Karen and I tried a new campground on the Potomac, Spring Gap, which is the furthest north/west campground on the C&O Canal trail. We got to the camp site around 3 p.m. Saturday, set up camp, and I went fishing.
I started off wading just upriver from the boat ramp and didn't have any luck. The river in this section was pretty featureless -- just slow moving water over a sandy bottom with a few rocks here and there. I should have recognized it wasn't very "fishy" but I tried it anyway.
On the furthest portion downriver of the campground, I found a trail that led to the river. I climbed down and started wading. This part of the river looked a little better, and I even saw a few smallmouth and sunfish cruising around. Nothing seemed interested in what I was throwing at the time, a four-inch straight worm on a weedless 3/16-ounce jighead.
I saw a large ripple down river that looked interesting. It was fairly straight and stretched across a good portion of the river. It was a actually a rock formation that was maybe a foot or so in its deepest section. So I walked across it right over to the West Virginia side!
At this point, I was using a brown, three-inch curly-tailed grub. I had one little hit but decided to switch over to a pearl white grub. Exactly the same lure, just a different color. I checked my phone, and it was around 5:30 p.m. Two-plus hours of fishing and not a single fish.
About five minutes later, I had a fish -- a 10-inch smallmouth! It did the quick release as I was pulling it out of the water. Thanks, fish!
Five minutes later, I had another strike! I started reeling in and could tell this was a nicer fish. It jumped, and I saw it was a smallmouth, easily 12 inches. But it was fighting like it was bigger. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I like these little brown fish! They are angry because you tricked them!
I got the fish out of the water, and it looked like he had almost swallowed the jighead. Luckily, the tip of hook wasn't down the fish's throat. Unhooked it easily and let it swim away.
Two-plus hours of no fish, then a small change and two smallmouth in five minutes. I fished for a little bit longer then decided to head back to the campsite to get my "topwater setup" since the sun was going down.
Back in the same water, I started off with a chrome/black Chub's Hub. I had never used, in fact, never even heard of these lures before I downloaded a book on smallmouth bass fishing to read on Kindle, "Topwater Smallmouth" by Mike Mladenik. He raved about these lures and about how at one time, the lures were really hard to come by and almost out of production. But H.C. Baits had started making them again, and I ordered a handful of lures after reading the book. I haven't had huge success with them, but they have caught fish.
This time the Chub's Hub helped me land a really nice ... redear sunfish. It was actually a pretty decent size, and if I was fishing for sunfish and hoping to catch a bunch of them, I would have kept it.
I got several hits on the Chub's Hub but for whatever reason, fish avoided getting any part of the TWO treble hooks into their mouths. Two treble hooks. Seriously.
I switched over to a Rebel Pop-R in a perch pattern. Another lure I learned about reading the "Topwater Smallmouth" book. First cast, just as the lure hit the water, fish on! I mean, as soon as it hit the water, it got a hit! Unfortunately, I forgot to turn the GoPro on after switching lures, so you're going to have to just believe me. I did land the fish, though -- another 12-inch smallmouth.
That was it for the night. The sun had gone down, and the rocky terrain didn't really lend itself to night wading.
The next morning, I headed back to the same section and wanted to try topwaters again. This time with a Zara Puppy in a frog pattern. This is a three-inch version of the famous Zara Spook, and I have had pretty good luck with it. Last year, it got me the first smallmouth I ever caught on the Potomac and started this addiction. Plus a redear sunfish or two. And a failfish. Three different fish on one lure? How is this possible? Could I do it again 10 months later? Read on and find out!
Today I ended up catching three fish on this Puppy -- a small redear sunfish, a 10-inch smallmouth and a failfish. It happened again! The failfish, while disappointing when reelizing what kind of fish was on the other end of the line, was kind of interesting to catch. It created a boil going after the lure, then went after it again as I paused the lure. As I reeled it in and caught sight of the fish, I saw a gold color and thought for a second I might have caught a walleye. Nope. No teeth. Just fail.
I decided to head back to the campsite because Karen texted me that breakfast was ready. But before that, I wanted to try a different lure. For just one more cast. Just one more. Or two or three. I tied on a 1/4-ounce Draggin' Head jighead with a three-inch tube bait in a crawfish pattern. I didn't learn about the Draggin' Heads from Confidence Baits by reading a book. I learned about them from watching videos on YouTube. It is 2015 after all!
With the 1/4-ounce jighead on six-pound fluorocarbon, 40-plus-year-old Mitchell 300 spinning reel, modern seven-foot Shakespeare Ugly Stik rod, I could really zing this lure. Almost hitting the shore on the West Virginia side. After a few casts, I had a fish on! It felt like the second fish I caught yesterday -- not huge but strong! I landed it, and sure enough, it was a chunky 12-inch smallmouth. My GoPro ran out of memory, so again, no video of a nice fish.
I had a few more hits, but that was it, so I decided to call it a day.
