{Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: Thousands of fish in Rock Creek today

Just bringing back to life another old post. I figured it made more sense than creating a new one.

I took the day off today, grabbed my bike and fly rod and ended up in Rock Creek -- my backyard. I, too, saw thousands of what looked to be herring of some sort making their way north. There had to be thousands -- all around 8-12 inches. Not as big as the shad I've seen  you all catching out on the river but pretty decent-sized.

I tried everything in my fly box and every possible combination of approaches I could think of and I couldn't get a single tug. You'd think with all those fish, I'd at least get one with dumb luck. They completely ignored me. Even when I was standing directly over them, they didn't seem concerned about me. Their entire focus was moving forward.

Does anyone know what type of herring may be going up Rock Creek? After several hours of no success, I came home and did some research. According to one older paper from the Maryland DNR, Alewife do not normally feed during their spawning runs, so I was thinking maybe that's what they were.

On Friday, May 10, 2013 at 8:41:28 PM UTC-4, David Constantine wrote:

The River Herring appear to be spawning in Rock Creek right now. I went fishing today south of the Klingle Road bridge, the farthest north you can fish legally. There are massive schools of Herring running upriver, I've never seen anything like it.

I walked down from my house with my 3 weight and threw everything in my box at them. Nothing. They aren't big, but may be fun on the light rod. Anyone have an idea about how to catch them?

One good thing about trying everything you can think of is that sometimes you catch a break. While the Herring avoided my line, I managed to catch my first-ever Crappie and Catfish on a fly rod.

The Crappie hit a TPFR Beer Tie Shad Dart (Big thanks to Rob Snowhite at the beginners table!). The Catfish put a serious bend in the 3wt. Caught him on TPFR member Paul Moinester's Purple Spider, sunk with a splitshot on the floating line.

If the Potomac is a mess right now, think about Rock Creek this weekend. Visibility is surprisingly good. Water flow is average and pollution/smell was tolerable/typical. I also saw Snakeheads, Bluegill and Carp out there as well.

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