I know they're out there. I've seen pictures of them. Big smallmouth bass on the Potomac.
Since I started fishing again three years ago and chasing smallmouth, I've only caught two 16-inch fish -- nothing bigger -- on the Potomac. On the Susquehanna River, I've caught one 20-inch fish and two 18 inchers.
But I know those big fish are out there on the Potomac.
Somewhere.
Yesterday I finally inched closer to those Susquehanna fish with a 17-inch smallmouth on the Upper Potomac. It was actually my first bite of the day after NOTHING for almost two hours.
Karen and I set up camp at Antietam Creek Campground, and I headed to my "secret spot" while she went to "walleye central." Usually ... OK, always, I catch something at the secret spot. But yesterday was a big fat zero. Nothing even sniffing at any lure I threw. After an hour plus in that area, I decided to head to another section. I hit the trail thinking this other area was a good hike but it was only a five-minute walk away. Usually when I've fished here, I've parked at another location other than the Antietam campground, so that's why I was thinking it was further away.
No sweat after the short walk, and I waded into a fast section of water running over a string of rocky formations. My plan was to cast down from the rocks into the slower tailwaters or target laterally against the current and working lures across.
I started off with a Z-Man Finesse Worm for a few casts. Then I switched to my medium St. Croix Rod Avid rod with a Pflueger Patriarch spinning reel rigged with 10-pound Hi Seas Triple Fish Camoescent line and a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper swimbait. That's a lot of name dropping!
Anyway, I spotted a small, slow-moving pocket between the bank and fast current. I zipped the swimbait there, and it splashed down a couple feet from the bank. A second or so after I started reeling in, there was a hit on the other end. Oh wait, it's a snag. No wait, something is taking the line away from the bank! Set the hook, and the fish did a half-jump on the surface, and I could see it was a good-sized smallmouth!
Another little jump, and the swimbait went flying, but the fish was still hooked. After a brief battle trying to keep the fish from jumping while also trying to keep it from burrowing down in the rocks, I got the fish next to me. The hook was firm in it's upper jaw, and the fish finally calmed enough where I could grab it.
With the adrenaline flowing, I pulled the camera from the front pocket of the waders, shakily took a picture, put the camera back, unfolded my measuring board to measure the fish, then let the fish go. All this going on while holding the fish with my rod tucked under my arm in fairly fast flowing water.. It seemed to take forever but probably took 30 seconds.
The fish was a tick over 17 inches, my biggest from the Potomac! It probably took me 10 minutes to calm down, rig up a replacement swimbait and make the next cast.
I caught two more smallmouth the rest of the day as the sun was setting. None were close to 17 inches, though. They were each a bit under 12 (actually, I think they might have been the same fish) and caught on a "PB&J" Z-Man worm.
This morning, I hiked back to the same general area but a little bit further downstream. Temps were in the mid-60s with a fog blanketing the river, and the conditions just screamed "topwater."
My new favorite topwater lure is a Heddon Zara Puppy in a "bull frog" pattern. This is actually the lure that started my obsession for smallmouth three years ago when Karen dragged me camping at McCoy's Ferry and I lost a nice smallmouth.
The first cast with the Puppy had a fish take a swipe at the lure twice, but it managed to evade the two treble hooks. I had one more similar strike then another where a fish caused a huge ruckus on the surface, but again, nothing tugging back on the other end.
Finally I had a good strike on the little Puppy, but this time the lure wasn't floating on the surface anymore. I started reeling in frantically and then the fish must have thought something was up and started pulling back. The fish surfaced and I saw it was a nice smallmouth -- maybe not 17 inches but not a dink or a barely legal fish. It was a similar battle with the 17-incher from yesterday as I tried to keep it from breaching the surface and slicing the line on the rocky bottom. I successfully landed it, and it measured just over 15 inches by the length of a caudal spine.
The Zara Puppy is a scaled down version of the more famous Zara Spook. Both lures have the same action and require more of a finesse approach. Each twitch of the the rod has the lure sliding side-to-side across the surface. With fall looming, underwater weeds are starting to die off in the river, and strands are now floating on the surface. Each time the lure snagged a piece of grass, the Zara Puppy stopped its enticing side-to-side movement. Reel in fast, remove the grass, cast again.
