Maryland DNR stocks 2,000 juvenile smallmouth bass in Upper Potomac

Maryland DNR stocked 2,000 juvenile smallmouth bass
on the Upper Potomac on Oct. 25. (Maryland DNR photo)

Good news for the Upper Potomac smallmouth bass fishery.  The Maryland DNR released 2,000 juvenile (four- to five-inch) smallmouth on Oct. 25.

"Staff were able to transport the fish back to Maryland and stock them at points along the river from Brunswick upstream to Dam 4.  These sections of the river have experienced low smallmouth bass recruitment due to high spring flows for the past several years."

The fish were brought in from an out-of-state hatchery, which I'm guessing is an answer to a failed attempt earlier this year to get actual Potomac smallmouth to spawn "in-house" (scroll down on that link to the May 20 entry).  Smallmouth bass were originally introduced to the Potomac in the 1800s after being shipped by train from the Ohio River basin, so why not go old-school with non-native fish in an attempt to boost the population?

It will be interesting to see how this impacts fishing in the future.  I've been filling out the Potomac Bass Survey after every trip, so I'm sure they've been gathering data from that survey and other areas to realize catch rates have been low in regard to smallmouth fishing on the Potomac.