Occoquan Reservoir, VA (9-4-16)

I was excited to take the Jon boat out  after some brief anxiety about Tropical Storm Hermine potentially putting an end to my fishing plans this weekend. The conditions were great with the exception of some occasional winds. The Reservoir was down a little, but nothing out of the ordinary for this time of year.

We started with topwater and hooked up with a nice 2 lb. Largemouth on a popper right at the edge of a weed bed. After that, my buddy and I pounded the banks pretty hard with soft plastics on the Woodbridge side from the Sandy Run area all the way down to the dam. There’s quite a bit of downed trees in the Reservoir so you have to accept the fact that you may get a few snags as you fish throughout. I started pulling up on what I thought was a snag and it turned out to be what looked like a 6-7 lb. bass that got off.I did not execute a proper hook set thinking I had just snagged another log, but caught a glimpse right before it got free at the surface. Rookie mistake.

After the excitement and anguish of losing the fish of the Summer, I did land a nice 2.5 lb. largemouth. It was a little skinny and had the body to be a much bigger fish, but it certainly made the trip well worth it.  Overall, we fished for 4-5 hours and left with 7-8 landed in the boat. Pretty solid trip, but I’ve certainly done better on the ‘rez.

Occoquan Reservoir, VA (6-4-16)

I decided to take the old Jon Boat out for some largemouth fishing on the Occoquan Reservoir last weekend. Heavy rains from previous weeks had the water high and dirty so we fished near the dam at the end of Lake Ridge where the water generally stays most clear. The dam must act as a vacuum when the rain hits because when the entire reservoir is chocolate milk, the water near the dam will stay most clear.

Since the weatherman was calling for thunderstorms in the afternoon, we got up early and fished from 6:00-12:00. In the first hour, @jhugh_13 and I caught 6 bass. The rest of the day we only caught two more with an accidentally caught monster Channel Catfish mixed in. Early in the morning, we got some good action on top water and with Senkos. Say what you want about using weightless Senkos, but it’s a strategy that consistently lands fish on the Reservoir.

Ended the day with 8 bass, a few that got off, and the big catfish you see below. The nicest bass I caught was huddled up in the vegetation and gave me a bit of a run for my money ripping through weeds on 10 lb. test. The Reservoir fishes differently now than it did when I was growing up, but it’s still a very productive largemouth fishery that’s extremely accessible for fishermen throughout Northern VA.  Just avoid Sundays when they’re having their tournaments!

Big ole’ Channel Cat