Mattawoman Creek

View Larger Map

We moved a couple weeks earlier, and it had been a stressful couple of weeks trying to get everything transported to the new place and unpacking.  It had also been over a month since I've seen the water, so I was eager to attend July's MKF Meet and Greet.  It was at the Mattawoman creek in Indian Head, Maryland.

Spatterdock, and hydrilla right in front.

The plan from several of the members was to hit the water before sunrise to try for some topwater bass, and then to target some snakehead or blue cats later in the morning.  So off I was at 4:30 in the morning to get to the ramp before sunrise.  I was on the water a little after 6:30AM and was surprised at the scenery.  The Mattawoman has acres and acres of spatterdock along the edges of the creek, and then in front of those, there are thick growths of hydrilla. It looked fishy to me.  It was going to be a good fishing day.

There really isn't much of an exciting story to tell this time.  It was 7 hours of pretty much nothing.  I was casting plastic worms, a jitterbug, chatterbait, small grubs, a firetiger rapala crankbait, an electric chicken bass assassin shad, and cut bunker for catfish.  I did have some hits on the cut bunker from what I think were probably smaller catfish, but I never did hook up with them.  I did spent the last hour on the water targeting blue catfish with some nightcrawlers that one of the other members graciously gave to me.  I had a little bit of success with 2 blue catfish and a channel catfish.

Someone else's snakehead.  26 inches!

Luckily most of the other members at the Meet and Greet did better than I did.  Several people caught some really good sized snakeheads, and others caught several lunker bass, yellow perch, white perch, and sunfish. After seeing those snakeheads, though, I have caught the fever...I need to catch a snakehead sometime in my life.

The fish that saved me from a skunk.  Yes, there's a fish in my hand.

I brought home the 2 blue catfish that I caught, along with another one that another member gave to me.  This was my first time trying blue catfish, and I had heard that they were tasty, so I came home not entirely defeated.  I filleted them that night and fried them with some corn meal mixed with old bay and they were really good.  My wife even asked me to bring some more of those home.

The Mattawoman.