Weekly Fishing Adventures (July 14-July 22)

Hey everybody! This is my first post on Steemit and I figured I would make an account to share my passion for fishing with you all through a weekly fishing blog. My name is Jeff Perrine and hopefully I will provide some entertainment along with some pointers and information on various fish species in my area- I live in northern Virginia.

7/14/18
I started off fishing last weekend in my Mom's pond located in Fauquier county, Virginia. I had seen massive Grass Carp in the small pond for years but was never able to catch one. After trying bread, oatmeal, tomatoes and a few store bought Carp baits without success, I decided to try something else. For the prior two weeks I had been chumming canned corn into the same location of the pond just about everyday hoping to get the Carp comfortable eating something new. Then, I didn't chum for a couple of consecutive days prior to fishing for the Carp.

When I decided it was time to try and catch of those big, ugly beasts I set up two poles with 30lb braided fishing line. I used a quarter ounce egg sinker along with a strong, size 6 bait holder hook. I placed about three pieces of corn on the hooks and casted them out to the same spot I had been chumming. Within minutes I could tell that something was nibbling on the corn, but the fish had been pulling the corn off of the hooks without getting hooked themselves. I rebated and casted back out several times until my reels drag started screaming.

I was hooked up on a monster carp that fought like a tank. After about a five minute battle, I had the fish in my net and couldn't have been happier. I called for my mom who came down to the pond to take a picture while I kept the fish in the water. I weighed the fish in the net and it was a whopping 32lbs- my largest Carp yet!

7/15/18
The next day I headed to the Shenandoah river, where I found a spot on the river that I believed would hold a Muskellunge, or Muskie for short. I had caught about 20 of these fish the prior year while attending college in West Virginia, but hadn't caught this rare fish in the state of Virginia.

I brought with me about 6 creek chubs that I caught in the morning from a local creek to use for bait. These bait fish measured about 6-8 inches in length and in my experience are some of the best live bait you can find. I brought three poles with me spooled with 50lb line and a 45lb steel leader to prevent the fish from biting through my fishing line. Set up on the bank, I fished a deeper hole in the river with 3 live Creek Chubs fished on the bottom using a 2 ounce no-roll weight. I used a Owner 1/0 treble hook that I hooked through the Creek Chubs' mouth.

After about half an hour of waiting, one of my reels started screaming and I new I was hooked up. Not knowing whether it was a Walleye, Bass, Catfish or Muskie, I played it safe and started slowing reeling in the fish with relatively loose drag. Then I felt some powerful head shakes from the fish and saw a huge Muskie jump completely out of the water. Knowing I had my personal best Muskie on the end of my line, my adrenaline was racing and I reached for my net. A few minutes later I had the fish in my net and began to take some measurements. It weighed in at 19.5 pounds and was 42 inches long! My new personal best.

I fished for another hour and a half that day and had one more bite, but unfortunately a Muskie chomped through my Creek Chub without getting hooked. I brought the rest of the Creek Chubs back to my house to feed them to the bass in my Mom's pond.

7/18/18
On Wednesday, I headed back to my Muskie spot on the Shenandoah river with 6 more Creek Chubs. I brought 2 heavy action poles with 50lb braid and the steel leader and fished the Creek Chubs in the same fashion has I had in the previous trip to the river. I also brought an ultralight telescopic pole spooled with 6lb mono to fish for Smallmouth Bass while waiting for a Muskie bite.

After setting up my Muskie poles, I tied on a small, Shad colored crankbait to ultralight setup. After a few casts, I was hooked up. But this wasn't a little Smallmouth... it was a Muskie. Terrified the fish was going to brake my line or bite through it, I chased the fish through the river, with my drag set extremely loose. After what seemed to be an hour long fight that was likely only about ten minutes, I had the fish in my net. I still cannot believe that I was able to land a fish of this size on my ultralight setup.

The fish weighed 18lbs and measured 40.5 inches long, it was also tagged by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and I am receiving a $20 reward for mailing the tag to the VDGIF main office. That was the only fish I caught that day and again, brought my remaining Creek Chubs home to feed to my Largemouth Bass.

7/19/18
The next day my girlfriend and I drove into Washington D.C. to fish in the Tidal Basin. I somehow have never caught a Striped Bass, or a Blue Catfish so those were the target species for the day. I brought about 10 Creek Chubs that I caught in the morning along with 6 fishing poles. D.C allows 3 poles per person.

We arrived at the Tidal Basin around 1:00pm and high tide was scheduled for 2:00pm. I fished some creek chubs on the bottom of the basin and one under a bobber. We also used two poles to cast artificial lures as well. It was a beautiful day and we fished in the shade at a spot under a bridge in D.C where the water was flowing into the Tidal Basin.

All in all, it wasn't the most successful fishing trip as we only managed to catch four 12-16 inch Largemouth bass and four small Bluegill in about 4 hours of fishing, but the trip was certainly worth it as it was the first time I had fished in a big city like that. I will certainly be heading back to this spot in the near future to try to catch a new species.

Well, this was certainly one of my most successful weeks of fishing as I caught two personal bests. I hope you look forward to my blog next week and please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions for my future posts. Thank you for reading!