Tough few days on the Blackwater

[coheasion]

Found plenty of small and medium sized ales on my dock lights Thursday evening and hit the water early Friday morning.  


Had downlines and planers in the water by 7:00 - and BOOM!  first fish is in the boat by 7:15 very pretty 25" fish that hit one of my downlines in the main channel.  Oh boy I thought....here we go 

Never got another bite the rest of the day    I fished up and down Standiford - into Gills Creek a bit and then another creek further up the Blackwater and never marked a single fish - ugh! 


I then spent a bit of time that evening trying to get some shad so I would have a variety of bait the next day.  I found a lot of shad in the back of a dirty, filthy creek mouth.  Caught all of the 4-5 inch gizzards I could ever use but the mythical mongos are still hanging out with Unicorns and Leprechauns on the Blackwater side - I am quickly gaining an obsession with trying to catch a Citation Gizzard.  At this point I might be more excited with a 10" plus gizzard than a 20 lb striper!  Every muscle in my back....arms and shoulders is sore from throwing nets....must have thrown that net over a hundred times over the weekend.  I also might need to borrow Yam's orange gloves I was making fun of 


Saturdays plan was to head further up the Blackwater - bad call - muddy water and no bait schools.  Changed plans about 10AM and ran up to Gills again - all the way to the mouth - marked about a mile long school of peanut gizzards - but never came across any Mongos again.  Fished the main channel from Gills back to Standiford and nothing...nada....no birds....no schools.....no bites.....until 5:10 PM when another 25" fish took one of my downlines.  Skunk out of the boat...just barely.


Sunday morning was a bit better - I got a late start and wasn't fishing until about 8:00 - stayed in the main channel and was rewarded with another 25" striper on a downline and one more 28" fish on a planer.


Not sure if anyone else fishing the Blackwater experienced the same fishing over the weekend.


Maybe I should have tried a trip to Bulls??

[mwardncsu]

Nice report - I think the cold front shut the bite down some and / or moved the bait and fish from where they were having earlier in the week. Kept the skunk away each day so that's good!

[Deleted]

Keep throwing my friend. You'll find them! The longer it takes, the better you will feel.

The orange gloves can be found in the paint section at Lowe's.

[mwardncsu]

Jan 4, 2016 12:27:57 GMT -5 Yam said:

Keep throwing my friend. You'll find them! The longer it takes, the better you will feel.

The orange gloves can be found in the paint section at Lowe's.

These work even better than the orange gloves - and it keeps other boats at a distance when you're throwing

[jmr04]

Chris, that sucks. It had been so good earlier in the week. That cold front must have really shut it down because those areas you fished had been producing well. Were you bulling the banks with boards at fishing out in the Chanel? Guess it just goes to show how quickly the weather can shut things down.

[coheasion]

Hi jmr -

Yeah, it was tough. My feeling is that the fish were pretty scattered. Friday and Saturday I only marked a couple of fish and each time it was a single mark. Even on the fish I caught on downlines I never actually marked them.

The only "school" I found was Sunday morning at the point of the 4H club and it was only a handful of fish like maybe they were starting to school back up again....who knows - it is what makes it so interesting.

[coheasion]

Test - the only bunch of fish I marked :




I also found a mile long school of peanuts in Gills - starting at the Striper Landing condos all the way back to the mouth of the creek:

[lund1]

Coheason - that's a familiar report to me. I fish BW exclusively and it can be fickle. I work all the areas you noted and I'm determined to expand horizons this year. It's funny that I've been blowing past creeks and areas for years , certain there's nothing happening in there, even though I never fish them. One examples is the Kilowatt Camp area, another is back behind Magnum, a third is the crazy horse marina creek/cove.
Inevitably I go upriver, then blow back down to Bull Run and find Gator catching fish. Fickle indeed.