Looking back, it was a fairly interesting weekend. No lure really "hot" like a few weeks ago at Paw Paw then the next weekend near Antietam. If something wasn't working, I switched lures trying for something that worked. I even tried a Rapala Shadow Rap and Skitter Pop with no luck. But got action a few times when switching lures in the same section of water I had been fishing before. Pictured to the right is the three-inch pearl grub on a 1/8-ounce Draggin' Head jig, the three-inch crawdad pattern tube bait with a 1/4-ounce Draggin' Head, the silver/black Chub's Hub, and the Zara Puppy. And the obligatory shot of the Mitchell 300 reel I used that is older than me.
Eight fish total, five being smallmouth and three of them of the legal size.
Here's a video of me catching some of the fish:
 |
| Sandy bottom, a few small rocks, no fish. |
On the furthest portion downriver of the campground, I found a trail that led to the river. I climbed down and started wading. This part of the river looked a little better, and I even saw a few smallmouth and sunfish cruising around. Nothing seemed interested in what I was throwing at the time, a four-inch straight worm on a weedless 3/16-ounce jighead.
I saw a large ripple down river that looked interesting. It was fairly straight and stretched across a good portion of the river. It was a actually a rock formation that was maybe a foot or so in its deepest section. So I walked across it right over to the West Virginia side!
At this point, I was using a brown, three-inch curly-tailed grub. I had one little hit but decided to switch over to a pearl white grub. Exactly the same lure, just a different color. I checked my phone, and it was around 5:30 p.m. Two-plus hours of fishing and not a single fish.
 | |
| First fish of the day before we agreed to part on friendly terms. |
Five minutes later, I had another strike! I started reeling in and could tell this was a nicer fish. It jumped, and I saw it was a smallmouth, easily 12 inches. But it was fighting like it was bigger. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I like these little brown fish! They are angry because you tricked them!
 |
| When does a 12" fish feel like a hog? When it's a smallmouth! |
Two-plus hours of no fish, then a small change and two smallmouth in five minutes. I fished for a little bit longer then decided to head back to the campsite to get my "topwater setup" since the sun was going down.
Back in the same water, I started off with a chrome/black Chub's Hub. I had never used, in fact, never even heard of these lures before I downloaded a book on smallmouth bass fishing to read on Kindle, "Topwater Smallmouth" by Mike Mladenik. He raved about these lures and about how at one time, the lures were really hard to come by and almost out of production. But H.C. Baits had started making them again, and I ordered a handful of lures after reading the book. I haven't had huge success with them, but they have caught fish.
This time the Chub's Hub helped me land a really nice ... redear sunfish. It was actually a pretty decent size, and if I was fishing for sunfish and hoping to catch a bunch of them, I would have kept it.
I got several hits on the Chub's Hub but for whatever reason, fish avoided getting any part of the TWO treble hooks into their mouths. Two treble hooks. Seriously.
I switched over to a Rebel Pop-R in a perch pattern. Another lure I learned about reading the "Topwater Smallmouth" book. First cast, just as the lure hit the water, fish on! I mean, as soon as it hit the water, it got a hit! Unfortunately, I forgot to turn the GoPro on after switching lures, so you're going to have to just believe me. I did land the fish, though -- another 12-inch smallmouth.
That was it for the night. The sun had gone down, and the rocky terrain didn't really lend itself to night wading.
 |
| Screenshot from the West Virginia side of the Potomac. |
Today I ended up catching three fish on this Puppy -- a small redear sunfish, a 10-inch smallmouth and a failfish. It happened again! The failfish, while disappointing when reelizing what kind of fish was on the other end of the line, was kind of interesting to catch. It created a boil going after the lure, then went after it again as I paused the lure. As I reeled it in and caught sight of the fish, I saw a gold color and thought for a second I might have caught a walleye. Nope. No teeth. Just fail.
I decided to head back to the campsite because Karen texted me that breakfast was ready. But before that, I wanted to try a different lure. For just one more cast. Just one more. Or two or three. I tied on a 1/4-ounce Draggin' Head jighead with a three-inch tube bait in a crawfish pattern. I didn't learn about the Draggin' Heads from Confidence Baits by reading a book. I learned about them from watching videos on YouTube. It is 2015 after all!
With the 1/4-ounce jighead on six-pound fluorocarbon, 40-plus-year-old Mitchell 300 spinning reel, modern seven-foot Shakespeare Ugly Stik rod, I could really zing this lure. Almost hitting the shore on the West Virginia side. After a few casts, I had a fish on! It felt like the second fish I caught yesterday -- not huge but strong! I landed it, and sure enough, it was a chunky 12-inch smallmouth. My GoPro ran out of memory, so again, no video of a nice fish.
I had a few more hits, but that was it, so I decided to call it a day.
 |
| My arsenal |
Eight fish total, five being smallmouth and three of them of the legal size.
Here's a video of me catching some of the fish:
No comments:
Post a Comment