North Branch (Potomac) 8/26 - 8/27

[Slackdaddy]

Older son was visiting and we did a 2 day/1 night on the North branch, S. Cumberland to Old Town.
We used Jay from Clydes to Shuttle,, supper nice, helpful and knowledgeable guy. https://clydesriverguides.com/

All our usual rivers (North Branch, Doah, etc) are WELL below min height to run, it would have been a drag fest.
The North Fork has a few dams keeping a constant supply of water.

1 st day was slow until the last hour of light, with only ~3 fish each before setting up camp. We set up camp on an island, then fished the last 45 min and I caught a 14, 15, and 18' Small mouth.
The structure of the river from S. Cumberland to about Spring Gap was some what featureless and flat, poor smallmouth habitat.
The structure got a little better around Spring Gap, some boulders, channels, etc.

2nd day had a little better cloud cover, and river structure improved,, caught 13 fish, 8-17" range.

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[dsaavedra]

Looks like a fun trip

[DanMarino]

Awesome trip report! I hope to get out on the Potomac this weekend.

[Slackdaddy]

Awesome trip report! I hope to get out on the Potomac this weekend.

We did the rock garden above Pennyfield a few weeks back,, water was low and choked with grass so bad,, we were not sure we would make it to the rocks.
The only thing flowing is dam release waters.

[DanMarino]

Yikes! I've never seen it like that. I'll post how it goes if make it out.

[Jigsup]

Looks like an awesome trip!

[lurelunatic]

This definitely look like a cool trip. It's nice to know about the river conditions, and those were some impressive catches u had there. thanks for sharing!

[lurelunatic]

Two days on the North Branch with your son must have been an incredible experience. And those smallmouth catches on the second day are impressive!