Thee Fishing Detective’s Snakehead Report and General Fishing thoughts for week of July 9 to July 15, 2023. House cleaning - this week the boat only caught 7 snakeheads and that brings the total number of snakeheads caught since June 11 to 68. Two clients caught their first ever snakehead and one caught his snakehead in a fly rod. A historic moment for the Fishing Detective’s business. Trips - this week I have the 17th, 19th and 20th open for morning or evening half day trips. Half day trips are 4 hours for $300. Morning trips begin at 0545 hrs and evening are at 1600 hrs. I’m primarily using the leesylvania ramp. This week I’m interviewed by Snakehead Magazine Reporter about snakehead fishing on the Potomac River. Here’s a segment of the questions and answers. Reporter - you consistently throw a hollow body frog. Why and u-tube experts always talk about chatterbaits - do you use other lures ? The FD- it should be remembered that Im a fishing guide that takes clients out that have limited fishing experience. Consequently my lure selection keeps that in mind while placing clients in the best position to succeed. Like Bill Munny said in the Unforgiven “I’ve killed everything that walks or crawls” - I can say I’ve caught snakeheads with every lure and technique I’ve caught bass. However, the hollow body frog allows clients to throw a bait into snakehead habitat rather easily without the need to worry about snagging or engaging the reel or the need for pinpoint accuracy. It allows the client to minimize cast exhaustion and keep a bait in a strike zone as long as possible. Reporter - what about the chatterbait ? The FD - the chatterbait is certainly no secret and very effective snakehead bait. It’s probably the most effective bait for big snakeheads that like hard weed edges in slightly deeper water. I love it but I don’t love it on shallow Inside marsh edges and I don’t love it with clients thst are throwing it on my equipment. A famous guide would often respond to clients asking to use a different lure by stating “you ain’t ready for that yet bub.” There must be practical considerations for a guide and one of the practical considerations is increasing catch probability by limiting lure choice. A chatterbait on a spinning rod equipped with braid is going to eventually result in disaster. Also it requires engaging your reel properly so it isn’t smothered in grass. A guide doesn’t always fish the most effective way but he fishes the most practical way for clients fishing abilities and to allow them to have the highest probability for success. Reporter - why do you hate the internet ? The FD - I don’t necessarily hate the internet but I do understand the difference between “knowing a lot and doing a lot”. Please remember that I’m trained to only understand “Case closed or case open”. I’ve been around alit of smart people in my life that have the ability to communicate well and convincingly but they have a lot of “ open cases”. I choose to live my life not as a promotional assessment paradigm but as a black book that documents measurable success or failure. The first thing I learned at age 11 years old that had a life long impact was that just because your talking loud and a lot doesn’t mean you are right. I try to do a lot while humbling myself in thinking I know a lot. The internet is loud and extroverted and not very insightful - it’s the mob and I dint like what it’s done to fishing. I’ve caught 68 snakeheads in the last month on the Potomac - one either accepts that or they don’t. That’s not a reality show or a perfectly edited u tube video - it’s credibility while acknowledging that one doesn’t have to do it my way. Reporter - why is black frog a diva ? The FD - it’s my creation and my fault. At times we support and give accolades to support staff so that the bigger goal is accomplished. It’s sort or Machiavelli and manipulative but it’s win-win in a goal oriented team project. It will backfire on you when the support staff begins to believe that success depends on them instead of having the intelligence to know their role. Black frog forgot his role. I made him believe it was him instead of tempering my praise with the fact that I’m the one choosing the spots and casting him into the spots. He is now sitting in the boat and you know what he’s catching - nothing. He’s the Antonio brown of the fishing detective guide agency. He needs to get his head straight and understand thst my best bait is the one in the water. The reporter - thank you. Any last piece of advice ? The FD- Don’t be so concerned about lures or colors. Snakehead cliques are obsessed with lures as if a snakehead is a special kind of predator fish. It ain’t. Snakeheads are caught in a very limited number of ways because they are a shallow water fish. Learn habitat and ambush points in that habitat. Learn to cast accurately and efficiently. Keep your bait in the strike zones as long as possible and limit the time that i

