What are they eating on the Potomac?

[Howie]

  I have been in discussion with a few friends, and thought that I would pose the same question we have been debating here.  I would love to hear any and all facts, ideas, or opinions.

  What is the primary forage for Bass on the Potomac?

  Are they eating Crawfish, Perch, Sunfish, Bluegill, Shad, or Gold Shiners?  Or are they maybe eating something else?

  Have you ever seen a Potomac Bass spit anything up, or have you ever had a reason to examine the stomach of a Potomac Bass?


  Howie

[Brandon Piscitelli]

The two times that I have been down there this year, 04APR and 18APR, I have had found spit up crawfish parts in my wells.

[egolfer]

The two times that I have been down there this year, 04APR and 18APR, I have had found spit up crawfish parts in my wells.

What Brandon said!  My livewell is always full up of crawfish.  Later in the year, usually during the summer, I start to find shad in my livewell.

[PeteC]

The main forage is bigtime crawfish on the potomac river.  there are some smaller minnow type forage that they feed on too.  i always do really well using some sort of plastic crawfish in the weeds like a slurpies brush beaver and the small spro little john crankbait in the ghost shad color catches a lot.  for the minnows and spinnerbaits you have to match the size of what they're eatin and that is gonna be on the small side.  the guide i went out with always uses like 1/4 oz spinnerbaits and stuff like that to be real productive.

[jstrozier]

Gents.....what color were your crawfish?

I had one in my well on saturday as red as this lil rant dood 

First time ive ever seen a bright red crawfish! Looked just like my trap   

[hockeyref]

last year and this year i have had one that had spit up a small cat fish about 5to 6 inches long. but most like everybody else said crawdads

[greg hall]

bright orange always works

[NitroBoy8]

Ive had them spit up bluegill and small crappie when Ive had them next to the boat.

[Howie]

  In our discussions, we had determined that Crawfish and Shad were the primary forage. Even though Bass love Bluegill, it doesn't seem as though they target them as much on the Potomac for some reason. As far as the Catfish, my Father-in-Law refers to them as "stone cats", and I have seen plenty of that as well.

 The idea behind this post isn't so much bait selection, but more of a "find the food, find the fish" idea.

ex: Looking for Crawfish and Shad would help to zero in on a good spot. Looking for Bluegill, Sunfish, or Perch may be a waste of time. Also, when do Catfish spawn, and where? I have seen enough "stone cats" spit up to think that may be productive information.

 Speaking of spawning, I am not sure if the Bass are feeding on the juvenile Carp, or just the stuff that is getting tossed around by the Carp, but if you find a group of ganged up Carp spawning, there is a pretty good chance you will find Bass.

[CharlieD]

Great thread- very informative.

[Sam I am]

Killifish....

Crayfish...

The river doesn't have an abundance of threadfin shad, we have mud shad, which are a larger fish. They do eat them, but far from primary forage.

[NitroBoy8]

Mud Shad - Gizzard Shad. Same thing. They are over populating a lot of waters. Seems as if every body of water in this sate is loaded with them, on many occasions i end up reeling in a few of them that I snagged. They tend to be too large for the bass to eat though. Many exceeding 20in. They make good cut bait though for just about everything, catfish, stripers, crabs, you name it.

[NitroBoy8]

Killifish and Bull Minnows also are everywhere. Im not sure if they are the same or not but they are the minnows you see a lot of times around boat ramps. I have seen them grow to about 6in. Great bait also for just about anything.

[Howie]

  I agree with Sam I Am to a point.  The Mud Shad are huge, no doubt, but there are always smaller fish of every species.  Also, American Shad are part of the Potomac.  I do think the smaller Shad, especially in late Summer are a big part of their diet.

  I do think the word "Shad" gets tossed around a lot without people really knowing what they are saying.  I have seen guys at docks pointing to schools of Mummichogs or Atlantic Silversides and saying, "wow, look at all the Shad".  So when I hear dock talk about Shad, I tend to discard it.

  Speaking of Mummichogs... Those things are everywhere!  If you don't know what they are, they are the caramel colored minnows with the vertical lines, usually with a white belly.  The males change color when they spawn (which is pretty much all Summer), they turn a greenish brown and take on these blue colored dots.  They average out at about 5" or so.  Translation: 5" Shakey Worm or Senko in Green Pumpkin/Blue Flake.  There used to be a color you could get through Wacky Worm (probably still can) that is called Potomac Blue (I think NetBait has one too).  It was nothing more than a cinnamon brown with blue flakes to imitate a male Mummichog.

  I have an email out to Joseph Love, he is the Tidal Bass Manager for DNR.  I will post his reply once I get it.

  Keep the info coming, the more you know about forage, the better your fishing will become.

