The one that got away

The biggest fish today that obliged on getting its picture
taken.  Note the pattern below the dorsal fin.  This Z-Man
worm would later get stolen by another fish ... read on.

Waded the Upper Potomac for a few hours this morning and caught nine fish -- eight smallmouth and a redbreast sunfish.  One smallmouth was about 14" (and fled before I could get a picture) and another was just under 12.  The rest were cookie cutters in the 8-10 range.

First fish of the day -- typical cookie-cutter smallmouth.

Karen and I fished the Upper Potomac last Sunday, but today the river was down at least two feet and flowing a lot clearer.  And the conditions today were a lot better for wading.

This particular section wading today had a ton of protruding rocks and very fast water.  I caught mainly dinks on Z-Man TRD Finesse Worms and Reaction Innovations Little Dippers.  I was in the water by about 7:30 and started off with a Whopper Plopper hoping for a topwater bite but had no interest, but the plasticy rubbery baits were working OK.

I had one fish hit a Z-Man worm, jump out of the air and put up a great fight.  It was a really dark colored smallmouth and looked to be about 14 inches.  But when I lifted the fish out of the water, the line snapped.  It counts, though!  It counts!

The line was really frayed, and I think the fish was wallowing on the bottom among the sharp rocks. I rarely have the line break like that -- always checking the knot and re-tying if there's even one nick.

This was foreshadowing of what would happen later

Slow water just to the left of the weeds had a lot of fish.

Around 9:30 a.m., I stopped above this rock formation (picture on the right) that was barely out of the water like the tip of an iceberg.  It created a channel of water on either side like a V, but the water just behind created a slow circling pool -- just screamed for smallmouth.

I caught a few dinks from here casting toward the middle of the river and working a Z-Man worm back parallel to the rock.  The bite was really subtle on almost every hit.  Like the jig hit a rock or there was slight tension on the other end when lifting the worm off the bottom.  Finally caught the one under 12" to stand out among the cookie-cutters that were hiding here.

When I stopped here, I noted that if I caught anything of size, it was going to be a real tussle once the fish hit the current.  Since I started fishing on the Potomac three years ago, my personal best is 16" (twice) so I didn't think it was likely to hook anything like that or bigger anyway.

And then ...

Maybe 10 minutes after the 12-inch fish, exactly the same area where all the other fish were, I felt a small tap.  Again, almost like when a bottom-bouncing jig hits a rock.  I set the hook, and for a split second it felt like another cookie cutter but then it pulled back hard!  Soon the fish was in that current I was talking about.  I pulled on the rod and the fish pulled right back with superfish strength.  The Roy Jones Jr of fish!  Loosening the drag and the fish took line, and I tried to wade back closer to shore toward slightly slower current.  This fish was STRONG -- reminded me of the 18.5-inch smallmouth on the Susquehanna in April.

And then ... SNAP!  It was gone.  I reeled in the line, and it was frayed from the end to about eight inches up.  Another line break like that 14-inch smallmouth, but this time I didn't even see what was fighting on the other end. (Of note: This fish was hooked on the exact same rod/reel/line combo I used to catch that 18.5-inch Susquehanna smallmouth.)

Last year, about 200 yards down from where I lost this fish, I hooked into a fish that I thought was a beast smallmouth, but it was just Mr. Whiskers.  So maybe it was Mr. Whiskers again?

Or it was the elusive beast Potomac smallmouth.

I dejectedly fished that area for another 30 minutes and caught one dink smallmouth.  At least it was the most fish I've caught this year not counting that one Susquehanna trip.