Potomac River Above Great Falls-10/8/11

[DanMarino]

I took my kayak out on the Potomac Saturday afternoon. This weather is fantastic for fishing! The river was coming down from last weekend's rain and the water was pretty brown. Not much visibility at all, so I threw a beetle spin with a curly tail grub on it. I put in and paddled up river to get to some rocks and ledges. I fished up there for a while and caught this fish. It ambushed my lure from behind a rock as the current went by. It was an old looking fish and around 16.5 inches.

I floated back down river and fished the shoreline. I had 3 other big fish on, but they all came off as they jumped right at the kayak. They were good sized too, so that was a bummer. Those fish were all at the shoreline and hanging out behind fallen trees and log jams. They all struck hard, pulled hard, and had some nice jumps.

Great weather this weekend. This is my favorite time of year.

13

[Shady]

Thats a real nice smallmouth. I bet a smallmouth that size put up a real good fight!. Thanks for the report.

[kanvery]

That's an outstanding fish. I love fishing for smallmouth but just haven't had much luck or dedicated enough time to it. Must have been a great day on the water yesterday.

[ictalurus]

Excellent smallie. Sorry to hear about the fish you lost, but seeing them jump like that nearly makes up for it in my book.

[DanMarino]

Smallies Rule

Yup, smallie fishing is my favorite and any time I spend on the Potomac is wonderful. I was surprised the water was so brown though. I might hit the Patapsco this afternoon.

Tom

[chirotrout]

I was out wading on Sunday (without waders...mistake) in that section of the Potomac with my fly rod. It was beautiful and though the water was browm the visibility was about 4-5 feet. I could see fish with my polarized glasses and even a few crayfish. I ended up landing about 10 smallies and a ton of nice sized bream. The smallies were up to about 2.5 lbs. They were lots of fun on my 5 wt. rod, especially with the strength of the current. Had some epic runs and jumps. The flies they were hitting were olive green woolie buggers and a black dragonfly nymph size 6. The nice thing about wading is that the current takes the boats on a swift fun downstream. I can work an area and pull 4-5 fish out of it before I move 30 feet downstream.

Lets hit it one more time before its get too cold! I will show you my honey hole area...bring your waders and a thermos of HOT anything!

Jason