Upper Potomac

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Finally got the chance to get out on the Upper Potomac yesterday morning for the first time this year. Did OK, but the fishing was pretty slow, especially early morning. Picked up a bit once the sun got a little higher in the sky later in the morning. Water was 59-60 warming to 62 by early afternoon and water was surprisingly clear for the amount of rain we have gotten recently. We ended up with 14. Most were caught in less than 2' of water next to the banks where the sun was warming the water. We did pick up 1 or 2 in the current breaks behind rocks in the main part of the river. All but one were caught on 2.75" and 3" tubes. The other was caught on a 5" carolina rigged senko. Most bites were pretty light. Couldn't get bit on anything else. The biggest went 20" and 3# 10oz. My new personal best.

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Nice Fish. Have not hit the Potomac yet due to the levels but been fishing Raystown hard. White Bass are spawning up there, in the two days out put about 75 in the boat, mostly White, couple of Stripers and a mixed bag of everything else. Where you been going out of?
 
Wow - a 20" river smallie...must have been like hooking a freight train with an angry drunk at the controls! Congrats on the PB!
 
97Aero said:
Nice Fish. Have not hit the Potomac yet due to the levels but been fishing Raystown hard. White Bass are spawning up there, in the two days out put about 75 in the boat, mostly White, couple of Stripers and a mixed bag of everything else. Where you been going out of?
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Levels have been pretty good lately. Hoping it stays that way for awhile since I won't be getting back out anytime soon. It's on the rise now, but should be headed back down by the weekend although still probably pretty stained. Fished out of McCoy's Ferry on Sunday.
 
onthewater102 said:
Wow - a 20" river smallie...must have been like hooking a freight train with an angry drunk at the controls! Congrats on the PB!
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Thanks.

That describes it pretty well!! My buddy casted to the same rock a second or two behind me. I hooked up and he got snagged. Was quite the cluster for a few seconds floating down river fighting this fish while his rod was dragging across the bottom of the boat (he dropped his rod to get the net) and his line tangled in my trolling motor pedal. He quickly flipped his bail and just let the line run and I got it untangled from the pedal pretty quickly. Never a dull moment.
 
Got the chance to get back out yesterday and boated 26 smallmouth, a few fallfish and a dozen or so sunfish. Have never seen the sunfish so aggressive on the river. Water temp was 67 with a slight to moderate stain. Most fish came against rocky shorelines. Slack or swift water didn't seem to matter. Just needed to find the rocky bottoms next to the banks. A few fish came from behind main river current breaks. Biggest went 18", the rest were on the smaller side. 2.75" tubes and curly tail grubs caught most fish. I tried out the Keitech Crazy Flapper rigged on a ned head and it also did well. Seemed to produce bigger fish then the smaller tubes.
 
First time on the River since March. Put 56 Smallies and two cats in the boat. Mostly Dinks but a couple of legal keepers. Had hook ups on at least 50 more. Watermelon curly tail grubs was the hot bait of the day. Couldn't get bit on a small Rapala which is usually my go to bait for the Potomac. Strange how one bait is hot one day but cold the next. Good time had by all!
 
FWIW Dunno if that river fishes anything like the smallie rivers here in CT, but come summertime they can't stand to have a squeaky buzzbait or a weightless super fluke run overhead even in the heat of the middle of the day. I can't coax the big girls to bite anything in the way of finesse presentations during the daylight hours - but it seams if you piss them off they'll still take a whack at you.
 
Any of you guys need a fishing partner this summer / fall ?

I've lived in the area all my life, but haven't fished lots of the launches on the Upper Potomac. I'd love to join one of you guys and check it out some time. I don't have an outboard jet, but I do have a 16ft Xpress with a prop and hydraulic jack plate. I also have a kayak and jon boat.


Lunch is on me. PM ME
 
Anybody got to spend anytime on the Potomac this year? Seems like just when it becomes fishable we get a bunch of rain and up it goes another 6-8 feet!
 
97Aero said:
Anybody got to spend anytime on the Potomac this year? Seems like just when it becomes fishable we get a bunch of rain and up it goes another 6-8 feet!
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I haven't been on the Upper Potomac since early May. We did very well then. Have canceled at least 4 trips due to water levels. Thankfully we got a few days in on the Susquehanna back in April, or I'd be going even more crazy at this point. Going to try and get out this coming weekend. Should be back down to manageable and hopefully cleared up some by then. Still muddy when I crossed her this morning. But, of course, it's now going to be steaming hot.
 
Got out yesterday morning and managed 14 in a few hours during the morning. Got ran off the river from the heat. Fish were spread out and the bite was slow, especially once the sun got up high. Most were found along shaded banks in calmer water. Very few came from behind current breaks and in current seams. Seams the flooding of the last 2 months still has them in a bit of a funk.
 
