17 May on The Occoquan with Conor

         Conor and I had planned to fish the Rapidan for smallmouth but we got out of the house late so we opted for an easier and shorter trip to the fall-line rocks above Historic Occoquan.  We put in at Occoquan Regional Park and paddled upstream.  We were initially cautious as we could see folks in the distance hopping on what I have come to think of as our personal perch on table rock. As we approached we found that they were  bow-hunters and table rock was uninhabited.   The closer we got though, the stiffer the current & it became apparent that significantly more water was being let out of the damn and the rock garden was angry, swollen and fast.  I wasn't sure that we would be able to reach or safely get out of the canoe at table rock.  After some strong paddling by both of us we got in the back eddy below table rock, tossed the grapple anchor and climbed aboard the rock.  I didn't think we would have luck fishing the swollen pool but after a cast or two it became obvious that the fish were there in huge numbers and the only challenge was weighting the presentations to get them low enough in the water column. I began fishing with a 6wt and a small clouser fly (silver and blue) and Conor worked with a spinning rod with a shad spoon.  In 90 minutes we caught 4 shad and 3 catfish and hooked into huge carp and snakehead that we couldn't land.  There were monster carp moving upstream in pods within casting range.  I hooked into one that was a wide as a football and 3' long and after playing him for a minute or two in the honey-hole he broke Conor off.  Throughout the period snakehead kept rising in the pool for a gulp of air and snaggers on the Fairfax side and bow-hunters on the Prince William side were putting snake on the table.  Again, a very interesting experience and a wonderful time with Conor.