That was it for the morning, and I headed back to the camp site for breakfast with Karen and to deal with an invasive species -- Jesus-Christ-Sandal Man and his son "trespassing" through our camp site because they were too lazy to use the canal trail to travel between camp sites.
It's interesting that the 17-inch smallmouth was caught maybe 20 yards from the 16-inch fish from last year. And it's about a quarter mile from the "secret spot" where my first "big" smallmouth came from.
Since I started fishing again three years ago and chasing smallmouth, I've only caught two 16-inch fish -- nothing bigger -- on the Potomac. On the Susquehanna River, I've caught one 20-inch fish and two 18 inchers.
 | |
| The bees were hungry. Tried to get a good picture of three or four bees buzzing around in each patch of flowers, but they were too quick. |
Somewhere.
Yesterday I finally inched closer to those Susquehanna fish with a 17-inch smallmouth on the Upper Potomac. It was actually my first bite of the day after NOTHING for almost two hours.
Karen and I set up camp at Antietam Creek Campground, and I headed to my "secret spot" while she went to "walleye central." Usually ... OK, always, I catch something at the secret spot. But yesterday was a big fat zero. Nothing even sniffing at any lure I threw. After an hour plus in that area, I decided to head to another section. I hit the trail thinking this other area was a good hike but it was only a five-minute walk away. Usually when I've fished here, I've parked at another location other than the Antietam campground, so that's why I was thinking it was further away.
No sweat after the short walk, and I waded into a fast section of water running over a string of rocky formations. My plan was to cast down from the rocks into the slower tailwaters or target laterally against the current and working lures across.
I started off with a Z-Man Finesse Worm for a few casts. Then I switched to my medium St. Croix Rod Avid rod with a Pflueger Patriarch spinning reel rigged with 10-pound Hi Seas Triple Fish Camoescent line and a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper swimbait. That's a lot of name dropping!
 |
| Unleash the fury -- new personal Potomac best! |
Another little jump, and the swimbait went flying, but the fish was still hooked. After a brief battle trying to keep the fish from jumping while also trying to keep it from burrowing down in the rocks, I got the fish next to me. The hook was firm in it's upper jaw, and the fish finally calmed enough where I could grab it.
 |
| It's PB&J time for this sub-12 smallmouth bass. |
The fish was a tick over 17 inches, my biggest from the Potomac! It probably took me 10 minutes to calm down, rig up a replacement swimbait and make the next cast.
I caught two more smallmouth the rest of the day as the sun was setting. None were close to 17 inches, though. They were each a bit under 12 (actually, I think they might have been the same fish) and caught on a "PB&J" Z-Man worm.
 |
| Topwater time! |
My new favorite topwater lure is a Heddon Zara Puppy in a "bull frog" pattern. This is actually the lure that started my obsession for smallmouth three years ago when Karen dragged me camping at McCoy's Ferry and I lost a nice smallmouth.
The first cast with the Puppy had a fish take a swipe at the lure twice, but it managed to evade the two treble hooks. I had one more similar strike then another where a fish caused a huge ruckus on the surface, but again, nothing tugging back on the other end.
 |
| Subsurface view of a smallmouth that hit a surface lure. |
The Zara Puppy is a scaled down version of the more famous Zara Spook. Both lures have the same action and require more of a finesse approach. Each twitch of the the rod has the lure sliding side-to-side across the surface. With fall looming, underwater weeds are starting to die off in the river, and strands are now floating on the surface. Each time the lure snagged a piece of grass, the Zara Puppy stopped its enticing side-to-side movement. Reel in fast, remove the grass, cast again.
That was it for the morning, and I headed back to the camp site for breakfast with Karen and to deal with an invasive species -- Jesus-Christ-Sandal Man and his son "trespassing" through our camp site because they were too lazy to use the canal trail to travel between camp sites.
It's interesting that the 17-inch smallmouth was caught maybe 20 yards from the 16-inch fish from last year. And it's about a quarter mile from the "secret spot" where my first "big" smallmouth came from.
No comments:
Post a Comment