for a few seconds, I began reeling it in, but something smacked it and started causing a ruckus on the surface thrashing about. It looked like a nice sized fish -- definitely not a cookie-cutter smallmouth!
After the splashing subsided, the fish stopped fighting back, but it was still hooked. As it got closer, I could make out the milky white belly of a fish floating Tango Uniform through the clear water.
It wasn't a muskie.
It was ...
... Mr. Whiskers.
Mr. Whiskers looked to be at least 18 inches. The front treble hook was in the fish's mouth, and the rear treble was on the edge of the gill.
I started dragging the fish -- still hooked -- through the water toward the bank figuring it would be easier to deal with it on the shore. And I texted Karen asking if she wanted me to keep it. One hand had the rod trying to keep tension on the fish, and the other hand texting with my phone.
Tell your friends not to text and fish, people!
Usually I don't keep fish, but Karen is always disappointed to hear me tell tales of releasing something that would be good table fare. And I'll admit since catching-and-releasing a good "eater" size catfish in June, I've been wondering how Mr. Whiskers would taste after spending time on my smoker.
I was maybe two feet from putting my boots on the shore, and the line snapped! The catfish started thrashing thrashing at my feet. I tried grabbing it with my hands, but it was like trying to catch a
Oh and taking my $13 (those are American dollars) Whopper Plopper with it.
 |
| The Whopper Plopper didn't catch a whopper. |
After that, nothing. It was like all the fish scattered from the danger area.
This morning, I awoke bright and early and hit the water again armed with another Whopper Plopper -- Karen offered me the one from her tackle box.
Starting off in the same area as the encounter with Mr. Whiskers yesterday, something big swam past the lure on my second cast. Later on, a smallmouth clamped on, leaped and freed itself from the two big treble hooks.
 |
| Going back to a comfort lure. |
After no topwater action, I switched to a TRD Finesse worm and caught one cookie-cutter smallmouth. It was the only bite I had on that. Switching to another comfort lure -- a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper -- landed me another cookie-cutter smallmouth.
The weather was fantastic today. Kind of chilly in the morning but improved around 9 a.m. so that it felt really comfortable. Fall is here and supposedly this is when the smallmouth start fattening up so they can relax in their winter hideouts.
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