Mattawoman Creek, MD

[rondef]

My boss and I went to Mattawoman Creek today for a few hours. The day started slow, no bites on anything I threw. I started with buzzbaits (Booyah) and then switched to spinners, and then again to chatterbaits. We were trolling to fast to use plastics. My boss hooked a 14 ounce LMB and an hour or so past and I figured I was going to get skunked. We finally stopped the boat and I threw my pumpkinseed senko and WAM I hooked myself a nice 2.5 lb LMB, gotta love them senkos. We left a short time later so I only got the one fish.

[JCrzy4Bass]

Nice hog dad.  Way to work that vegetation over there at Mattawoman.  I really wanna get back there as I've only had about 10 minutes of fishing tiome there total because how quickly friends wanted to bolt last time we went (they were fishing for cats and didn't like all the vegetation).  But that is a pretty nice spot over there by Smallwood.   I'm jealous seeing you and Andy catch these monsters.  I've got numbers this summer but I'd trade it all for hogs like that.  My pb is only 2.5 lbs and I haven't been able to top it in months.  Hopefully I'll be able to with fall fishing around the corner.  Good job today.  You'll have to take me to thats pot on the boat before the season is over.  Later dad.

[AnglerNFuego]

Nice fish Ron!  Maybe you, Jay and I can do some fishing this week.  

[rondef]

Thanks Andy.  I am going back next weekend and I hope to pull in my personal best then.  I am hoping to pull in at least a 4 lb LMB next week.

[rondef]

Anyone interested in fishing Mattawoman Creek on Saturday? I am looking fr a fishing partner.  I will be launching out of Leesylvania.

[JVM]

The one time I fished mattawoman, I slammed fish all day long. Bass were hitting white spinner baits all day long, also decent luck on crankbaits run along the pads and weedbeds. The spinners we were throwing riht into the pads, often aiming for holes, often just tossing them in the thick. The spinnerbait wont have as much trouble in the pads as I had ever guessed.

Mostly we fished the very back 1/4 where the pads are everywhere and you have a narrow lane to travel. You have to time the tides well of course. Maybe this helps?

I would have loved to join ya this saturday, unfortunately I am already planning on hitting the rez with a friend.

[fishingfourfun]

Rondef,

I read some time back that you were planning on fishing Lake Burke at night. Did you have any luck and where did you launch? I would think that you would need to launch from the free launch but I wasn't sure if there was enough water to launch a boat.

[rondef]

Jay and I went to Mattawoman Creek today and had a good day. We launched out of Leesylvania State Park after all the tournament boats were in the water (approximately 50 boats). We got lucky and took off and got to the creek before the tournament guys. We fished grass beds and caught quite a few fish. I am sure that Jay will provide a report, but I am putting up the pictures now. This was Jason's last trip with me as a bachelor, next time he will be a married man. We has a really fun day today. This is my fist fish a 1 lb 4 ounce LMB.

[rondef]

Here is Jason's Striped bass/rock fish.

[rondef]

Here is my second 1lb 4 ounce LMB.

[rondef]

Here is Jason's yellow perch.

[rondef]

Here is Jason's first LMB which was 1 lb 2 ounces.

[rondef]

Here is Jason's second LMB, 14 ounces.

[fishingfourfun]

Nice looking fish.  I went fishing to the lower Occoquan River today and got skunked.  I only had two bites all morning.  We started to go to Mattawoman but decided against it.  Every boat we passed said it had been a tough morning because of all tournaments that have been held lately.  I myself can't wait for the Rez to be back in business.

[JCrzy4Bass]

Report:

K guys, not much of a report but just some information about the day and what worked, what didn't, etc. I don't know Mattawoman Creek that well yet and we may have covered about a 200-250 yard area in about 5 hours. Anyway, we fished mostly grass as that's what you expect going over to this creek, but also paid attention to tributary creek mouths and points.

