Anna (w/Piggy2) and Potomac snakehead

[3dkicker]

So Friday evening I run down to the lake, pay my entry fee for the first Friday Night tournament and who do I run into???? Yep, Piggy2 (Pignjig to you new guys - you see Cranebird was Pig-n-jig but Piggy2 hijacked his name ) came up for a little club tournament on the "radioactive mudhole" and was wandering around the parking lot looking for discarded baits because, and I quote, "I can't catch a friggin' thing out there. What the he*# do these mutant bass eat?" So he hops into the boat and I take him up lake and put him on numbers of quality bass. Of course I'm crushing bass on some of the latest and greatest baits ever produced and he's muttering something about deadlines and pictures and job related things . Of course when your mind is on work and you're not connecting with nature you miss the subtle strikes by those wiley Lake Anna pigs. He does finally connect with a 8" monster of a bass and he then settles down only to throw c-rig the rest of the night and come up empty. He's got pictures and he may post them for everyone once he heads home on Sunday or Monday .


So today I head out on the river for a little bassin' fun. I'm fishing with a new club member and we run into a small feeder creek that holds a few nice post-spawn keepers in a small pad field every year. We catch a couple fish out of the pads with one keeper in the boat. We work our way back to some laydowns, I bang one possible keeper off the front seat, it hits the deck, takes one bounce and away it swims never to get the courtesy measure it deserved. Rob sets the hook on a good fish and claims he's got a catfish due how the fish is digging into the mud bottom and not coming up to shake it's head. I get the net and wait until this 8lb 2oz snakehead comes up to say hello. Not what either of us was expecting. Since these fish are an invasive species it goes into the livewell to be eaten at a later date.

[Jim80]

nice catch let us know how tastes

[BassAddict]

Man that's a big Snake! Glad you took him out! I'll be on the Potomac in 3 weeks. I'll give you a holla. I'll pm you about Buggs Sat.

[3dkicker]

We get out this morning for day two of the Best Day Counts Team tournament. Since my partner and I were in dead last in team weight and individual weight we decided to run south and stay away from the snakeheads today. We hit a main river grass bed and the partner hits one right off the bat with a keeper on a super fluke. I go to grab the net and it's not there . I had left it in the truck. Ya think that mistake may come back and kick me in the arse???? So he hits another short on a tube craw and I watch one spit out a swim bait. Not the best stuff so we run to a set of laydowns that have produced in the past. We put 6 of the next 7 fish in the livewell off of 4 trees. The one below gave up my best fish for the day. All 6 fish punish a craw imitation. So now we have 7 in the well and we're on our way. Run to another set of laydowns and we're running out of water . It's only 9:30 and low tide is at noon. The laydown farthest away from the bank gives up 4 fish and the only one that would have measured shakes me off at the boat.........hmmm . Off to the marsh bank and we catch one apiece and now we have one limit in the boat and my 4 fish. It's getting really skinny and winds blowing good now but we stop at a good post-spawn spot. Partner culls two of his 5 with a 3 and a 3+ while I'm being pestered by a pesky used gutter salesman from Asheboro, NC. Partner's limit is looking good and I'm still one short. We start looking for deep wood any where in this creek. I hit a couple shorts and frustration starts to creep in the same way the bait monkey starts to give you that itch. We pull up to a nice deep laydown that has given up some nice fish in the past. I pull a baby Paca across it and BAM! it hits like a freight train but this trains got wiskers and the channel weighs in at 8lbs 2oz just like yesterdays snakehead. Where's Capt. Mike when you need him?? Finally tally for the day put us at 9 bass for just shy of 24lbs and due to t-storms rolling in we left without knowing if we pulled a last place to first upset. Great fishing on the river today.

[Wishing2BFishing]

I hate those snakefish. Makes me cringe to see that thing "slithering" on the boat deck.

