king of the

lunker or two. “Cold weather is when the big fish bite. … They gotta feed harder than all summer [when] they’re laying on the bottom with their mouths open waiting for the crabs to walk in.”

Veteran finds his calling fishing

Stafford’s waters

BY ERIC ALTHOFF PHOTOS BY DOUG STROUD

Much like Chief Brody in “Jaws” and his sharkhunting trio, Anthony Cubbage quite literally needed a bigger boat. After all, the proprietor of Atomic Fishing Charters could “comfortably” fit only three fishermen on his 2015 Excel 1860 VSC, a flatbottom, side console 18-foot boat.

“And you had to be pretty chummy,” Cubbage said of his former vessel, erupting into a hearty laugh.

Now pushing off the docks at Aquia Harbour on a larger Excel Bay Pro 230, Cubbage can hit the fishing waters of the Potomac with up to seven passengers. He also is available for excursions on Lake Anna, Mattawoman Creek and the Rappahannock – pretty much anywhere the gaping mouths of our local aquatic life are biting.

“I’ll fish as long as the water’s wet,” Cubbage said, adding that he’s available for hire even during the winter, which can actually be beneficial for hauling up a

He added that guests on his boats have hauled in 70-pound catfish during those chilly months.

Cubbage’s excursions include bow-andarrow angling for those seeking a new kind of water-based challenge. For that highadrenaline quest, guests first test their aim on inanimate targets in the water before moving on to live snakeheads nipping at the surface.

“And then once we pull up the targets and start fishing, they forget what they were doing,” Cubbage said of his crash course. “With the bowfishing, every snakehead that is shot is cleaned and goes home with the customer. Or, if they don’t want it, I’ll make fish tacos out of it.’

With his angling spirit at the ready, Cubbage takes passengers for partial or full-day fishing trips, where, with a little bit of luck and the required patience, they might pull in snakehead, catfish, gar, carp and goldfish – all of which are considered invasive to the Potomac watershed. The goldfish especially are problematic given