Potomac River Smalljaws and C & O Canal Largemouths

[DanMarino]

My son and I hit the upper Potomac today in search of smallies. We floated down river a ways and fished a new section of river. We then paddled back up the C & O Canal. It was a great trip and I'm not even feeling tired. We fished from around 2PM until 7PM. I had 5 smallies in the river and 5 largemouths in the canal. My son had 8 smallies in the river and 7 largemouths in the canal. All fish came on beetle spins with curly tail grubs, or 2.75" tubes. Pretty much all the fish were small. Biggest smallie was caught by my son and was right around 13 inches. Biggest largemouth was caught by my son and was 16 inches. I caught a largemouth with a very big head and mouth, but a really skinny body and it ended up being 14 inches long. I caught a micro largemouth that was 6 inches too. At one point on the river something big literally crushed my beetle spin and ran. It hit so hard I lost my grip on the rod and had a crummy hook set. The fish got off quickly without me getting a look at it. Maybe a catfish. Maybe a big smallie. We'll be heading back there again. Here's some photos from the trip.

[ictalurus]

Looks like a scenic trip, too. Sounds like a nice evening. I'd love to be able to know what all my fish that got away were, but then again, the answer might be more boring than what I see in my imagination.