Choptank Surprise

[Johnsfolly]

A lot of local fish are migrating upstream to spawn. We had the yellow and then white perch, river herring, shad, white suckers, redhorse suckers and even several minnow species. I have heard that Eastern Silvery minnows migrate up into the upper Choptank and its tributaries in the spring. I took about an hour off of work on Tuesday to take Livie to see if we can catch some of these spring spawners. We took a medium heavy rod with a high/low bait rig, the micro rod with a #26 tanago, and a UL rod with a #20 hook rig. We have never fished this section of the Choptank, we set up near the spillway where there was a large eddy. A guy on INAT caught a few large male white suckers around this area. I figured that the high/low rig could attract a sucker or maybe some catfish.

I put some worms on the high/low rig and pitched into the eddy. The  sinker just hit the bottom and I got a double with a redbreast and blugill sunfish.

Three mors casts and more sunfish caught and released. Also some white perch were in the mix.

Livie caught a bunch of sunfish from the eddy as well.

Even a double perch.

While she was fishing the eddy I was using the #20 hook with a little red worm and a float. As with the eddy these fish were actively feeding. Didn't take long for the float to go under. I caught my first minnow took some photos, then another, and another..... Then Livie caught a few. They all appeared to be males and females of the same species. Were they a E silvery minnow? @Daryk Campbell Sr the bag is getting a workout😁!

Unfortunately they were all spottail shiners, which until recently would have been lifers for both Livie and I. However, like most fish once you catch that first one it can be hard to keep them off of the hook. We have now caught this species in four different locations. Two are tributaries of the Choptank and the Choptank which is not a surprise.

With all of the minnows, sunfish, etc. there were a lot of fish eating birds. We saw at least 6 herons and two osprey overhead.

Further down stream I even hooked a large minnow or small sunfish and had a decent bass hammer it. I fought it for a bit then the hook pulled from the smaller fishes mouth and the bass was gone. Who knows what other predators were in this creek. I headed back up to Livie and the car. As I was getting to the car I saw that Livie was hooked up and the rod had a large bend in it. Here is a text conversation about this situation.

Livie in her words (I did some minor spelling edits 😉)

Ok so I was bottom fishing and I had a HUGE hit so I set the hook and it's PULLING and hard, dad was at the car so I asked him if he would grab the net. And he took his sweet ol time, as I was just letting it have line and chilling I thought it was just a sucker so I was not being crazy about getting it in though I was like " this is NOT swimming like a sucker"  

Response:

Whoo hoo go Livie go. Sounds like slow net man dad is the sucker. Come on John get down there with the net!

L:

So I was thinking a really big bass? Maybe just a weird sucker? But I saw it and it looked like an eel? Cuz I saw that it's head and body was the same size. So dad said maybe a  big catfish? And then he was like ITS A SNAKE HEAD!!  then I was really cool and got it in the net ❤️ also the net was WAY too small for it and it was folded in half lmao.

Response:

Like I said it's a beast!

L:

He was horribly slow so we are lucky I was so awesome and got it 👍. 

It was weird cuz it was shaking its head so hard so I knew it was not s sucker.. at least not any I have caught before. 

It was hardly on anymore when we got it in cuz I have JUST lipped it. 

I just never had a chance before so I was going through my list of fish and it was not at all on it lol .

Response:

Would you rather catch a micro when you sent the hook and it flys out of the water back at ya or a fish that fights back?

L:

Well it definitely depends on what micro we are talking about... nothing and I mean nothing can beat how fun it is to get sculpin.

Response:

 And sculpin are so ugly they are pretty.

L:

They are just so fun u don't do anything and they will fight to the death with each other to get the bait.

So here is Livie's first snakehead! 25 inches in length and 13.5 inches in girth! We don't have a scale to weigh the fish whole. So had to weigh the fish after we filleted it at home and estimated total from the different pieces that we weighed. Total of 6 lbs and 4 oz.  

Yes I did net the fish. I had to dig it our from under waders and boots, then get back down to the creek. That's my story and I'm sticking with it 😅.

Took a while to get her to stop smiling. We did keep the head and it will be a project to clean and rebuild the skull. We've eaten one fillet so far. See the cooking thread for the before and after of the fried snakehead.

Never did catch the E. silvery minnow. Will try again soon. But it was a great time fishing with my daughter!