The first two fish were caught in about 10 minutes by my dad by throwing a pumpkinseed seed swim senko in grass clumps in the main creek adjacent to the creek channel and deeper water. Both fish went for 1lb 4oz. So we had two in the well while I still hadn't caught anything. Per reports I read on another site I decided to throw a Mann's Minus 1 Crankbait in black and silver about 5-6 feet outside of the clumps near deeper water. To my surprise about five minutes after my dad I had that 1lb striper hit and give me a nice ole fight. Man for you guys who striper fish I can't even imagine a 19-20lb fish because this 1lber gave me a run. A shortwhile later in the same hole my dad caught his two bass I caught a 1lb 4 oz YELLOW PERCH lol. Same bait on the Mann's. So the Mann's didn't manage to get me a bass but two nice size fish. It was my first striper on a artificial and my first citation fish in the yellow perch (by length) that I would later find out after tossing it back without taking a pic by a ruler lol. Anyway...

After we hit that first spot we moved out a little ways up into the creek and fished about 100 yards outside of two tiny islands surrounded by mats. These mats had the same look as the previous in the way they were scattered and clumped together. After reading LBH's post on the jitterbug I decided to go buy one last week and I gave it a try this morning. The result? My first topwater bass EVER. Coolest thing. I threw the jitterbug in a nice large hole, three rotations of the reel handle and SPLOOSH! The fish went for 1lb 2oz but fought harder. That was definately cool for me. Nothing else on that bait as topwater died soon thereafter.

We tried a couple other spots. One was by some pollen/algae mats near some overhanging trees on the shoreline by the military area front end of the creek. Got skunked here but had a few bites on worms (my dad). The last one we hit the first tributary as you enter the creek (since we were on our way out). I was tossing my chattreuse spinner with a redhead and dual willow leaf blades (gold) and managed to get a nice reaction bite about 2 seconds after it hit the water. I saw my line run a bit felt the pressure, set the hook and landed a smaller 12oz bass. Still nice to get a couple in a new area. I was basically running the bait fairly quick since the water was clear but I ran it parallel to the mats about 2 feet out or so. So two bass for each of us, a striper and a yellow perch to throw in the mix in about 5 hours of work in a new area. First time fishing here but you can bet it won't be our last because it was fun and we could have had a few more fish. I can't wait til' the next time out.

Sorry I'm not too informative about the spots but it's a big creek and I'm not too familiar with it. I know some of you know it well and can probably guess where we were for the most part but this place is pretty hot regardless of where you go from what I hear. I know it gets a ton of pressure but if you work it the same as you would other grass areas you can put something together. Hope you guys did well this weekend.

Oh, yea... there was a 50 boat tourney launching out Sunday morning out of Lee's and we got out before the guys did and were first up there besides some other rec fishers. We felt like it would be a tough day and there were times when the bite was slow but we put together some ok fish in the short time out. I didn't see many boats pulling a lot up so I guess we did alright.

[AnglerNFuego]

GJ guys!  Jay, nice going on the jitterbug.  I have yet to catch one on mine.  

Ron, keep knocking dead with that swimming senko.  You sure are killing them with that lure.  By the way, thanks for taking me out for a couple of hours on your boat Saturday.  Even though I got skunked, I had a great time.  

[rondef]

Andy and I are headed out to Mattawoman Creek Sunday. The top water bite has really picked up over there and I am hoping to put some pictures up of some nice size bass Sunday evening.

[rondef]

I am hoping for a big day tomorrow, I want to get a new PB and this is the place to do it.  Lots of citations come from this creek, the Maryland State record LMB came out of this creek.

[slomoe]

good luck guys

[rondef]

I caught four LMBs today all on swim senkos, three on pumkinseed and one on watermelon. It was a fun morning of fishing even though my brand new Bass pro Shop hat came flying off while crossing the Potomac river. I had to turn around and fish it out of the river. Over all it was a great day, almost 6lbs of fish in a short period of time.  Here is the first LMB (2lb 6oz).

[rondef]

Here is the second LMB (1lb 6oz).

[rondef]

Here is the third LMB (another 1lb 6oz).

[rondef]

Here is the fourth LMB (12oz).

[slomoe]

man look at all that grass. That stuff is tough to fish. looks like a good time. congrats.

[AnglerNFuego]

Good job once again Ron!  Ron was just killing them with the swimming senko (weightless)  .  Unfortunately I got skunked.  I should have stayed with the jig to get into those mats.  I hope I have better luck next Sunday.