Thread: My Fishing Week in Review

Finally took a whole week off from work and tried to be as close to unreachable as possible. I was able to get in some decent fishing so here’s a review of my week on the Occoquan

Sunday – Took the Bayliner out on the river end only to have the alternator die and left me, my oldest, and youngest stranded. Of course I left the Cell phone in the truck. Received a tow to the Marina that was with in sight but just out of paddle range. Of course they closed 5 minutes before I got there. After finding a phone and calling my wife to come rescue us. I loaded up the Jon boat to rescue the Bayliner. The ramp at the marina was chained so my only option was to tow the boat the mile back to the launch at Occoquaun Regional Park. The little 9.9 on the jon boat never worked so hard. Oldest loved being the solo Captain. Not sure why but my wife kept reminding me that my $400 Craiglslist boat was becoming expensive... Just wait until I show her the price list from the Lund Tyee that I've been drooling over. Then she'll know what expensive is and probably won't complain about the multiple $100 parts for the Bayliner.



Monday – Cub Scout Fishing Day, I didn’t get any fishing in however bated plenty of hooks and untangled lines for the six 8yr olds. All had a good time (read other post)

Tuesday - Conducted underwater salvage mission for my middle son’s glasses that he dropped during the above Cub Scout Fishing day. Mission successful. Bonus, Middle son who never asks to go fishing gets home from camp and wants to go out (maybe Cub Scout fishing night paid off) Only managed one crappie but in my opinion it was one of the best fish I’ve ever caught. Aren’t those glasses nice?


Wednesday – Took the day off… not sure why. Must have been sick or something. Could have been the bends from diving well over 7' the day before.

Thursday – Got a late start and wasn’t on the water until 9:30 could only scrounge up 5 small ones. Off the water by 12

Friday –– on the water by 6:30 off by 10… Man was it HOT!!!!!. Managed to find a bunch of small ones with the largest being 9”. Ended up with 30 on the day and none were picture worthy.

Was planning to fish Friday night and luckily heard how bad the storms were going to be. Literally turned back home while driving to pick up minnows.

Saturday - on the water by 7:00 off by 10… Hot again and basically a repeat of the day prior, ended with 20 small ones. Tried some casting and landed 5 (not including the one 2.5lb green carp). I’m going to start working on casting more. Vertical jigging is my go to technique.

Picked up my minnows and was back on the water by 8:45pm. Got to my spot, anchored up, and found out my submersible light had a crack in it. Worked for 2 minutes before it filled with water and died (thinking about picking up/investing in a Reel Light). Not one to give up, I zip tied my Mag light to the cord and proceeded to fish away with my improvised submersable light. Within 10 minutes I landed a nice 10in Crappie. Pictures would be nice but I left my phone in the truck AGAIN!! (I have to stop dong that) I think that first catch was a lucky break because things slowed WAY down. While The Mag light did attract a bunch of small minnows I never did see the larger bait fish. Ended the night at 2am with only 5 crappie with the largest being 12in. I did hook into two suspected cats. My UL rod and 4lb test was no match and the fights last less than a minute.

Sunday (today) – Another late start and didn’t get on the water until 9:30. Decided to try Bull Run and see if I could share in a little bit of Kevin’s Citation success. Found a promising spot and since I had left over minnows from the night before (bull minnows are hardy) I would give them a try. First cast we pull in a nice 10+in. Second cast this nice estimated 13+in (Dang so close!!!!). Third cast and every cast thereafter nothing. Tried a bunch of other spots, explored way up Bull Run and nothing. Headed back by 11:30 and tried the Davis Ford Bridge. Picked up three dinks for a total of 5 on the day.



All in all a good week.. lots of fishing, very little office work, and nearly avoided the honey do list in its entirety.

good report love to see Va make the homepage bonus that its our home fishing waters