 

[BilletHead]

1 hour ago, Johnsfolly said:

A lot of local fish are migrating upstream to spawn. We had the yellow and then white perch, river herring, shad, white suckers, redhorse suckers and even several minnow species. I have heard that Eastern Silvery minnows migrate up into the upper Choptank and its tributaries in the spring. I took about an hour off of work to take Livie to see if we can catch some of these spring spawners. We took a medium heavy rod with a high/low bait rig, the micro rod with a #26 tanago, and a UL rod with a #20 hook rig. We have never fished this section of the Choptank, we set up near the spillway where there was a large eddy. A guy on INAT caught a few large male white suckers around this area. I figured that the high/low rig could attract a sucker or maybe some catfish.

I put some worms on the high/low rig and pitched into the eddy. The  sinker just hit the bottom and I got a double with a redbreast and blugill sunfish.

Three mors casts and more sunfish caught and released. Also some white perch were in the mix.

Livie caught a bunch of sunfish from the eddy as well.

Even a double perch.

While she was fishing the eddy I was using the #20 hook with a little red worm and a float. As with the eddy these fish were actively feeding. Didn't take long for the float to go under. I caught my first minnow took some photos, then another, and another..... Then Livie caught a few. They all appeared to be males and females of the same species. Were they a E silvery minnow? @Daryk Campbell Sr the bag is getting a workout😁!

Unfortunately they were all spottail shiners, which until recently would have been lifers for both Livie and I. However, like most fish once you catch that first one it can be hard to keep them off of the hook. We have now caught this species in four different locations. Two are tributaries of the Choptank and the Choptank which is not a surprise.

With all of the minnows, sunfish, etc. there were a lot of fish eating birds. We saw at least 6 herons and two osprey overhead.

Further down stream I even hooked a large minnow or small sunfish and had a decent bass hammer it. I fought it for a bit then the hook pulled from the smaller fishes mouth and the bass was gone. Who knows what other predators were in this creek. I headed back up to Livie and the car. As I was getting to the car I saw that Livie was hooked up and the rod had a large bend in it. Here is a text conversation about this situation.

Livie in her words (I did some minor spelling edits 😉)

Ok so I was bottom fishing and I had a HUGE hit so I set the hook and it's PULLING and hard, dad was at the car so I asked him if he would grab the net. And he took his sweet ol time, as I was just letting it have line and chilling I thought it was just a sucker so I was not being crazy about getting it in though I was like " this is NOT swimming like a sucker"  

Response:

Whoo hoo go Livie go. Sounds like slow net man dad is the sucker. Come on John get down there with the net!

L:

So I was thinking a really big bass? Maybe just a weird sucker? But I saw it and it looked like an eel? Cuz I saw that it's head and body was the same size. So dad said maybe a  big catfish? And then he was like ITS A SNAKE HEAD!!  then I was really cool and got it in the net ❤️ also the net was WAY too small for it and it was folded in half lmao.

Response:

Like I said it's a beast!

L:

He was horribly slow so we are lucky I was so awesome and got it 👍. 

It was weird cuz it was shaking its head so hard so I knew it was not s sucker.. at least not any I have caught before. 

It was hardly on anymore when we got it in cuz I have JUST lipped it. 

I just never had a chance before so I was going through my list of fish and it was not at all on it lol .

Response:

Would you rather catch a micro when you sent the hook and it flys out of the water back at ya or a fish that fights back?

L:

Well it definitely depends on what micro we are talking about... nothing and I mean nothing can beat how fun it is to get sculpin.

Response:

 And sculpin are so ugly they are pretty.

L:

They are just so fun u don't do anything and they will fight to the death with each other to get the bait.

So here is Livie's first snakehead! 25 inches in length and 13.5 inches in girth! We don't have a scale to weigh the fish whole. So had to weigh the fish after we filleted it at home and estimated total from the different pieces that we weighed. Total of 6 lbs and 4 oz.  

Yes I did net the fish. I had to dig it our from under waders and boots, then get back down to the creek. That's my story and I'm sticking with it 😅.

Took a while to get her to stop smiling. We did keep the head and it will be a project to clean and rebuild the skull. We've eaten one fillet so far. See the cooking thread for the before and after of the fried snakehead.

Never did catch the E. silvery minnow. Will try again soon. But it was a great time fishing with my daughter!

 

          Yea Olivia Go Livie go!  You never know what you will get with a wad of worms bottom fishing. A real Suprise! 

[Quillback]

Nice, it is always good to get a fish that fights hard and provides some good fillets!

[Terrierman]

Great post John and all your fellow Folly's.

[JestersHK]

Glad you finally got the net there... 😄  cool catch for sure. 

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

Awesome report,  excellent pictures.   Glad to see the bag getting use.