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#1 Sep-02-14 7:34PM

Charlie NHBA
Northern Snakehead
From: Herndon, Va.
Registered: Apr-06-08
Posts: 193
Website

The Dragon

Just got back from another successful trip to Dragon Run. Arrived on Friday evening, ate dinner and socialized until bedtime.

Saturday morning dawned hot and beautiful.  Light breeze all day, but massive humidity. Were told that we had to catch our own dinner.

Launched the boat, dropped the trolling motor and started fishing the rock jetties near the boat ramp. Put on a 1/8 oz. jig head with a Yamamoto tiny Ika in chartreuse/gold fleck and the fish started coming in the boat. Had a number of white perch over the 10 inch mark, alongwith redfish, croaker and speckled trout. Once we figured that we had enough for the three of us for dinner, we headed back to the headwatersof the Piankatank River, called Dragon Run.

We fished the marsh grass bank on the right side of the Run with spinnerbaits, swimbaits, flukes and Ikas. Lots of perch, a few large bowfin and many bass. Before we knew it, the day was gone and it was time to head back to fillet the fish and cook them up. Great day on the water.

After a supurb dinner of fried fish, steamed crabs, French Fries and cole slaw, we headed back out to the mouth of Ferry Creek where we encountered huge schools of bait fish. The boat is equipped with underwater lights, designed to attract baitfish to the boat. With these lights employed, we figured that we could get some good speckled trout action.  Alas, we were wrong.  Two croaker and a striper were the only fish that were interested in our offerings. Back to the house and welcoming beds.

On Sunday morning, we ate a sumptuous breakfast and loaded the boat for an all day trip to Dragon Run. This time, we passed on the marsh grass banks at the mouth and headed back to where the swampy area begins. Casting spinnerbaits, swimbaits and Zoom Horny Toads, we cleaned house on bowfin and bass for the first hour. My partner, Anthony, was casting a homemade swimbait to the edge of a grassbed when it disappeared as soon as it hit the water. He set the hook and the fight was on. Although we had been told that there were Snakehead in Dragon Run, it still shocked us somewhat when Anthony landed a 6.28# Snakehead. Although it was a little smaller than the 8-12# bowfin we had been catching, it fought every bit as hard, if not harder. At this point, we counted up the number of species caught thus far and determined that we had caught 8 species of fish, with ample numbers of each except Redfish (2), Snakehead (1) and Striper (1). We continued up the Run and continued to catch bass and bowfin. Anthony had a good pickerel swipe at his swimbait, but did not hook up. A short distance farther and he was hooked up again. This time, it was a warmouth in the 3/4# range. Beautiful fish. Within a couple of minutes, I managed to hook up with a one pound crappie.

The species count was now up to 10. Figuring that we might not be believed when we reported our catches, we took photos of each fish we caught. I would love to post them for you, but I am not technically inclined. Capt. Mike downloaded them to his computer and perhaps will post some later. We stayed in the Run, catching more bass and bowfin until 5 p.m. when it was threatening to storm. We headed back to home base and ate another super dinner of Bratwurst & Sausage with green peppers and onions, fried potatoes and fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. We were a little beat from the heat and humidity so we opted to stick around and socialize on Sunday evening. The company was great. The beds felt nice and we dropped off like turning off the light switch.

On Monday, we planned to leave to come home about noon, so we decided to do something different. Anthony was so pleased with the perch we had for dinner that he decided that we should catch a bunch of perch to take home with us. Accordingly, we looked around and found a shoreline that was loaded with old boathouses. Figuring that the boathouse pilings would be holding perch, we head that way and started flipping and pitching the Ikas. During the three hours we spent fishing the boathouses, we managed croaker (2) White Perch (8) and Speckled Trout (1). The amazing thing was the fact that the smallest white perch we caught was 11" and the largest was 13.5" Eight perch over 11" was a super morning for me. We lost a bunch more (probably about 6) that wrapped around dock pilings and got off before we could untangle them. Also lost a good redfish that did the same thing.

All in all, it was a GREAT TRIP!  A huge thanks is due to Capt. Mike Starrett for hosting us on this Labor Day Weekend.


Charlie NHBA.........

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#2 Sep-03-14 3:59AM

GregF
Northern Snakehead
Registered: Mar-21-11
Posts: 712

Re: The Dragon

Wow!!!!  That is a great trip and great report.  I can't think of a better way to spend 3 days.  I hope you understand that Ernie fell off his chair (and probably spit up his coffee/espresso) when he read about the 13.5" WP big_smile big_smile big_smile.  He is probably in his car right now driving down to Dragon Run.

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#3 Sep-03-14 5:07AM

Ernie
Administrator
From: Ashburn VA
Registered: Feb-03-06
Posts: 15561

Re: The Dragon

Great report indeed! Yep....when I saw the 13.5 incher, I said, "Anthony must have been measuring". No way Jose!

But I know Charlie and that is a great catch! Good on you guys for getting into them like that!