The Fishing Detective Guide Agency LLC Snakehead week in review : The good news first - this week 3 clients caught their first snakehead. All of them on topwater - which is the only way that matters for snakeheads. The rest of the ways is catfishing !! The total snakeheads for client trips since June 11 is 61 snakeheads. The rest of the news - the fishing for snakeheads has been tough for me for the majority of 2023. It requires great and repeated casts. A lot of great and repeated casts !! I’ve watched sone very good fishing not result in very good fish catching. I’ve watched sone poor fishing result in fish. The lesson is that poor fishing can result in fish on the terms of the fish but great fishing will always be great fishing by my terms. This means great fishing is a result of understanding habitat and proper presentation. It also means persistence, patience, concentration, and observation. Snakehead fishing is very much like playing third base. You play 9 innings and all your skill and ability is decided on 2 balls hit in your direction. I would advise potential clients if the reality as of now is that this isn’t fishing from the bank with a bobber and a worm. It isn’t senko fishing in Piscataway in the spring. It isn’t fishing a tube on the Susquehanna. It’s a downsized version of musky fishing. I enjoy the challenge but again it’s not watching the so called experts who made a utube video. (On the police department tge expert was always the one who made a PowerPoint and now I see this narrative followed in my beloved fishing). You must know I also enjoy and only validate those who go into the public hunting of the big woods and chase bucks. That’s how I’m wired. I recognize great fishing like I recognize a great hunter. I recognize effort combined with skill - not fish stories. It’s really about you and how you are wired. If your a pond fisherman or hunt private land or high fence - hey you do you. Snakeheads this year certainly wouldn’t be your cup of tea. The hydrilla is now filing up the shallows of creeks. The hydrilla has grown to the edge of arrow heads and marsh edges. The problem isn’t necessarily access to these arrows - the problem is the lack of edges. If you can find a bare edge between the marsh and the hydrilla - then your in business. If not and they buried in hydrilla - then good luck. The other options are holes created by pads, etc in the hydrilla or low tide moving out to the edges and throwing a swim bait. The last thing is very early morning or evening when they cruise the top of hydrilla. The snakeheads on average have been much smaller this year and past consistent spots have become very inconsistent. What does that tell me ? It tells me the same thing that I saw on the Susquehanna. Do you think that smallmouth or snakeheads just abandon spots that they have used for years ? Prime spots are just abandoned ? No … that’s not how it happens. All this said .. I still love it. I enjoy people being exposed to the thrill of a topwater snakehead bite. I love power fishing and I love frog fishing. IM built to work and the challenge. I frankly will tell u that easy snakehead fishing appears to be in the Blackwater region. There will be a lot of “experts” made by Blackwater like a lot is smallmouth “experts” were created by the Susquehanna. I may go down there on a trip and I’ll crush them just like I did the Susquehanna smallmouth. However, the difference is that I understand the difference between great fishing and a great fishery. The potomac has been quite challenging this year but on one day we had 32 strikes so I remain optimistic. I haven’t even been to my secret spot this year !! So I got that going for me ?. In sum, it doesn’t matter what creek u enter. It’s the same thing. Throw to inside edges of marsh edges. Do not throw on matted grass but look for holes or clear spots. Throw into hydrilla holes created by pads or Arrow heads. Go to outside edges of hydrilla hole n low tides and throw swimbaits, etc. On low light - throw a buzzbsit over grass. Embrace it .. embrace snakehead fishing … embrace challenge.. embrace each cast because each cast makes you a better fisherman. Every single cast, every single second on the water creates a fisherman. It’s not your lure or your parroting back a fishing video .. it’s every second of good and bad experiences that result in learning. I love it so don’t invalidate the guys working so hard out there to become better by sharing your “knowledge”. Go out and do it … show me… dint be like every guy that wants me to share their delusion because I’m too smart for that game. Embrace and love your passion - good or bad .. you get better by doing not by knowing. Good fishing … your friend - the hardest working guide on the river - Thee Fishing Detective. Go tell the car washer what I say ?.

