Testing the Freenoe on Roaches Run

No snakehead but the slab crappie were biting

I picked up a free canoe out of a pile of trash on the curb a couple weeks ago it was an old royalex canoe Oldtown . I saw it while I was at work so I had to finish the day and then go back and pick it up. Luckily it was still there at the end of the day. The canoe looked like it was used hard the seats were all rotted and there was a 10 inch hole that looked to have been patched at least twice before. I figured it would still be serviceable for flatwater if I slapped patch number 3 on it so I got some fiberglass and a quick and dirty patch was made. My vision for it was to be able to combat launch and get into places where the the kayak trailer can't go but still be able to carry two people. We finally got it out on the water for our first trip a place we had never been able to access Roaches Run on the tidal Potomac. One of my 2016 goals before I leave the area is to land a Snakehead. I chased  Snakehead hard last year with only one hookup that I lost at the boat. This was my second trip to their domain this year but the first
time I targeted them this year armed with the Chatterbait and topwater frogs.

It was super windy and I worked the back of the canoe while Collin took the front and did most of the fishing. We made a lap around the whole area fishing submerged wood and the edges of the spatterdock. The only action was two hits on the chatterbait and one on the topwater from some small fish. Time was starting to get short and frustrations were growing we decided to regroup and pull out the backup plan the ultralight rods. We tied on some small Crappie jigs and gulp 2 inch minnows. We immediately started to get hit but it took a couple minutes until Collin landed the first fish a yellow perch then I followed with a hand size bluegill.  The downsizing was quickly turning a day that was a failure into a somewhat success. I cast a couple more times and hooked something a little larger in the back of my mind I was thinking maybe this was a snakehead after a few good drag pulling runs I landed a 16 inch channel cat. On the very next cast I hook into something large again the fight was a little different than the previous fish I finally got a glimpse and it was a blue cat. We then made our way to a submerged tree where we could see some branches poking above the surface. Collin quickly set the hook and was reeling in a 13 inch extremely black Crappie. We continued to work the tree for 20 minutes landing 6 or 7 crappie including my new personal best a 14.5 inch slab. We continued back to the truck landing a variety of species including largemouth, yellow perch,white perch, sunfish, channel cat and blue cats. It was a nice mixed bag if only it had included the target species it would have been a perfect day.