Snakehead Whisperer

Re-read this thread, and I realized that I misread your post. I know that river bend well. It's nearly impossible to hit that area from a boat unless you have a kayak or are willing to carry a canoe/jon boat from the parking lot at Angler's. I've shore fished that area a lot, but never caught anything but rock bass and smallies.

Dropshot a 2.5" tube. Also killer is a Slider head with a 4" Senko. Float and fly, or a crappie type rig will also take fish in current.

Dropshotting is also a technique that works well for Summertime river smallies in fast current. This tried and true technique will take all kinds of fish in all kinds of conditions. It should be in every anglers bag of tricks.

It was like that back in California too. I am a California native and lived in Oregon for 7 years, and I never understood that attitude when I lived back West either. It's that old Southern hospitality... there's nothing like it. Folks are friendly like that in the Midwest too. I feel at home here. Welcome Oregon Native.

X2. The chartreuse trailer with little flecks always looks good when I open the package, but then I put something else on the chatterbait. They work well for making a large beetlespin though.

It goes both ways though. I know some amateur anglers that would no doubt place in the money at these Bassmaster and FLW tournaments.

Just surprises me that there aren't more serious walleye anglers around, with striped bass season closed and the shad run still a way off. I read the reports every week. Charlie Taylor's report in particular mentions walleye in this stretch of river pretty often. Using tactics in those reports has never led me to success with walleye. I had assumed that you meant Great Falls, not Little Falls.

I have checked water as shallow as that, but it was up near Shepherdstown, WV that it paid off. We did OK, and my friend Blake caught a 7 pounder in about 6' of water. As for the stretch of river I've been fishing here in DC, I have marked fish in the shallower areas but always assumed they were not walleye (though they look to be the right size.) There is a lot going on in this spot as far as various rock farms, eddies, a sand flat, and a large gorge. I don't get out there often enough because it is miles up from the launch and the recent rains had the river level up pretty high until this last week. I will be focusing more attention on this stretch, as the fishing action around here is pretty slow elsewhere. I'd also like to catch a large female if I can. I know they're in there.

Yeah, it's a trip. This is probably the one reason why I was having such a hard time finding them. After dark they will move onto a nearby flat that is 8-30', but during daylight I've never seen them shallower than 30'. In the upper stretches of the river I always find them in 5-20'. I can make a 1 mile run or so where I'm fishing, so I will try to see what I can come up with. If it pays off I will post the results. Thanks.

The description you gave is dead on (deep spot, outside bend.) However, the fish I am catching are all in 30-75' of water. Usually on the deeper end of that. So far I have been vertical jigging spoons and grubs. I will break out the planer boards next time and try doing some trolling. At 60+ feet how would I troll a crankbait? Best I can come up with is to use a bottom bouncer rig and a shallow diving crank on a 3-way swivel. Does that sound right?

I've heard this before too. I'm wondering if maybe the location and technique is a secret though. I spent the better part of a year researching this stretch of river and never got any closer to these fish until I started doing some real research on my own (articles written by Midwest and Canadian anglers.) I admit I am a rookie walleye fisherman, so it's more than likely that I was overlooking key habitat. But if it's true that the walleye are well known in these parts, then why don't I ever see other anglers targeting them? They've provided me and a few friends with an awesome winter fishery. It's really hard to make a call on this as walleye aren't really a very popular game fish in this area. On a side note, when I first started going for snakeheads in this area most of the advice I got was useless. Once I discovered a good pattern I started to notice more subtle approaches at tempting these fish. It's probably the most common of all fishing paradox's... Are the people giving me advice trying to help, or are they trying to steer me in the wrong direction? Or better yet, do they have any idea what they're talking about? When you were fishing below the falls was it in the Mather Gorge area, or further down by Anglers Inn? Just curious, as I've tried that area from Fisherman's Eddie all the way to Little Falls without any walleye (some nice SMB and Rock Bass though.) I'd really like to step my walleye game up. Thanks for the insight.

I use a similar setup.

T-Rigged with one of these on an EWG worm hook... http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-XPS-Tube-Weight/product/44436/ Usually I will super glue a worm rattle inside.

This reminds me of my car projects. I buy cars for dirt cheap, and then the parts start arriving in the mail. My old lady always gives me that look (the I know you just spent more on that car than you do on me look.) If the wifey had any clue what I've spent on my Bus she'd kill me.

The handles look great. Bookmarking your site for future reference. I love round casting reels in general. Another great one is the C4.

Is that handle assembly off of a different reel, or did you make the cork handles? At first it looked like a Cardiff 50S DC handle assembly, but then I checked and it's different. Nice work. I love these reels.

You're cracking me up over here. I do my best.

I usually use the 1/4 or 3/8oz. if fishing shallow water. I know folks who use larger though to size up their offering.

I am very new to walleye fishing and they are one of the most challenging fish that I've ever tried to target. I've really had to pay some serious dues in order to get walleye into the boat (especially here in the DC area where they are not as prolific as they are up North.) There are good numbers of walleye in the Potomac up near Harper's Ferry, WV and upstream from there, but I am talking about the tidal Potomac river right here in Washington DC. I had heard that there were walleye in the tidal Potomac from a few different sources, but I'd never seen a fish or photos (or any proof for that matter.) Nor did anglers seem all too certain about it. When I asked if they had ever caught one the usual reply was "No. But I heard about a guy who did." I had also heard some stuff about walleye staging to spawn in the Chain Bridge area around late January/February. This seemed more promising. I've fished the spot numerous times hitting the eddies like many had advised, but always to no avail. After reading numerous articles/books and absorbing as much info on the subject as I could, I finally landed my first walleye! Right here in Washington DC, and it wasn't at any of the places that they are rumored to be lurking. I have now been catching walleye for a while. I don't really want to give up my spots or the details (as there aren't a lot of walleye in this part of the river, and I'd like to fish for them for many years to come.) What I will say is that if you do your homework, the fish are here. The fish follow normal walleye patterns, just not common ones. Anybody else here catch walleye in the tidal Potomac?

Tenkara looks cool to me too, but every time I bring it up to my fly fishing friends they give me a weird look

Yellow perch

x2. Black/blue with black blade is killer at night, especially in shallow water when conditions permit.

1-blue back chartreuse 2-firetiger 3-black

Are you referring to Smallwood SP? I fish crankbaits from Spring to Autumn on the tidal Potomac from DC to Mallows Bay. When the tide is high, try fishing a Minus 1 or other shallow diving crankbait/wakebait over the grasses, and when it's lower try fishing the edges with the same baits. Snakeheads will also hit these lures with reckless abandon. For fishing above the grasses I really like the BPS "The Egg" crankbait. It only dives about 3" if you really crank it, otherwise it wakes at the surface. I'd recommend changing out the hooks, however.