Potomac River, Washington,
DC, May 7, 2010
I could hear that little voice in
the back of my mind telling me that Big Hunting Creek
might be a better choice. But I didn't want to listen.
I arrived at Fletcher's Boat House
around 5:30am and in the
dim morning light I could make out two people on the
dock loading their equipment into rowboats. I quickly
dumped my gear out of the car and soon had everything
stowed away and was ready to push off into the cove and
out onto the Potomac River. During this time I noticed
that we, the two other anglers and myself, were the only
people leaving the dock to go fishing. And I was the
only one with a fly rod and the only one with equipment
light enough to fish for shad. The other two guys were
obviously after bigger game. The voice in the back of my
mind pushed itself forward and began screaming.
I quickly dropped anchor at the spot Jin and I
fished two weeks ago and began casting. On the second
retrieve I drew a strike. The fish put a good bend on
the rod and when I brought it alongside the boat it
turned out to be a small striped bass, not a shad as I
expected. But it was a good start. I released the fish
and threw another cast into the river. Cast and
retrieve. Cast and retrieve. The sun began to rise above
the trees as the sound of rush hour traffic into the
District began to build along Canal Road. Cast and
retrieve. Cast and retrieve. The voice in my head was
saying, "You idiot."
Despite reading on other blogs and bulletin boards that the
shad season might be over, I still decided to come and fish
at Fletcher's hoping for one last glorious fishing day on
the Potomac River. I knew the day might be a bust, but
after scoring a schoolie striper on the second cast my
anticipation of having an exceptional day on the river was
high. However after two hours of casting, fly changes,
moving the boat to different locations and covering the
water column from top to bottom I realized the best of the
shad fishing was probably over for this year. And watching
the few other boats that came out onto the water, at least
those that seemed to be targeting shad, those anglers
weren't having much luck either. I saw a few catfish
landed, but nobody was tearing up the shad.
So I moved to 'Plan B'. I sort of knew, but didn't want to
believe, that shad fishing might be a bust so I also
brought along an 8 weight rod and some large bass flies to
target snakeheads. According to other anglers the
Northern Snakehead has been seen and caught in the
quieter water above Fletcher's Cove. This fish first
appeared in Virginia around 2003 and has steadily spread
up and down along the Potomac River.
I decided to fish some of the coves just below Chain Bridge
so I pulled anchor and slowly motored upriver. As I sailed
past the First Beach I noticed a huge pile of trash left by
anglers and about half a dozen buzzards eating the
leftovers. Very disgusting. I can't understand why folks
insist on trashing the places they fish. I wouldn't like
coming back to my favorite fishing spot if it was covered
with piles of garbage, flies and buzzard poop.
As I neared Chain Bridge I saw that I was too late. All the
good spots had bass boats parked in them. I took a quick look
around and after speaking with two fly fishers in a
Fletcher's rowboat I headed back downstream to fish.
Along the way I pulled close to shore and put the
trolling motor into slow reverse and cast the 8 weight
into quiet water trying to draw a strike with a purple
and black rabbit fly tied on a 2/0 hook. I fished this way
down to the point below Fletcher's Cove then worked my
way back up to the dock, slowly fishing some drop offs
and shore structure. I also tried throwing
Deceivers and various Wooly Bugger patterns but
all I drew was a strike from a small bass, which was
almost the same size as the fly, and a follow by what
looked like a small catfish. After a few hours of this,
I decided to call it a day and went back to the dock.
Paula Smith, the all-powerful Mistress of the
Dock, helped me unload the boat and we talked a bit
about fishing. She told me the big run of shad was over.
"Take a look at all these boats sitting here at the dock,
honey," she said. "If them big shad schools was in, you
think they'd still be here all tied up? The problem is, if
folks ain't catchin' 50-60 fish a day, they ain't
interested. But there's still fish to catch, you're just
not going to catch them in big numbers and you gotta work
for 'em."
She pointed out several spots where
the fish will hold later in the season. Most of the
Hickory shad have spawned and left Fletcher's Cove but
the larger American shad are still around but they
hold deep, hugging the bottom.
“Most folks aren't fishing deep enough,” she explained as
she straightened a rack of oars in the tiny equipment shed.
“You've got to get that lure down to the bottom and keep it
there.”
She showed me a shad dart rig where the bottom dart was large and
heavy, really heavy, and a lighter dart was tied about
14 inches above it on a short leader. It wasn’t for fly
fishing, but it was interesting to see. Another
variation she showed me sported a heavy sinker on the
bottom with two roughly #10 shad darts tied 14 inches
apart, the lower lure on a longer leader than the top
one. No way to cast these rigs with a fly rod but it
would be ideal on a spinning rig.
We also talked about Snakeheads and where to catch them.
She pointed out several places that she knew about and
added that three were caught recently in Fletcher's Cove.
One 20 inch fish was caught at the mouth of the small
stream that trickles into the cove, another was caught
opposite the dock on a six inch white Rapala lure and another by a guy fishing off the
rock at the entrance to the cove. She said none of the
anglers were specifically targeting Snakeheads. They
just caught them by accident while fishing for bass.
Since I quit fishing by lunchtime I headed over to
El Pollo Rico for a Peruvian chicken lunch then
headed over to the Urban Angler fly shop to kill some time before
beating the Friday rush hour traffic home.
EQUIPMENT:
I used a fast action 6 and 8
weight rods. Shad flies were in sizes 4 to 10. The
bass-snakehead flies were size 1 to 2/0. You need a
Washington, DC, fishing license. Boat rental is $23 a day.
DIRECTIONS:
Fletcher's Boat House is
located on the Potomac River in Washington, DC, two miles
north of Key Bridge and one mile south of Chain Bridge, at
the intersection of Reservoir Road and Canal Road. You will
know you have reached the entrance to Fletcher's when you
see the Abner Cloud House, an old white stone building,
which is next to the canal on your left.
From 66 East, take the Rosslyn exit to Key Bridge. Stay in
the left lane. Take a left onto Canal Road after crossing
over Key Bridge. Stay in the left lane and turn left on
Canal Road, and continue until you see the Abner Cloud
House on your left. That narrow ramp is the entrance to
Fletcher's. Go down the ramp and either park in the upper
lot or go through the tunnel to the lower parking lot and
dock access. During shad season the boat rental office
opens at 6:30am. Boat rental fee is $20 for the day. You
need a DC fishing license ($10 DC residents. $13
non-resident) to fish and Fletcher's sells this at the
rental kiosk along with fishing equipment, bait, hot dogs,
drinks and ice cream.
WARNING:
Both lanes of Canal Road
become ONE WAY into and out of DC during morning and
evening rush hour during the weekdays. If you're hitting
Fletcher's in the morning and following the route above you
have until 5:30am to get there. If you miss it you must
wait until 10:20am. Once it's one way you must come down
Canal Road via Chain Bridge way and trying to make that
turn into Fletcher's from that direction is a killer
because that ramp is the only road into and out of the
Boathouse parking lot and it faces towards Key Bridge.
Canal Road becomes one way going towards Chain Bridge from
2:30 to 7pm, so you have to hang a sharp U-turn when you
leave.