Potomac smallmouth love getting some tail

Literally standing in the middle of the Potomac ...
in knee deep water.

First fish of the day ... they were INHALING the swimbaits!

Headed back to the Potomac today but this time upriver from where I was last week.  I fished this section once before last November and remember a huge area of riffles/rapids and figured it would be good to try this time of year.

Using a swimbait, I caught six cookie-cutter smallmouth in an hour or so.  Last week, I theorized that the bigger swimbaits enticed bigger fish, but that wasn't the case today.  Just a bunch of dinks hitting the swimbait.

Until landing a 16-inch smallmouth that fought like a tank.

Let's rewind here.

Aggressive smallmouth getting some tail.

Just before this Sherman smallmouth, I launched a lure into a tree.  Kept firing it downriver, and it wouldn't hit the "right" spot.  Then went into the overhanging tree.  Then the fishing line developed a small bird's nest.  I can never understand why this happens on spinning reels -- the line gets tangled for some reason further down on the spool.  Cast, reel, cast, reel, cast and a small bird's nest hinders the cast.

After dicking around with this crap for 20 minutes, cutting line and re-tieing on the swimbait, I cast out again.

Well, crap, it's a snag.

But it wasn't.

16-inch tank of a smallmouth!

It was an actual fish that inhaled the lure, and of course I was hoping it wasn't a catfish.  But it jumped almost immediately, and it was no catfish!  And then there was hoping the fish didn't come unhooked.

This smallmouth was one of the angriest I've encountered -- kept pulling drag and making runs.  Finally got close enough where I could pull the fish out of the water by the lower lip.  Measured it just over 16 inches and let it go.

This was my biggest Potomac smallmouth in more than a year!

That was lucky fish No. 7 in under two hours.  After that, the switched turned off.  I caught two cookie-cutters wading out toward the middle of the river, but then nothing after that even after making a home in between two riffles of water (top picture) that looked great for holding fish.  Not even a nibble.

Heading back toward shore, I threw my last swimbait back in almost the direct area where I was wading when I caught the 16-inch smallmouth ... and caught another cookie-cutter bass.

These plastic swimbaits only last through a few fish/hits, and that was the last one.

LOL, whut?

Time for the Z-Man TRD Finesse Wormz!  By this time, the clouds started dissipating to let the hot sun warm the sticky, humid air.

Earlier in the week, I got 1/20-ounce Shroomz jigheads, lighter than what I tried last week.  I keep trying lighter jigheads hoping they are less prone to snags.  The 1/20-ounce jigs didn't get snagged, but they rolled down the river too quickly, at least in this section.  They might be good for slower-moving water, though.

I tried a Z-Man worm with a heavier Shroomz jighead and caught a 12-inch bass almost immediately.  That made it 11 smallmouth for the day in a hair over three hours.  Not too bad wading and working a long section of riffles.

There doesn't seem to be a magical "honey hole" on rivers for smallmouth.  It's not like lake fish where the bass hold position.  Smallmouth migrate a lot, especially this time of year, so if I find a section of water that looks good, I keep fishing that area.  The 16-inch fish today must have come after 20 to 30 casts around that same area.

It was after 11 a.m., and the sun and humidity started trying to kick my ass like last week, but this time better preparation with water meant not feeling like passing out.  But still, that was it for the day considering the lull in activity by the little brown fish for the last hour or so.