Dog day afternoon

My secret location on the Little Patuxent where I've caught two 15-inch smallmouth.  I say "secret" because I've never seen anybody fishing here before.  There's a pond nearby with lots of sunfish and largemouth bass and a lot of fishing pressure, but nobody walks the extra 50 feet through the woods to fish the river.

Unfortunately, not much to report on this trip.  Four hours of fishing and all that was landed was a failfish and an 11.75" smallmouth.  The smallmouth came late in the day as I was about to give up.  Felt a tug on the end of the line with a Stik-O worm but couldn't hook the fish.  I thought it might have been a sunfish nibbler, which were prevalent throughout the day.  Then I cast the lure in about the same spot and got the smallmouth.

Just shy of 12 inches.

The failfish was typical -- felt a small hit and started reeling.  There was something on the other end of the line.  A fish?  A stick?  A paper towel?  What was interesting was that the fish hit a Finesse TRD worm working the bottom.  I usually catch them on reactive baits like spinners or Shadow Raps.

A funny story, this part of the Little Patuxent is off the beaten path.  There's a shack or house about 50 feet from the river.  It seems occupied but I haven't seen any people. Last time there, I heard a radio or a TV from inside the shack.  This time when I got to the river, there were two dogs laying on the sandbar who started barking as soon as they saw me.  They approached me but weren't in attack mode.  Kept their distance but still bark-bark-bark-bark-barked at me.  Watch dogs barking, do they bite?  I waded out a few feet in the river and started fishing.  After about 10 minutes, I guess they didn't consider me a threat anymore and disappeared.  The dogs are probably associated with whoever "lives" in the shack and are comfortable around people.  One of those things that maybe if I walked up to them they might be friendly?  Or they might bite.

Two-dozen-and-two smallmouth

For various reasons, it has been a few weeks since I went fishing.  (One of those things that has kept me from fishing won't be happening again until October.)  However, this week has had nothing but rain and cold weather, so it looked like fishing at least on the Potomac River wouldn't be an option.  Karen had been wanting to go camping, and I wasn't sure how high and fish-able (or non-fish-able) the river would be.  Closely monitoring the gauge readings at americanwhitewater.org, it looked like the river was higher than normal but not four or five feet which would definitely make the river un-fish-able!

So we loaded up the Lightning with all the camping and fishing stuff and headed out.  I figured the campground near Antietam Creek would be a good option since if the river didn't pan out for fishing, at least we could try fishing on the creek.

About 30 miles before we got to the campground, it started to rain.  Oh man this was starting off to be a fun weekend.

I should mention here that the Potomac River has been kicking my ass this year.  I've been out five or six times and have had one smallmouth bass to show for it (well, other than the 12 walleye right at the beginning of the year during that freak warm spell).  So this wasn't doing anything for my confidence.

We got to the campground, and picked a site (only a few sites were occupied), set up the tent and started unloading everything.  By the time we got everything set up, the rain stopped.  Karen said she was going put the registration fee in the box, and I rigged up a fishing rod.

On one of the fishing forums I'm on, there is a thread raving about the latest-and-greatest fishing sensation, The Ned Rig.  This rig is basically a small plastic worm on a jighead.  Wow!  Nobody has ever done that before!!!  The Ned Rig is just a new variation on an old trick.  I have been using Bass Pro Shops Stik-O worms on Charlie Brewer jigheads for the past year with pretty good success.  The biggest difference between these two presentations is in the plastic.  The Ned Rig uses a Finesse TRD worm that is a little thicker than a Stik-O worm, and it's also made with a plastic that is supposed to be more durable.  The weird thing about the TRD worm is that while the plastic is more durable, it's supposed to be more lifelike.  It's more spongy but a lot harder to tear.

What the heck, I'll try it.  I ordered a couple bags of the Finesse TRD worms and ShroomZ Weedless jigheads the week before.  Anxious to try it out, I tied on a Ned Rig and walked down to the river behind our camp site.

First cast -- FIRST CAST -- I had a bite but couldn't get the fish hooked.  Kept working the lure on the bottom though and had a fish clamp on.  Reeled it in and it was a "10-11" smallmouth.  First cast with a new lure, and I had a fish!

First cast of the day, first cast with a new lure!

After about five minutes, I had caught three fish!  Karen came back and found me down next to the river.

"Anything?"

"Three."

"Three??!!  Already??!!"

In about 10 minutes I ended up catching six total.  One of them was about 14 inches, too!

Potomac smallmouth that was angry because he got tricked!

