# 6/4/2011 - PLO Report



## mmanolis2001 (Sep 11, 2009)

After many months of nagging from me my buddy finally gave in and jumped on my dusty ole tarpon for a try at Kayak fishing. He is a former boat owner and avid fisherman but was Leary of the whole small plastic boat in a big bay idea. I think he converted to the dark side this trip. 

The weather was perfect and the fish were hungry. I could not have asked for a better first trip. We hit the water around 9:00 AM and stayed in the lake around 30 mins. After my buddy got the once over about the kayak and found his sea legs we hit the mouth of the inlet to try cast some lures at the rip-rap. I tossed a rattle trap and he jigged a bucktail for 20 mins with no luck. We trolled the same lures on the way out to the Croaker grounds dogging crab traps here and there with no takers.

We settled in the area beyond the last pot line in 20ft to 24ft parallel to the last jetty on the swimmers beach. My buddy rigged up a bloodworm and I went with squid on one rod and a Jig and gulp on the other. 

The current was almost nonexistent and we were barely drifting but that did not effect the fishing. My buddy immediately hooked up on the bloods catching two around 10” before I could finish rigging my rods. I stuck with the squid and about 10 mins later I boated my first nice Croaker around 13”. This is when things started exploding on the jig. The lack of a strong current and wind provided near perfect jigging conditions. The first horse hit my jig and it was on after that. We proceeded to boat Croakers over 14” with the biggest one pushing 18” all on the jig. No fish on the jig was under 14”. We continued to bottom fish while jigging so the double header happened several times and it was a blast. 
On the bottom rigs the Squid seamed to get the better fish but the bloods were catching more often. One of the best 2 hrs of Croaker fishing I have had.

Around 12:00 we decided to head back to the car, stretch our legs and get the fish on ice. On the way back I noticed a group of kayaks and what looked like a swimmer. When we looked around we noticed more and more groups of kayaks with swimmers in the water. During the whole Croaker bonanza we were apparently oblivious to a marathon swim event that was happening around us. After talking to one of the kayakers in the event we were informed this was the yearly (7 mile.......) swim across the mouth of the Potomac. Are you kidding me... a 7 mile free swim across the Potomac river. Hats off to those that made that swim. After resting for an hour and getting the fish on ice we decided to head back out to the same area and try for some more bruisers on jigs.

We arrived at the same area and started work again. The fishing was allot slower this round with only 2 fish caught on the jig. The highlight of the trip came when my buddy set the hook on the jig and his drag started screaming. Could it be a large Rockfish? Giant Croaker? World record Flounder?

Well unfortunately we soon realized he wing hooked a large cow nose ray. After 20 min of the ray sticking on the bottom and turning the Kayak in circles it came up to splash us a bit. This is where we turned in the two stooges. One fumbled knife, A rod that defies all high sticking failure rules this rod should have broke 3 times but somehow held together, and the line wrapping around a stringer we released it just like we planned. That’s a lie but we did release it unfortunately with a jig still en-beaded in it wing.

After that excitement we paddled out to the NOAA buoy and drifted some more. The wind started to pick up a little and it was 4:00pm so we decide to call it and make the long paddle back to the car.

What a first trip for my buddy. He will be back on the water in that plastic boat again I feel. We ended the day with 32 nice croaker between the two of us and a small case of sunburn.

Video Recap
Part 1
Part 2


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## landlocked (Jun 10, 2001)

Great report and glad you had a good day.


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## c0ch3s3 (Jul 10, 2009)

good day, good vids! :fishing:


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## ComeOnFish (Apr 8, 2009)

Thanks for the report.

I just got back from a vacation. can't wait to hit PLO soon

Joe


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## mmanolis2001 (Sep 11, 2009)

Their are plenty of croakers waiting to jump on your hook at PLO now Joe. Squid strips on a single droper loop bottom rig and Gulp Jerk Shads (White and Chart) on a jig head got the better fish for us. I'm planning on heading back there this weekend weather permitting.

Have you hit the Occoquan lately. I was thinking about heading there after work this week to give the crappie some love.

Good luck


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## nHobbes (Apr 9, 2010)

PLO...going to that same area Friday (tomorrow) from around 9am to 2-3pm. Hope to see some other kayakers there. We will be the two in blue kayaks.


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## ComeOnFish (Apr 8, 2009)

mmanolis2001 said:


> Their are plenty of croakers waiting to jump on your hook at PLO now Joe. Squid strips on a single droper loop bottom rig and Gulp Jerk Shads (White and Chart) on a jig head got the better fish for us. I'm planning on heading back there this weekend weather permitting.
> 
> Have you hit the Occoquan lately. I was thinking about heading there after work this week to give the crappie some love.
> 
> Good luck


Call me when you hit Occoquan at 703-282-3816. 

I can't go to PLO tomorrow (6/18) I have to be back home by 12:00PM. It is two hour driving one way
joe


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