Fresh Loudoun County Fishing Reports

Book a Potomac river trip for a chance at some springtime monsters!

Catfish trip went great today for the kids and family book with us today to get in on the action.

Book me at Lake Anna or Potomac River!! Bass or Crappie!

The top ten northern snakehead fishing mistakes I’ve observed of clients : 1. Wrong rod - you don’t need a special snakehead rod but you do need a 7’ medium heavy rod (or longer) with a bit of a soft tip. 2. Wrong line - I like 30 lb braid and I’ll go up but never down. No mono, floro.. 3. Bad knot - braid will slip so I use a double Palomar knot. 4. Bad casting - the further away I can keep the boat from intended targets - the better. Casts must be relatively long and very accurate especially to sighted fish in shallow water. 5. No polarized sunglasses - essential to spot snakeheads. 6. Not observant - many snakeheads give away their position by a movement in water or vegetation. 7. Lazy - this is a game of how many good casts can I make to keep my bait for the longest period of time in snakehead habitat and strike zones. You cast - work in strike zone - reel in as fast as you can through non productive water and cast again. 8. Bad hook sets - I’ll tell u a secret. There’s three different snake head strikes that dictate how I set the hook. However I don’t care when you set the hook but I do need u to set the hook hard. 9. Missing opportunities - you may only get 1 to 3 great opportunities in a day. If you don’t observe a wake following ur bait as u reel in or you take a long time to cast at an observed fish or if you miss a strike and don’t immediately and repeatably throw to same spot- then a lot of hard work is lost. 10. Not controlling what is controllable. No leaders. Don’t use a med rod and make a mile cast that overextends your equipments ability to hook and land a snakehead. I’ll break the rules every now and then. Yes I’ll use heavy floro if I’m casting a chatterbait. Yes I’ll throw a long way and take my chances. It’s heartbreaking to see a missed fish that was catchable because I know that these opportunities are limited in a day. Control the controllable and cast a lot. I’ll worry about the rest. Book a June trip. Do it - do it now. ?. You won’t regret it.

Despite the cold, there are plenty of places where the big ones can be caught. Typically, the big fish hunker down in deeper water this time of year, but will at times move into shallower water to feed, depending on the air pressure, temperature, and several other factors. Washington DC has the benefit of several warm-water discharges, which at times can be 15 degrees warmer than the rest of the river. Shad, the primary forage for big blues, are not very cold-tolerant, and so will congregate around these areas. Last trip out on 3 January found some good 30 pounders in deep water, but the 44# above was caught shallow, just ahead of a big front. Unlike channel catfish and flatheads, blue cats do feed actively over the winter; their metabolisms slow down, but smaller baits in the right place will get them to bite. As long as the river conditions are safe, it is a great time of year to bundle up and get out on the water!

Reeled in 40+ Fish kept a limit of slot fish and to top it all off got two trophy fish that were safely caught, and released. Only have a few dates left till the season ends or book for next year.