Maybe next year (I say that every year)!!


Time to go fishin' again!

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#4 Sep-03-14 5:32AM

Osprey
Patagonian Toothfish
From: Forestville, MD
Registered: Nov-16-07
Posts: 1234
Website

Re: The Dragon

That's it.... I'm going fishing. Oh, and great report.


20' Key West..16' C-Hawk...Hobie Pro Angler...Hobie Outback

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#5 Sep-03-14 6:56AM

Ernie
Administrator
From: Ashburn VA
Registered: Feb-03-06
Posts: 15561

Re: The Dragon

Charlie NHBA wrote:

, we took photos of each fish we caught. I would love to post them for you, but I am not technically inclined.

You can send them to me and I will post them when I get some time.....I want proof!!!!!!

After reading the report again, I have regrets for not going to this event.


Time to go fishin' again!

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#6 Sep-03-14 9:10AM

captmikestarrett
Patagonian Toothfish
From: Potomac River
Registered: May-06-08
Posts: 2164
Website

Re: The Dragon

I will get them up tonight guys.. We got several over 13 inches as well. In total I cleaned about 42 white perch in the 10 to 13 range.
Got a honest to goodness 5 foot plus gar also. Will post pic. Several blue cats in the 10 lb range also. On my boat we landed over 40 bowfin and 35 lgmouth.

It was a great labor day weekend.

Capt Mike


Light Tackle Fishing Guide on the Potomac

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#7 Sep-03-14 9:24AM

dave
Northern Snakehead
Registered: Oct-13-09
Posts: 171

Re: The Dragon

We too had a great trip.  Two different partners,  one a regular and one not and,  man was it fun.  Gotta love the bowfin on spinnerbaits (lost over $21 in BigMouth spinnerbaits to those guys)  Demolished a Hart Throb spinnerbait that I've owned for 23 years.  I will fish it again...it's hart will beat again soon...  I also caught a "shy of the slot" red fish with twenty one spots.  Best Labor Day weekend for bringing back dinner in a while with the white perch and cats.

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#8 Sep-03-14 9:37AM

captmikestarrett
Patagonian Toothfish
From: Potomac River
Registered: May-06-08
Posts: 2164
Website

Re: The Dragon

http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/3.JPG
http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/4.JPG
http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/5.JPG
http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/6.JPG
http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/7.JPG
http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/8.JPG
http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/9.JPG
http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/10.JPG
http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/11.JPG
http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/12.JPG


More later




Capt Mike

Last edited by captmikestarrett (Sep-03-14 9:43AM)


Light Tackle Fishing Guide on the Potomac

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#9 Sep-04-14 1:51PM

T.
Patagonian Toothfish
Registered: Sep-30-09
Posts: 930

Re: The Dragon

Wish I could've made the trip this year.  Really looks like I missed out.  I had to work over the weekend.

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#10 Sep-04-14 7:08PM

firemunkee
Patagonian Toothfish
From: Ashburn, VA
Registered: May-23-13
Posts: 1766

Re: The Dragon

Wow what a trip! Thanks for sharing the report and pictures.


Together we'll fight the long defeat.

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#11 Sep-10-14 12:30PM

captmikestarrett
Patagonian Toothfish
From: Potomac River
Registered: May-06-08
Posts: 2164
Website

Re: The Dragon

http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/14.JPG
http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/15.JPG
http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/16.JPG
http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/17.JPG
http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/18.JPG
http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/19.JPG
http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/20.JPG
http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/21.JPG
http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/22.JPG
http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/23.JPG


Capt Mike

Last edited by captmikestarrett (Sep-11-14 5:11PM)


Light Tackle Fishing Guide on the Potomac

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#12 Sep-10-14 12:51PM

captmikestarrett
Patagonian Toothfish
From: Potomac River
Registered: May-06-08
Posts: 2164
Website

Re: The Dragon

http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/24.JPG
http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/25.JPG
http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/26.JPG
http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/dragon/27.JPG

Capt Dave

Last edited by captmikestarrett (Sep-11-14 5:12PM)


Light Tackle Fishing Guide on the Potomac

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#13 Sep-29-14 12:12PM

captmikestarrett
Patagonian Toothfish
From: Potomac River
Registered: May-06-08
Posts: 2164
Website

Re: The Dragon

Found that gar pic from the weekend.
http://www.indianheadcharters.com/14/412.JPG

almost 6 feet long.

Capt Mike


Light Tackle Fishing Guide on the Potomac

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#14 Sep-29-14 2:03PM

Aches n Pains
Northern Snakehead
Registered: Feb-14-09
Posts: 211

Re: The Dragon

Love me some good fish pictures.  Thanks.

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#15 Sep-30-14 7:35AM

firemunkee
Patagonian Toothfish
From: Ashburn, VA
Registered: May-23-13
Posts: 1766

Re: The Dragon

6 feet?? yikes


Together we'll fight the long defeat.

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