97Aero said:
Anybody got to spend anytime on the Potomac this year? Seems like just when it becomes fishable we get a bunch of rain and up it goes another 6-8 feet!
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I feel your pain I was in VA for two weeks for the army drug my boat a long wanting to hit the upper james. The saturday I went water levels were ok but muddy as all get out was terrible boated one little dink fishing from 7am to noon. On the way home fished the new river in West VA it was ok water was decently clear, up a little from what is more ideal for fishing from what locals told me, was an ok bite wife and I managed 11 smallies combined mostly on top water too which was fun. It probably could have been better had the morning we fished if we started earlier. But she didn't want to wake up early wasn't on the water till almost 9am. Hopefully it's picking up for you guys out that way now.
 
Made it out yesterday. Levels were good. 5.0 feet on the Hancock gage. Went up from McCoys. Three of us put about 25 in the boat in 5 hours. Defiantly a slow bite for sure. Nothing hitting topwater. Strange for this time of the year.
 
97Aero said:
Made it out yesterday. Levels were good. 5.0 feet on the Hancock gage. Went up from McCoys. Three of us put about 25 in the boat in 5 hours. Defiantly a slow bite for sure. Nothing hitting topwater. Strange for this time of the year.
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I feel like it's been a strange year overall. Not sure what drawn out flooding does to the bass, but I think it's had at least some effect on them so far this year. I have a few hours to get out this Sunday and might head up that way as well, just for convenience. I prefer other stretches of the river as I've never done well above McCoy's Ferry. But it's quick and easy access for me, and I only have a limited amount of time to hit the river Sunday. You seem to do well there, so my expectations are high!!
 
Fished above McCoy's Ferry for a few hours yesterday morning. Worked our way up to above Licking Creek and fished or way back down. Water was low and clear. Saw water temps of 81-82. Ended up boating 19 on bottom contact plastics. Not even a sniff on topwater early. All small fish though. Made it up river with no worries, but managed to nearly beach my boat coming back down on the first ledge/riffle above McCoy's Ferry. Read it wrong (went down the left side when I should've hit it on the right side) and knew I was screwed once it was too late. Kept it WFO hoping there was enough water, but no luck. Skidded through the riffle and made it out the other end without getting stuck. Boat/motor are non worse for wear, thankfully. Much harier run that I anticpated. I've been up to Licking Creek at similar levels (3.75' at Hancock/2.2' Williamsport) and remember it being a bit of a challenge, but yesterday seemed much worse for whatever reason.
 
I grew up around the Potomac River as a kid. Back in the 1950 and 1960s before the Clean Water Act it had some serious pollution problems. Catfish were about the only game fish around. It is very gratifying to hear your fish report about the quality of the fishery today.

We used to hike the C&O Canal as kids on overnight trips and hung out around Seneca and Violet's Lock. We had a senior high school canoe trip up the canal and down the river ending up on the Virgina side above Great Falls.
 
BigTerp said:
Fished above McCoy's Ferry for a few hours yesterday morning. Worked our way up to above Licking Creek and fished or way back down. Water was low and clear. Saw water temps of 81-82. Ended up boating 19 on bottom contact plastics. Not even a sniff on topwater early. All small fish though. Made it up river with no worries, but managed to nearly beach my boat coming back down on the first ledge/riffle above McCoy's Ferry. Read it wrong (went down the left side when I should've hit it on the right side) and knew I was screwed once it was too late. Kept it WFO hoping there was enough water, but no luck. Skidded through the riffle and made it out the other end without getting stuck. Boat/motor are non worse for wear, thankfully. Much harier run that I anticpated. I've been up to Licking Creek at similar levels (3.75' at Hancock/2.2' Williamsport) and remember it being a bit of a challenge, but yesterday seemed much worse for whatever reason.
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Yeah you gotta stay to the right when coming back down in that stretch. I won't fish it unless Hancock gage reads 5. My boats a bit bigger than yours and I'm a bit conservative. Glad you didn't tear anything up.
 
97Aero said:
Yeah you gotta stay to the right when coming back down in that stretch. I won't fish it unless Hancock gage reads 5. My boats a bit bigger than yours and I'm a bit conservative. Glad you didn't tear anything up.
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Yeah, and I knew that in retrospect. Went up river correctly, but for whatever reason the left side looked better coming back down. Had to pull my boat through that riffle a few years ago coming back down river in the same spot at around the same level. Instantly remembered that after I hit. It's been a few years since I've ran that section. Have good notes now for future trips.

Planning on getting back out this weekend again if the weather cooperates. Fingers crossed.
 

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