Fishing upper Potomac river question.

[bunnielab]

Hah, I love fishing in the canal on foot and keep wanting to drag my kayak out there. I also really want to hit Widewater in my yak this year, but don't want to go alone as having two people to help get the kayaks and out of the water would be a hugely helpful there. I think it would be almost mandatory to make it a weekday trip, as dodging lures on the weekend will take some of the fun out of it.

[mchottie]

Hah, I love fishing in the canal on foot and keep wanting to drag my kayak out there. I also really want to hit Widewater in my yak this year, but don't want to go alone as having two people to help get the kayaks and out of the water would be a hugely helpful there. I think it would be almost mandatory to make it a weekday trip, as dodging lures on the weekend will take some of the fun out of it.

Similarly, two people with vehicles makes it easy to park one downstream, drive upstream to put in, float down, then take the parked vehicle back north.

[archeryrob]

I usually do not anchor either, but Greg and I both use a front mounted 5# dumbbell like you can just drop to stop and fish a hole. Greg stop and fish's it, and refishes it and then fishes it again. It works best for jigging with pull it toward you. At Rapids I just float through a chute and hook paddle into the eddy to jig the chutes. Sometime minimal paddling it required to hang in the eddies.

Greg and I both have Kayak trailer and I can hold up to 6 kayak on my trailer, but 6 guys in my truck could be done, but might be a bit tight. I got the F150 suercab not the 4 doors, but its only shuttling between ramps.

Tom give me a shout if your heading out of weekends. I still have your cell phone in my phone of you have the same number.

DJones, you buy those kayaks? I could get your boat on my trailer on top, maybe.

[DanMarino]

Hi Rob,
That would be cool. Yes, I still have your number in my phone contacts as well.
I'm looking forward to many trips this year on the Potomac. Due to family responsibilities, most of my trips will be quick morning trips for a few hours and I'll be wrapped up by noon.
Looking forward to catching many Potomac smallies in 2018.
Tom

[bunnielab]

For you guys who run the anchor line through the front handle, do you find it hard/impossible to free it if it snags, or do you just cut the line? Even with the anchor right next to me I sometimes have trouble un-snagging mine, I feel like having it run through the handle seems like it would make it harder.

[PigPen]

Drew, I've had my anchor hang up and have been able to paddle up stream to free it on the Brunswick section. I do enjoy that section but please keep me in mind if you guys want to try further west. I've seen some folks do well with a drag chain. I've been meaning to build one with an old bike entertube but have been too lazy. I generally get stuck in the slack current behind a rock until I get bored and paddle into the flow. N

[DanMarino]

I agree with Pigpen. The dumbbell anchor doesn't snag much for me. Just paddle up river and it comes undone. Running the anchor line through the front handle orients the front of the kayak up river. 99% of my Potomac trips over the past decade I haven't even used an anchor. So it's not a necessity. Although with fly fishing, I think it will help a ton.

[Big Mike]

I highly recommend using a drag chain as your anchor. I bought about a 3’ length of the heaviest chain they had at Lowe’s (decades ago now). Wrapped it in a bike inner tube to quiet it (duct tape also works) and it is very rare to have it hang up. You can raise and lower the amount of chain in contact with the bottom to control speed. I really like it in moderate moving water as it slows you down enough to hit pockets before you get swept downstream.

[bunnielab]

I had to cut free an anchor that got stuck a year or so ago. I would paddle up to free it, but the current was strong enough that as soon as I stopped paddling, I would get pushed down stream before I could try and pull it up. It had happened a few times before, but I was able to get right up next to it and free it.

I think I am going to give a chain a try this season, at the very least it's cheaper to replace.

[PigPen]

I highly recommend using a drag chain as your anchor. I bought about a 3’ length of the heaviest chain they had at Lowe’s (decades ago now). Wrapped it in a bike inner tube to quiet it (duct tape also works) and it is very rare to have it hang up. You can raise and lower the amount of chain in contact with the bottom to control speed. I really like it in moderate moving water as it slows you down enough to hit pockets before you get swept downstream.

Before I go rooting around my local bike shop garbage cans did your chain collect lots of weeds on the river? I'm hoping the chain will help keep my kayak oriented correctly but not slow it down too much on the floats. My kayak has a tendency to spin going down stream.

[Big Mike]

The main problem I have is remembering that mud is clinging to the chain and to let it dangle over the side to rinse off. Not often I have any grass on it and very minimal if there is any. I use mine in a canoe and put an eyebolt in the back to keep the boat pointed downstream when deployed. If I do stop because of slow water I just raise the line to put less chain on the bottom. Here’s a picture of my beautiful chain.



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