Pacemaker Fishing Forum

I decided to roll the dice and head to Mattawoman for an evening trip, it was my last opportunity before heading out to Yellowstone for a week. My dad didn't want to go, my boys were at camp, and I couldn't get any takers for the trip so I headed out solo, which would actually be the first time by myself.

I got to the ramp at 4:45PM, and I was the only boat in the parking lot. I could see big storms to the west as I drove down 210. I got lucky and Indian Head dodged the storms. The water was rushing out with the outgoing tide so my plan was to fish poppers along the hydrilla edges. I brought a senko rod just in case, but never needed to pull it out. The water looked great, the best I've seen it all year. I lit up a Perdomo 12 year sungrown and if I didn't catch any fish, the smoke and the scenery would have been worth the trip by themselves.

I started along the edge at the first big pad field on the right. Nothing until I hit a pocket of hydrilla next to spatterdock. On the first twitch, something lightly smacked the Rico. At first I thought it was sunfish or perch harassing the tail feathers. But I popped it again and I could see the rings behind the lure just stop. I knew there was something pretty big behind the lure. Thanks Capt. Mike for that valuable lesson, it paid off handily because I twitched once more and this guy smashed it.


I kept along the same edge and saw lots of small V's going after the Rico. I saw a good size splash along the edge and threw the Rico at it, and immediately got this guy. I was really surprised this fella made such a commotion in the shallow hydrilla.


At 6:15, the sun went behind the big clouds and it was Golden Hour after that. I got to the barge and picked up 2 small largies and some more fiesty gills, including this teeny guy.


As I get to the end of the edge of the next pad field, I see a point where the hydrilla and spatterdock end. I cast the Rico and this was the best largie of the day at just under 3lbs, apparently he really wanted to eat.


It was about 7PM and I wanted to get in before dark, so I crossed the creek at the Islands. At the mouth of Horsemen's creek, the water was still rushing out, so I casted to the hydrilla edge that kind of was a natural eddy, one twitch and got smashed. Another SH!


Just a few yards from that spot, something smacked the Rico and one more twitch and it was on. It torpedoed into the air after the hookset and then I knew it was a SH. It fought hard as I got it to the boat and then when it saw me it kicked into gear 6 and dug straight under the boat, I saw it's head and it was a monster SH. I had to take my hand off the reel and go for a double grip onto the rod, like I was deep sea fishing. When it dove, it pulled the hooks and my poor little Rico floated up. I think that was a double digit SH...dreamed about that one last night.

The wind picked up at 7:30PM and I could feel the cold front and the bite shut down so I headed in, home by 9PM. Perfect evening.