June 21, 2015 - Lake Orange

Went down to Lake Orange around midday.  It was a hot, sunny day, ambient air temperature was 94, surface water temperature in the sun was 86.  Fished at first mostly with a chartreuse spinnerbait, but did no good.  Switched to a 3" yellow double curlytail texas rigged, but did no good, then put it on a 3/8 oz jighead, fished deep, and caught this bass in deep water.  It was fairly fat, and its stomach contents included some crawfish parts.

Otherwise, I caught a few small bluegills on a small inline spinner.  Caught one bluegill with some size to it, which I kept because I kept the bass.  This is an example of the small bluegills, the decent one was maybe 6 or 7 inches.

Got sunburned, maybe next time I'll use sunblock or wear long pants.

Anyway, took out around 5, having taken a break in the middle of the afternoon to stretch my legs, since sitting in a canoe for more than a couple of hours gets sort of uncomfortable.

I  took an icechest stocked with sodas in the canoe, which upsets the normal trim of the boat.  I'd rather have the ice chest in front of me, but the additional weight in front makes the boat bog down and feel clumsy, so I have to keep it behind me, but then it's difficult to retrieve a drink without feeling a little tippy.  The seat in my canoe slides back and forth on rails to allow you to adjust trim and let the seat double as a carry yoke, and I wonder if I drill the gunnels further back and make some extended rails, if that would allow sufficient adjustment to accommodate the ice chest in front without causing the seat to bind against the sides of the boat.  I'm hesitant to do it for fear of screwing it up, but you know what the famous Assyrian haberdasher Pliny the Flatulent said:  "C'est la vie."

June 16, 2015 - Mountain Run Lake

Thank heaven for small fish, that's what I always say.  Just ask anyone within earshot of me and they'll confirm, I always say that.  It's hard to find anyone within earshot of me though, since I tend to drive people away, that being my only conversational gambit.

The reason for the appreciation for small fish is that without a 6" bass or a 4" bluegill, I would've been skunked on this trip.  And nothing is so demoralizing as getting skunked, I always say.  Damnit, I've contradicted myself, and this is only the second paragraph!

Anyway, I fished with a chartreuse spinnerbait, a red/white/black curly tail, a spinner, a blade bait, a plastic lizard, a 1/12 oz crankbait, and I may be minus one kitchen sink as well.  Nothing worked.  The fish I caught were on the blade bait, a chartreuse and black 1/8 oz job, and those fish I'm fairly certain were just swimming by, not intending to be hauled from the not-so-briney deep to be held aloft and photographed.

Speaking of photographs, you might be wondering, where are they!?  Surely these small fish have been captured in 16 megapixel glory?!  Indeed they were, but I don't have my camera handy, and am feeling too lazy to go get it.  And who would want to see pictures of small fish?  Well, maybe someone interested in fishing Mountain Run Lake in mid June after a miserable heat wave.  But I wouldn't want to discourage them.  Fishing is about discovery and fiddlefucking around trying to find something that the fish will bite, and I wouldn't want to deprive someone of the joy that results from that infernal process.

In any case, I also did something fishing related on June 15, but can't write it up because it might incriminate me.

See you soon!

June 14, 2015 - Lake Orange

Went down to Lake Orange, put in at about quarter 'til 6, fished until 9.  Caught a few bass, one on a chartreuse spinnerbait, one on a tube, and one on a spinner maybe.  Fished for a while with a plastic worm with no success.

Also caught this fish, which I believe is a yellow perch.

Fishing was slow, but I didn't get struck by lightning.

June 13, 2015 - Delmarva Pond

Went over to the Delmarva pond.  Was a hot, bright day.

The sunfish were making nests at the head of the pond.

Geese and goslings

Largemouth bass, caught on a weightless, Junebug plastic lizard:

May 25, 2015 - Farm Pond and Play

Went fishing at a farm pond, caught some fish.  The pond is so choked up with lily pads and algae, the best way to fish it is to cast a weightless plastic worm past the weeds.

Also, if you are looking for a theatrical extravaganza, come to Brandy Station Fire Hall this coming Friday, Saturday, or Sunday and see KINGDOM!

May 3, 2015 - Delmarva Pond

After doing laundry, I had 15 minutes to kill, so why not go fishing over at the Delmarva Pond?

Why not?  Snakes in the grass, that's why:

I gave my friend the garter snake a wide berth and fished around the pond.

There are still a bunch of small sunfish here, but I was able to hook more than I had been able to in the past, which made me think that perhaps the average size was increasing.

But what would be responsible for larger sunfish?  Maybe a predator in the pond?  Like, oh I don't know, a largemouth bass, for example?!

Well that's exciting.

May 2, 2015 - Accokeek Creek (Tributary to the Potomac)

For the last year, I've been looking forward to a new access to the Potomac River via Accokeek and Potomac Creeks.  A couple of weeks ago, the hand-carry boat launch finally opened.  So over I went to give it a try:

 Unfortunately, the closing hours are not fisherman-friendly.  If the gate was closed an hour after sunset, it'd be great.

The ADA accessible boat launch thing was a new experience:

The river was turbid, I didn't catch any fish.