Life is Good -- Fish on

I've been waiting for the fishing on Pohick Creek to heat up like it was last July and August and while its not red hot the largemouth action is certainly heating up.  

Clear but barren on upper Pohick Creek

The Orvis crew had fished the lower portion of creek as it transitioned into Pohick Bay earlier in the week and reported that the bite was on.  Fritz and I slid our canoe into the upper Pohick at 0640 determined to fish downstream quickly until we found bass.  A minnow-fish kill last month has left the upper Pohick pretty barren so we needed to head downstream until the effects of the kill dissipated. 

White flecks are dead minnows (picture taken a month ago)

We found that the creek returned to life in the "lake-pool' section 1/4 mile above the Tamarack Stable camp-site.  Scott will remember right where the snake attacked out canoe. We could see the bass on on the right hand side cut and as our popper offerings only drew panfish attention we switched to dark bead-head, buggers and began to pick up bass. 

Typical Pohick Largemouth

From this point down the fish were on their normal stations and their diversity and abundance was amazing; yellow perch, shad, panfish, catfish, bass and carp....could be that we saw a gar too!  For the last hour of our adventure we took turns paddle-guiding the canoe while one of us stood in the front of the canoe and sight-casted for the bass.  This team fishing is about the most fun ever! 

We didn't end up catching any monsters but hooked into a dozen 11-14" inchers between us.  In several spots (notably on the bluff at the Tamarack camp) the sunfish were so thick the bass didn't have time for their slower takes.  The density of the fish lessened when the creek opened up into the hydrilla-filled bay and we paddled back to the Regional Park to conclude our day.   The park was alive with activity and three horses joined us at the canoe takeout, walked right into the water thighs deep and started splashing around...quite a sight after a great morning fishing.