We put in at the Ft. Belvoir Archery Range and paddled out to the mouth of Accotink Bay, just after low tide at 2:30pm or so. There were carp tearing around in the weeds -- we could hear them bumping and shaking the vegetation -- but neither of us got a clear shot at one to put a fly in front of it. We then paddled up the creek a ways, getting in front of the tide, and started hooking in to small sunfish -- primarily bluegill, but also some healthy smallmouth bass and a nice crappie. Chris fished a wooly bugger mostly, while I fished various flies including the girdle bug (for the Beer Tyers at the beginners table). The fish were fun, but on the small side for our 8 wts. I explained to Chris that bigger fish tend to hold close to steep banks or near structure; he used that information to hook a nice bass, which spat his fly before we could boat it.
We went back up the creek until it started getting too tight to cast, then turned around. The little yellow bird hopped down into an overhanging branch and checked us out, so I took his photo, all the while thinking, "Oh, the flies I could tie with your feathers, my little yellow friend." Stupid Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.
As we came back down the creek, the tide had come in a bit, so we fished some of the same holes -- getting lots of fat little bluegill. I started using a popper, and Chris was using his wooly bugger. At one point, we passed a stump I remember had a deep hole next to it -- I had seen it at low tide. I fished the popper to it a couple of times, with no takers. I told Chris to try his wooly bugger, figuring that if the smaller fish weren't there, it must hold a bigger fish. Chris cast and immediately hooked into a nice bass -- the larger of the two in the photos.
A few casts later, Chris was into the next bass -- this time without my prompting. I meanwhile decided to change my leader, which had been shortened by a couple wind knots. As I was working, Chris said some mostly unprintable things which included the word, "Snakehead!". I looked up and saw something on the surface, but it went down before I could ID it. We watched until it came up, and I kid you not, this thing was the largest snakehead I have ever seen. It looked to be at least three feet long -- and there might have been another, smaller fish with it. Chris cast to it a couple times, with no luck, and then I backed us off to put in the anchor. After a couple minutes I was back in the game with a frog pattern, but the snakehead seemed to have wandered off.
We kept fishing but didn't have any remarkable success for the rest of the evening. We did see some more fish, probably a snakehead, and I got a swirl on a popper that was a big fish but not at all bass-like (maybe a snakehead?). Either way, it didn't take the fly.
We put to shore around 8pm, just as the sun was setting across the water. Both parties agreed it had been an excellent outing and we would try again at the next available opportunity. All fish were released unharmed.
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