Two dinks

Karen and I fished the Upper Potomac for a few hours yesterday morning and didn't have much luck.  The water was running low after a week off from rain and temperature was around 65 degrees.

First smallmouth of the day on the first cast with a swimbait.

I started off with a Whopper Plopper and didn't get any hits.  Switching over to a Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper swimbait, I caught a cookie-cutter smallmouth on the first cast.  Maybe 45 minutes later, I caught another cookie-cutter on the swimbait.

After that, no luck at all.  I watched a smallmouth take a swipe at the swimbait on two successive casts, but it didn't clamp on.  Other than that, the bite was definitely not on.

I tried a Rapala X-Rap, a couple tubes, a four-inch Stik-O worm, a rubber crawfish (forget the brand) and nothing was interested.

Downriver from me, Karen hooked a smallmouth on her first cast but didn't land it, but then she did catch somebody's fishing rod:

The river taketh away and giveth to someone else.

The reel might be usable if I clean and lube the internal gears, but it's not much of a trophy -- an Abu Garcia Cardinal 101 that goes for about $30 new.  In fact, I used to have the same reel and sold it on eBay for $20 last year when I decided to go with nothing but classic Garcia Mitchell 300 reels.  And that reel saw hardly any use and was a gem in comparison from this one Karen rescued from the bottom of the Potomac.

I forgot to mention in my post from the Little Patuxent that I switched jigheads on the Skinny Dipper rigs.  When Karen and I fished with Jason Shay from Penrod's Guide Service in July, we were using the same Reaction Innovations swimbaits but with a "sickle hook" jighead.  I couldn't find them anywhere and settled on Owner UltraHead Darter jigheads that were available at Bass Pro Shops.

eBay special swimbait jigheads.

I couldn't find the jigheads mainly because I didn't know what they were called.  Kept doing internet searches for "swimbait jigheads" and with no luck.  Finally I stumbled upon the correct term -- sickle -- and tracked some down.  A search on eBay brought up what I thought I was looking for -- someone hand-making 1/16-ounce jigheads with Matzuo #2 hooks.  Best of all, the seller had a pack of 50 for only $7, so they were worth a shot.

The hooks are thinner than on the Owner jigheads, but it makes rigging a swimbait easier.  Plus the hooks appear to be stronger.  I've broken a few of the Owner jigheads on snags but got one of the eBay special jigs snagged on a rock yesterday, and the line broke -- not the hook -- after considerable effort.

I think the angle of the sickle hook gives the swimbait a little more action.  Even if the presentation was equal, my quick take is that the eBay specials are better bang-for-the-buck.

I might try a larger hook, but it seems like smallmouth (and largemouth) attack the swimbaits from the front, as opposed to nibbler sunfish that nip at the tails.

Obligatory scenic shot:

The rock formations create large submerged trenches and pools.  It looks reely "fishy" but I haven't caught much in this area.  Given the expanse, it's probably better with some kind of watercraft that can skim over the rocky terrain.  This stretch is maybe a quarter-mile across to the Virginia side.  The rocks are fairly treacherous, though -- I almost-busted-my-ass only twice.