cold water tidal river fishing

[3dkicker]

Finished up the season with a two day tournament on the river. Water temps were in the low to mid 50's. Grass was dying but there was still some pads up and a little green grass. Crankbaits did real well but you had to work you way through all the 10-11.75" bass before you found a keeper or two and they were scarce.
Baits used this weekend.
Caught a bunch of short fish and couple keepers on Baby Brush Hog in pumpkin or green pumpkin. I've caught a lot of November bass on this bait over the last 10 years. Best fish I caught was 3lbs or so on the BBH in 8-10' off of some old bridge pilings. Had one shake me off, it must have been related to some of the smallies found up river. This fish launched itself at least 2' out of the water and shook me.
I got a couple bites on the Kaotik Shaker Bait Pro (think chatterbait) in the pads. Bad thing was I broke it off in the pads and couldn't find it. I had an excellent year throwing this bait with my custom skirt. Got to pick a couple more this winter.
Threw the Luhr Jensen Speed Trap in Chartruese Shad and caught a ton of fish. Most of them short. Great bait to fish in the fall over dying grass. Picked up two keepers on consecutive casts that put me in the money. Bandit 100 and RC 2.5, normally killers on the river, didn't produce any keepers only a dink or two.
Finally I did catch a bass on Capt. Mike's favorite 3" Chart/gold(?) grub fishing it over pads. This grub has a great wiggle and Capt should be proud of his bait.

Ended the year with a 3rd place finish (tied for 3rd) and hopefully enough points to get a little bling for the office wall at the EOY Banquet.

[pig n jig]

(think Congratulations) Ivan

[bamabassman]

ditto to pignjig,hehehe.

[woody]

Congrats on placing 3rdkicker!

[3dkicker]

Turns out I ended up tied for 2nd . TD got his numbers wrong. Now I feel bad for the guy who thought he had 2nd . He's new to the club and it was his first "Classic" with us.

[WTL]

Thanks for the post, I am going to be doing some fishing in tidal places for the first time down here in winter. The main thing that I think is gonna be different for me is the general lack of rock structure - I always went straight for rocks in winter and I just dont see much around here. Gotta adapt.

[3dkicker]

Channel eges hold the tidal fish during the winter. Wood, rock, or gravel cover is ideal. Some fish stay shallow in the creeks but most pull out to the drop offs.

You'll probably find them relating to grass on the flats near the edges. I doubt you'll find water temps below 50 degrees.

[Wishing2BFishing]

Congrats on the 2nd place finish. Which river were you fishing?

[BassMoJo]

Hey kicker, Do you know anything about fishing dundee creek this time of year? and if the fish will still be in there since it is a discharge?

[3dkicker]

Potomac river (Occoquan section) - due to past cold fronts and for safety we launch out of the Occoquan. It is better protected against the cold NW winds that can do a lot of damage to you out on the main river. Makes fishing a little more challenging being limited but there are tons of 11" bass in the river. We must have had one hell of a year class a couple years ago. There's going to be a load of fish over 15" in two years!!!

MoJo - don't know anything about Dundee. If it has discharge then the bait fish will be there. Any warm water discharge will hold bass this time of year.

[JB]

we have those discharge pipes going into the ohio river and the white bass stack up near it, among other species, its worth hitting and usually open water if you can get to it...

[Wishing2BFishing]

3d, I am not familiar with Occuquan. I know my club usually schedules a Potomac tourney each year. They launch from the Smallwood State Park ramp. I did not make it to last year's Potomac tourney but I am hoping to make it this year.

[3dkicker]

W2BF - You PA guys need to find your own body of water to fish . Can't they dam up a river up there so you have something to fish???? Or at least eliminate the stupid spawn rule .

Seriously, let me know when you come down next year.

Here's a couple recents (meaning last month or so) pics. The 6.3 the Major caught was a nice piggykicker for the team tournament.

[JB]

Those are a great size to weigh in at any tournie..wtg

ya get any big bass jackpots this year?

[Wishing2BFishing]

3d, I agree that many Pa guys do a lot of out-of-state fishing. Unfortunately, we can't do any weigh-in tourneys until after opening day of bass season in June. So, many local bass clubs go out-of-state to fish. I think some of Pa's best bass fishing is in the rocky Delaware and Susquehanna rivers. Unfortunatley, there are not many true bass tourneys on those waters because of the rocks.

By the way, those are some nice bass in the pics. I will let you know when I will be in the area. Maybe you can point me in the right direction so I can get some "piggykicker" fish.

As a side note, I have never heard the term "piggykicker". I mean I have heard the term "piggy" (used in many different ways), and also heard the term "kicker", but never "piggykicker". Hope you don't mind but I plan on borrowing that word.

[3dkicker]

JB - Club tournaments only have one big fish pot a year. I really don't catch big fish. More of a 2.5lb average type. On occasion I've hook into a nice fish over 4 but rarely over 5. I've lost a 6 or 7 every once in a while but never got one in the boat. Strange with all the fishing I do. I put the Major on good fish all the time too.


W2BF - I don't have a problem with the PA guys fishing the river. Just poking fun. Sure you can use it but remember you heard it here first . Hawgmollie is another term seldom heard for big fish you may want to add to your vocabulary.