The internet and social media has created a dostorted deluduon of relaity. The world has become a virtual fantasy of self importance and shortcuts. The fishing world is not immune to the shortcuts sold by you tube videos, lure manufacturers, etc. We want easy and thats the promise of the internet and salesmanship. The reality of fishing is that bsdics are necessary to accomplish. Accurate and repeated casts - not just for an hour or two- throughout the entire day increase odds of success. Time on the water - increase odds of success. Observation increase odds of success. I can assure you that a new lure has very little to no impact on your success. Ive been a full time guide for 9 years and guiding since i was 16. My fishing articles have been published nationally. Ive been appointed by the governor to two dnr committees. I grew up with a freshwater hall of fame father and fished with some of the best fishermen in the world. However, that doesn’t stop a person that should be listening from talking about what they “know” from the internet. A good guude just lets it go in one ear and out the other. The other day my boat had the first ever “threesome”. Each angler in the boat boated a snakehead at the same time. My bet is that this has never been accomplished on the potomac. Theres many many factors that led to this - but it comes to the basics ive describred with a pinch of luck.

The hiring of a fishing guide can be an anxious experience. One is investing their money so whst should you expect from your investment ? Catching fish ? That’s a reasonable expectation but not always controllble by even a guide thst fishes every single day. Theres just too many variables out of the guides control. However that is the goal and it is reasonable but not always within the guides total control. So what is in the guides control and what is not only reasonable but a non negotiable expectation of a guide ? Heres my expectstions of myself ? 1. Be on time with equipment prepared. 2. Provide 100% effort to make clients experience positive. That includes the guide having a positive, friendly and patient attitude. 3. Make time on the water a learning experience. A guide is an instructor and the client should be a better fishernan after getting off the guudes boat. 4. A guide should understand the clients goals, experience and limitations. A client should not be placed in a position to fail or placed in positions that threaten their physical health. There will be bad days. I grew up among the best fishermen and guides in my area. My relatives are in the Fishing Hall of Fame. I know that fishing is managing failure. Most if our casts result in failure. How do you manage little failures vs big failures. That’s the challenge of being a fishing guide. One can only control the controllable. As a fishing guide hall of famer taught me “if you cant handle a bad day - u wont be a fishing guide for very long”. No truer words have ever been spoken. A client should expect that their guide control the controllable.

May 2023 is coming to an end and its time to anticipate June fishing patterns on the Potomac River. Snakeheads- morning and evening snakehead trips begin in June. June means snakeheads positioning themselves to be targeted with topwater baits. (Because anything else is called catfishing). The warming water and developing hydrilla will have snakeheads not only more active but looking to spawn. This combination makes for concentrations of aggressive snakeheads. June and early july are the best times of the year to target snakeheads on the potomac. Largemouth Bass - In june the majority of bass have spawned and post spawn fish are now in grass beds and willing to strike early morning topwater baits. Frog fishing snd buzzbaits earky and late in the day. I love the evening trips because the beauty of the river is all yours. The most interesting guide on the river is st your service. I work hard and have a life time of exoerience.

Did you know that the Potomac River is the greatest Northern Snajehead fishery in the WORLD! The last 4 WORLD record Northern Snakeheads were all caught from the Potomac. June and July are prime months to specifically target snakeheads with top water baits as they set up in predictable areas. These are also the months that they look to spawn so the big ones are accessible. The aquatic vegetation during these months still allow access to snskehead shallow retreats but it wont last long. I do 4 hour trips. I do both morning and after work evening trips. I can provide all equipment. I specialize in top water frog fishing becsyse everything else amounts to catfishing. Im USCG certified captain, fully insured, 27 years in kaw enforcement, advanced educational degrees, and the hardest working guide on the river. My boat is the best made and ive been on the river since i was 6 yesrs old, guiding since i was 16, and son of Fishing Hall of Fame Guude. I am a nationally published writer. I am a concerned conversationalist and an advocate for the health of the river and its residents. I have been on several MD DNR committees where i advocated for the river and not my personal interests. Book a snakehead trip. Evening or morning. Learn the truth about snakeheads and quit watching u tube.