Watkins Mill Fishing Report

Last Saturday night was pretty memorable out at Watkins Mill State Park.  Wendy and I didn't have plans and wanted to hit the water.  We finally decided on Watkins Mill and got on the water a little after 6:00 PM.  It should be noted that right before leaving the house though, Wendy said that she wanted to bring a spinning rod and her newly purchased whopper plopper lure.  I grabbed mine too because I wasn't about to have her start catching fish on this thing and get left out of the fun.  If you don't know what a whopper plopper is, click here to see what one looks like.  We used the "blue blood" color pattern and yes, they are indeed about $15 each!

We started fishing coves and structure with the plopper but didn't even get a sniff.  We switched over to fly rods and started picking up good male bluegills and hard-fighting redear sunfish.  The large redear population is one of the reasons that I like Watkins Mill so much.  The bit started to slow down so we decided to move to the opposite side and end of the lake where we have had success in the past.  On a whim, I decided that we should troll out whopper ploppers along the way.

En route to the new spot, I saw a shad break the surface.  Then I saw another and another.  Before you know it, there were shad everywhere being chased to the surface by unseen predators.  It looked likek the perfect situation to start casting our topwater lures which just happened to be shad-colored.  It also just so happens that this lake was stocked with hybrid striped bass about three years ago.  I was hopeful that the shad were being pursued by these wipers and that we might catch a few while they were in a feeding frenzy.

We made a lot of casts and chased a lot of shad blowups without a take.  Eventually, Wendy missed one.  We actually saw the fish miss her lure and then come charging back for a second time and threw up a pretty good wall of water.  This gave us hope and it wasn't long before I got a bit too.  I set the hook and the fight was on!

I was expecting a pound to two pound wiper.  Everything felt wiper-like and my rod was doubled over.  I remember thinking "I sure forgot how hard these guys fight."  During the fight, I could tell the fish was coming to the surface.  This seemed uncharacteristic of a wiper and my suspicions were proven when a big largemouth fully breached.  My heart raced when I saw how big the fish was.  The bass then went under the boat and risked getting wrapped around the trolling motor.  I stuck most of the rod in the water and was able to work around the motor.  As the fish tired it came to the surface and it just seemed to get bigger and bigger.  After I landed it and took some hero shots, the tale of the tape was 20 inches and a little over 4 pounds.  The beast was released to fight another day and looked healthy as it swam off.

We continued fishing and actually did catch a few wipers but nothing as big as that fish.  The wipers are getting to be about 14 inches (at least the ones we caught) and looked like they were enjoying their shad dinner.  I reminded Wendy that things don't always work out with shad busting the surface and the right lure on the end of your line.  She reminded me that the entire thing was because of her, to which I responded "It sure was babe!  Great call and thanks for helping me catch that big bass!"  The look on her face was both pride and envy.  I wish I had a picture of it, but instead, here's a few more pictures that were results of her forethought.