It always strikes me how a hundred and fifty miles of northern latitude can affect fishing. While the bass are nearing their spawning stage, and the topwater bite is already beginning in the lakes and rivers near Charlottesville, the Maryland waters are still too cold, with the fish down deep, and staging around the points on the outside of coves.
This weekend started with a Friday afternoon/evening trip up to Big Pool, near Ft. Frederick, MD. There the water was more shallow, and therefore just warm enough for the crappie to really start getting active, and the slabs were stacked near the shoreline. All in all we landed more than two dozen fish, and we took home a nice stringer for my father and good friend to cook up. While my friend and father were throwing traditional crankbaits, I did my damage with a clouser and waited zonker. The fish were holding down deeper, and the trick was to get the fly near bottom. Fishing would have been easier if I had a sinking or intermediate line.
A nice baker's dozen
Definitely a stringer worth a closeup
Day two involved a drive out to one of my favorite lakes, Triadelphia Reservoir. Located north of our Nation's Capital, Triadelphia is a hidden gem containing both Stripped Bass and Northern Pike. Due to the deeper depths, the reservoir was still quite cold, which made fishing much tougher. All in all, we only pulled in two fish, but the second was a beautiful Maryland Northern Pike at ~30 inches (yes, up north they get much, much bigger, but this is what we have in the Mid Atlantic). More importantly, it was my first pike on the fly! Again, fishing deep was key, which made clousers essential. This particular specimen found a chartreuse on white too irresistible to pass up.
My first Pike on the Fly!
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