Report from Fletcher’s Cove, Thursday, June 5, 2008

The waning of the Spring fishing season at Fletcher’s Cove is always a melancholy time. Those bone-chilling mornings when you wish you had grabbed one more layer of clothing are replaced by a warm blanket of humidity. The schools of roe-laden perch, shad and herring have thinned out. There are still lots of fish in the river, but the amazing biomass of April and May is a memory until next season.

As many of you know, prime-time fishing was interrupted twice this spring by high water events. The second one stopped boat rentals for three full weeks. Even then, resourceful anglers were able to produce some good results fishing from shore. You have to play the hand that nature deals you. Last year, May was one of the driest ever, this year, one of the wettest. Those with good instincts, good timing, or just plain luck, caught plenty of fish.

What about now and the weeks to come? There are still some shad out there for the very patient hunter. On Monday, two “old timers,” Mike Alper and Mark Binsted were rewarded for perseverance. Each caught four American Shad. Mark in fact, had a “double-header” of one four-pound plus roe and a buck on the other dart. Both were brought to the side of the boat and gently released to produce more “June shad” for future generations of true believer fishermen.

The jumbo white perch are back down in the brackish waters of the lower Potomac, replaced by just about a-zillion small ones. Small schools of herring come and go quickly this time of year. If you want some for striper bait, plan on working at it, or buying our vacuum packed alternative. As for those rockfish, there are plenty of legal size fish to be had if you give it a fair try. Dick Tehaan had two beauties this morning, plump and tasty-looking. Purist that he is, they were caught on his home made lures.

D.C. is a Capital city, Virginia is for lovers, Maryland is for crabs, and Fletcher’s (in summer) is for relaxed fishing. A bobber on your line, a worm on your hook and a picnic in the boat represents a return to simplicity. If you can turn your back on the daily grind, give it a try. Add kids, and you’ve got Norman Rockwell.

I’ve seen some pretty hefty largemouth bass cruising the C&O Canal lately. Some twenty-pound plus catfish were plopped on the dock yesterday before the storms. Three or four reliable reports of snakehead landings have come my way. So….. Fishing around our boathouse is still a very interesting endeavor during the warmer months. It is up to you to make the adjustments. We have the equipment, you supply the sweat. The park here is a semi-tropical botanical garden during summer. All manner of birds, snakes, turtles, lizards, insects and fish can be observed by the perceptive visitor. Give it a try, you might be surprised.

A SPECIAL NOTE…

We see some fishermen once… some hundreds of times. All are embraced and welcomed. One regular angler, whose smiling face was like a harbinger of the spring perch run, will now be missed each March. Angelo Moore loved to perch fish. It was his specialty and he was very good at it. Yesterday, Angelo’s fishing partner, Nathan Heater, brought us the sad news of Angelo’s passing. Existence is fragile and fickle. Just a few short weeks ago, Angelo and Nathan were out here at Fletcher’s catching their bait and plying the water in search of the jumbo white perch they both loved to catch. I did not know Angelo well, but I think it safe to assume that the fishing was one joy for him he held to the last day.

For a nice picture of Angelo, (taken by Nathan), at a very happy angling moment, please click on the ’previous fishing reports’ tab and go to April 14th, 2008.

Dan