[NitroBoy8]

I agree with the word 'Shad' getting tossed around. There are Hickory Shad, American (white shad), Gizzard ( Mud shad), and several types of herring which are also similar to shad. All of those but the Gizzard shad are here only during the spring as the majority of them are an ocean/bay fish and they come up into the rivers to spawn. There are Menhaden and Alewives as well in the bay which is what the stripers are usually feasting on. I know you all have seen them they swim in giant schools in the creeks too and you can tell they are present when you see little flickers on the surface and them flashing in the schools. They usually don't show up in the creeks until later in the year when they are bigger but they are anywhere from 2'' up to 6'' or sometimes bigger but generally all the fish in the school with be about the same size. I have never witnessed bass feeding on them but im sure it happens as the stripers and perch love them.

[Sam I am]

  I agree with Sam I Am to a point.  The Mud Shad are huge, no doubt, but there are always smaller fish of every species.  Also, American Shad are part of the Potomac.  I do think the smaller Shad, especially in late Summer are a big part of their diet.

  I do think the word "Shad" gets tossed around a lot without people really knowing what they are saying.  I have seen guys at docks pointing to schools of Mummichogs or Atlantic Silversides and saying, "wow, look at all the Shad".  So when I hear dock talk about Shad, I tend to discard it.

  Speaking of Mummichogs... Those things are everywhere!  If you don't know what they are, they are the caramel colored minnows with the vertical lines, usually with a white belly.  The males change color when they spawn (which is pretty much all Summer), they turn a greenish brown and take on these blue colored dots.  They average out at about 5" or so.  Translation: 5" Shakey Worm or Senko in Green Pumpkin/Blue Flake.  There used to be a color you could get through Wacky Worm (probably still can) that is called +++WPIJWRPOIJJ (I think NetBait has one too).  It was nothing more than a cinnamon brown with blue flakes to imitate a male Mummichog.

  I have an email out to Joseph Love, he is the Tidal Bass Manager for DNR.  I will post his reply once I get it.

  Keep the info coming, the more you know about forage, the better your fishing will become.

\

Please edit that bait color 

[Sam I am]

And I have never heard of the mummichog or whatever, but what you are discribing is exactly like a killifish. Thats why that bait is so hot in the spring... that uugghhh purple rable rouser thing I throw.

[NitroBoy8]

This is an Alewive, Menhaden or sometimes people call them Bunker and i've even heard people call them peanuts or silversides. There is different exact species but they are all similar to this. These are what you see in the big schools throughout the bay that flicker on the surface and flash on their side.

And this is a Killifish or Bull Minnow as some people call them. They usually hangout around pilings eating barnacles and grass shrimp. You also see them around most boat ramps.

[NitroBoy8]

And I am no expert on them but i have done my fair share of cast netting and experimenting. Using them as bait so i know they are present even though the bull minnows or killifish look somewhat tropical. The bull minnows are also probably the toughest bait there is. I believe bait stores sell them throughout the state too.

[Sam I am]

I don't think the Bunkers come up very far into the river... I have never seen Bunker in the areas I fish, but that doesn't mean anything.

The bottom pic is a bull minow, and it is different then a Killifish. I am not good at posting photos, but here is link that shows a Eastern Banded Killifish, which is the one in the river.

http://www.jonahsaquarium.com/JonahSite/picfdiaphanus01.htm   

[Howie]

I've been going through the guts of some tournament mortalities.  Most of the fish had empty guts, which is pretty common for gut contents work.  For the ones that had stuff in their gut, you're right about the crawfish.  I pick up a few in the guts.  Some research out of the Great Lakes area and Canada indicate that bass tend to avoid crawfish (or crayfish as they call them up here) when water clarity is pretty good.  When the water mucks up a bit, they forage less and rely more on scent, and tend to forage more on crawfish.  

Young bass (around 10 - 12 inches) eat herring, which are related to shad.  We get blueback and alewife river herring in the Potomac.  We also get a few American Shad in the Potomac.  They just had their peak spawns and spring seems to be a good time for bass to find the juvenile American shad.  Later in summer, the bass will find juvenile sunfish and black crappie, but also juvenile snakehead, which are only found in the Potomac.  I've recovered 2 juvenile snakeheads in the guts of largemouth taken from the Potomac.  From what I understand, snakehead spawns about twice a year in our system and it's typically during late spring and summer.  I saw a really beautiful ball of juvenile snakehead last year in Mattawoman.  While the adults guard their young, I can understand why the juvies make an easy meal for rover predators like bass.

I haven't pulled out any mummichog, though I have pulled out "fish parts."  Atlantic Silverside is also another potential candidate, but they tend to school in open water where bass don't usually hang out.  A common fish in the diet, believe it or not, may be the goldfish, which I have not yet seen in the guts of the bass.  Juvie goldfish are likely to be all through Mattawoman Creek.

[NitroBoy8]

I caught a 17in goldfish in DC last year. I'll see if i can find a picture, craziest thing i've ever seen. And no it was not a Koi it looked like someones pet that they let go.

[Howie]

That was the email I got back from Joseph Love (Tidal Bass Manager for MD DNR).  My iPhone wouldn't let me paste and type in the box.