[zooker]

umm ifin ya stoppd talkin on the phone you'll have caught more....

zooker

[pignjig]

So, here's the real story- I was minding my own business rummaging around the trash cans for supper at the marina 'cause the selfish ducks had eaten all the bread crumbs. All the sudden, I hear some commotion and look up to see a golden ray from Heaven and a crowd surrounding this fellow who's signing autographs. Grown men were cryin' and women were swooning all over this fellow. The doves and tv cameras were a bit much. All the sudden again, this young fellow looks my way and I says,"Dang! If that ain't 3d!" Well, he utters something to the crowd and blesses them with a bunch of Vatican hand moves. After the mob genuflects, 3d ambles over my way and asks if I'd like to catch a hawg or twelve. That's all the askin' I need so I grabbed my Zebco 202, box of Velveeta and Night Rider tackle box and climbed aboard his bumble bee. It weren't 15 minutes later we caught a mess of toads so big we ended up having to throw them back 'cause the water level done dropped too much. Even the nuclear plant thought they was gonna have to set off the meltdown alarm. After about another half hour, 3d gets a phone call from Worshington sayin' they needed help with some pesky international "crisis" or what not, so me and him motored back to the launch ramp where, you guessed it, KVD and Alton Jones were waitin' to pick 3d's brain.

The REAL real story- Met up with Smitty for a night tournament and had a blast. This dude knows Anna like few other folks and it shows. He absolutely put us on some nice fish on a hard lake and he threw some "new" baits with skill, especially when flipping those things around docks and pads. I was a little pre-occupied and plumb worn out having been up since 3am and spending all day pre-fishing for my club's tournament Saturday/Sunday. Still, that's no excuse, 3d took the Pig to school on Anna. Bottom line- The man knows what he's doing on the water. We (read 3d) brought fish in to weigh, I didn't get skunked, I got some good info and pics for a project and nobody got their eye put out. Had a great time! Many thanks, 3d! I'm looking for the chance to bring you down to Smith Mountain Lake for one of our tournaments. As soon as I can figure out how to post the pics, I'll have them on the site.

-Pig

[3dkicker]

MY FACE HURTS DA#MIT!!! Please stop!!!! I give, I give.....I should have known not to pick on a professional....So, how'd you do???? Catch any?

Z - next time I see a 336 area code the cell phone goes for a swim!!!

[pignjig]

Hey, 3d- Caught a Jennifer Lopez butt load of fish. Might as well have stuck them in little bowls for the county fair, though. We fished pretty much exactly opposite of where you and I went. The guy I was with did manage a 6#er off a shrub on one of those riprap bridge walls. I came in 6th out of 14. Still, every one in the club caught fish and we were scattered all over Anna. That is one pretty body of water...and busy, too. The folks at Smith Mountain should shut their yaps because we ain't got near the traffic Anna's got.

Thanks again. I'll get that stuff to you as soon as I can.

-Pig

[WTL]

OK pggy2, thanks for the real story - but please tell me that you really do have a night rider tackle box. I for one just hope such a thing exists, that would be awesome.

[Wishing2BFishing]

WTL, you have never seen a Knight Rider tackle box? Coincidentally, I came across one of those tackle boxes while night fishing last June. I was wading near the bank and kept seeing a red light go back and forth further down river. As I made my way towards the eery light, I noticed two bank fisherman and a black tackle box. Came to find out that the red light was actually the front of the tackle box.

[pignjig]

WTL, unfortunately I don't really have a Knight Rider tackle box. Had a Speed Racer lunch box as a larvae back in the early '70s, though. I'd like to see one, too. Somebody, somewhere has to know if it really exists. I use a tackle bag these days since it's a lot easier to get hooves around than a handle...

-Pig

[3dkicker]

Just a little follow up. The one that got away came back to bite me. Ended up in 2nd place by 1lb. Yep 1lb. Stupid net. Oh well. Getting out on the Chick. River in two weeks and they've got pickerel and bowfin down there!!!! Love them toothy critters.