Karen decided to take her fishing rod and try down near the mouth of Antietam Creek.  I decided to head upriver to my secret spot.  Normally, I can wade out pretty far along the rocky bottom in this location but with the water high and murky, I didn't want to risk it.  I know there is a nice flat area that's easy wading, but there are also two deep pools.  And if I can't see the bottom, I ain't walkin'!

With some downed trees, this left a narrow window for casting.  I actually twisted off a small branch from an over-hanging tree to give me some more room.

I started off with the Ned Rig Super Fantastic Worm Thingie and got a nibble after a few casts.  Since the water was deeper, I decided to switch to a Shadow Rap and got a fish on my first cast with it!

The "Susquehanna Special" Shadow Rap.

Not a big fish, though.  I caught two more including one that measured just over 11 inches.  But as I was reeling in that 11-inch fish, I could have sworn it was a much bigger fish.  He fought hard and was pulling drag, but then I saw him breach like an ICBM from a submarine ... and he wasn't that big.  He was just angry.  That Shadow Rap is the exact same lure that the 20-inch smallmouth hit on the Susquehanna although with replacements for the mangled hooks.

After a dry spell, I went back to the Ned Rig Super Fantastic Worm Thingie and it was like a switch turned on.  Six more smallmouth bass with several doing the ICBM jumps.  Now I was at 15 total for the day.

I forgot to bring water with me so I wandered back to the camp site.  Where was Karen?  Oh fishing in the spot I started at.

Karen with a fish!

She said she had caught a few fish including a "monster."  I was worried a bit thinking Susquehanna monster but it was more like a Potomac monster, about 15 inches.

Another one of Karen's smallmouth.

She caught a few more fish and all of them on the Stik-O worm with the Charlie Brewer weedless jighead.  So definitely some small plastic lure bouncing off the bottom was working.

I moved upriver a few dozen feet to try my hand at another spot, which was actually at the bottom of the path behind the neighboring (but unoccupied) camp site.  Ned Rig Magic Thingie again ... and more fish.  This time I caught four including this one just over 15 inches:

15 inches of fury!

My personal best on the Potomac is a 16-inch smallmouth, so this was close.  But my personal best on the Little Patuxent River is a 15-incher (twice!), so ....

Karen and I decided to cook something for dinner, and by this time it was past 7 p.m.  As we were eating, I started doing the count -- six fish here, nine fish up there and four more back here ... I had 19 fish total.  It sure would be nice to get one more for an even 20.

With the sun going down, I went back to the spot behind the camp site.  It took a few casts but I landed one, a nice usual Potomac 10-incher, to make it 20 for the day.

Today I woke up and decided to try topwater.  Yeah, topwater.  Even if the conditions aren't right for it, I still try it anyway.

And this morning it wasn't right.  Lots of wind, and the lure was just floating quickly downriver.  I think topwaters work OK in river fishing if you can find some slower water so the lure stays a bit longer in the strike zone.

First fish from this morning, also on a Ned Rig.

Went back to the Supercalifragalistic Ned Rig and caught four more.  One might have been 12 inches.  Maybe. He was camera shy and released himself as I reached for my phone. I also had two fish that got off as I was reeling in.  One of the fish jumped about 10 feet in front of me and as he went flying in the air so did the jig.

I also snagged some fishing line that had a lure on the end:

Hey, free lure!  Oh wait ... it's mine.

Yes, it was mine that got snagged earlier.  I tied it on later (more on that later).

It was around 8 a.m. so I headed back to the camp site for breakfast.  Eggs from a box and sausage!  Then I hit a couple other spots that I hadn't fished this weekend but with no luck.

Back to the spot on the river behind the camp site.  I had that jig on that I had lost but now had found and got a fish hooked!  Reeling the fish in and the line broke.  I'm usually pretty good at checking the line for frays and abrasions but didn't check before the line broke. The jig was snagged and freed at least once before hooking into the fish, so I think the line or knot was weak at that point. I did catch two more smallmouth (that I think were actually the same fish) to make it 26 for the weekend.

It was good to have such a successful trip, but a REALLY nice Potomac smallmouth bass seems elusive.  The 20-fish catch on the Susquehanna was definitely better because the majority of those fish were bigger than the one 15-incher I caught yesterday.

Still, the Ned Rig worked really well.  I was using the California Craw and June Bug patterns with equal success in the stained water.  I tried a tube jig a few times and had one nibble but received almost immediate action when switching back to the Finesse TRD worms.  Definitely adding them to the arsenal.