Welcome back smallmouth

A monster 12-inch Potomac smallmouth bass!

Yeah it's been awhile. I haven't posted much here mainly because I've been trying to create content for this other blog. That and I haven't caught a single fish this year. I've been out three or four times and haven't landed a single thing. A couple times, I didn't even get a bite.

Plus the weather hasn't been cooperating on days I wanted to hit a river. Either the water was too high due to rain, or the temperature was too hot.

Finally this weekend, that all changed.

Karen and I camped at our go-to spot on the Potomac River (although not at the go-to camp site -- we settled for the one next to it).

Friday night fishing for a couple hours, I caught three smallmouth with the biggest being about 12 inches. Ned Rigs (TRD Finesse Worms) and Reaction Innovations Little Dippers worked tossing them in current.

First fish of 2025, a dink smallmouth. But it did all the smallmouth things -- jumping and getting into the current pretending it was a bigger fish.

The river was about two feet higher than normal, which wasn't terrible. This area of the river has what I call "trenches" that are good ambush spots. This time of year, I don't think the smallmouth are holed up in one area -- I think they travel around to find cooler water and baitfish.

Anyway, every fish did the typical smallmouth things -- jumping like an ICBM missile trying to get free. I had one really hard hit on a Little Dipper Friday night that felt like a really good fish, but I didn't even see it. It smashed the swimbait about 10 feet in front of me, tugged hard twice when I pulled back on the rod, and then it was gone. It was probably a catfish.

First fish from Saturday morning.

Here's a video releasing a couple of them. They disappear with a quickness!

Six in one, half dozen in the other

Loved watching people fishing up ahead of this ripple, and they weren't catching a thing.

This is a late writeup from fishing a couple weeks ago, but as they say, better late than never!

I mainly write this stuff so I can keep track of my fishing prowess not to generate single digits of views!

Anyway, Karen and I returned to 15 Mile Creek Campground. Last time I had some luck near the boat ramp, which had not really happened before.

First fish of the weekend, and they were all this size.

My preferred spot is tough to get through either by wading or venturing through thick vegetation (usually easier early or later in the year), so I decided to try again.

Also, I was pretty sure I saw a small muskie last time, so you never know.

I caught six fish over a couple hours each day, and every fish was about the same size -- around 10 inches -- and caught on Reaction Innovations Little Dippers. I should have taken a picture of every fish to see if I tricked the same one twice, that's how alike they were.

One from Sunday morning that may or may not have been caught before.

I cast the lure out and let it drift in the current, which was rolling pretty good. It was really shallow, but the speed kept the lures from snagging -- I don't think I lost a single one.

Sunset on the Potomac.

Sweaty smallmouth: Beating the heat on the Potomac

This rocky area was teeming with life. Crayfish, clams and toe-nibbling baitfish.

On a rare two-night camping trip along the Potomac River over the weekend, I caught five smallmouth bass on a Zoom Swimmin Super Fluke Jr., and one on a Z-Man Finesse TRD worm. I did not land a single fish on a topwater lure despite it seeming like ideal topwater conditions.

So what am I absolutely tying on a rod on my next river fishing adventure?

A topwater lure!

Despite the miserably hot weather, Karen and I camped over the weekend along the Potomac River at one of the Chesapeake and Ohio National Historical Park sites. I fished for eight to nine hours over that time, and Karen even tossed a line in the river for a few hours.

The first fish of the weekend caught on a Z-Man worm.

There was about an hour on Saturday morning where the smallmouth bass were in a frenzy over the ol' Heddon Zara Puppy. Two fish hooked and at least eight blowups.

But I didn't land a single fish. Billy Westmoreland titled his book on smallmouth bass "Them Ol' Brown Fish." I've called them the Roy Jones Jr. of fish. I've also called them the Houdini fish because they can magically escape tough situations.

It's frustrating to a point but still topwater action is still heart stopping and adrenaline pumping all at the same time!

The best stretch of actually catching fish was Saturday afternoon. I figured the fish might feel like I felt and wanted to hang out in the shade. So I waded near the bank and cast toward the edge of the shadows of the trees. The Super Fluke Jr. was the ticket -- landing four fish, albeit only one was in the 12-inch range.

First fish from Saturday after the morning topwater frenzy.

Sunday morning, hoping to duplicate the feeling from the morning before, only one fish sniffed the Zara Puppy, and I managed to land one leaping 10-incher on the Zoom swimbait.

It's weird how that works. The topwater lure brings the most excitement, and the other fish I actually caught are almost forgettable.

It was mostly sunny all weekend with a few patches of puffy clouds. Temps were 95-plus, and water was a tick over 80 degrees.

Next up is likely fishing again with Rainydaze Guide Service. I might sneak in something locally between now and then. But the sister site will have more updates with autocrosses over the next three weekends, punctuated by the UMI Autocross Challenge July 25 to 27.

Sunset on the Potomac River.

The campfire looked like the eyes of a monster trying to rise from the ground.

Karen's first fish from the weekend, caught on a Whopper Plopper.

This was clinging to my hat on Saturday morning -- a grapevine beetle. I named it Paul. It clung to the hat after I put it on and then fled somewhere along the line.

This however wasn't allowed to flee. It's an invasive spotted lantern fly, and we killed a dozen or so this weekend.

No shutout on Super Bowl Sunday!

Smallmouth No. 2 for 2024 caught on a Z-Man Finesse TRD worm.

Karen and I went camping for her birthday this weekend, and I managed to catch one smallmouth bass -- about 12 inches. Got it this morning just behind our campsite on a Z-Man Finesse TRD worm bouncing it on the bottom.

Skies were overcast, and it in fact started to rain lightly before I caught the fish. The water temp was around 50, and the Shepardstown gauge was just under four feet.

I tried a swimbait, too, with no luck. I think I might have had a sunfish nibble, so other than that, the smallmouth bass was the only action of the day.

I fished a little last night but we got to the campground just after the sun had gone down. I can barely see anything in daylight, so I only fished for 10 to 15 minutes.

Looking back on my blog posts (other than for the tens of viewers, I write stuff so I can remember shit), the earliest smallmouth bass I've caught looks like Feb. 25 back in 2017. And this year, I've already caught two. The smallmouth action usually doesn't start until late March.

Here's a short video I captured using my Olympus Tough TG-6 while releasing the fish:

Mr. Whiskers returns and you will never guess what happened to him

"oh hai! my name iz mr wiskers!"

Sitting by the campfire on Saturday night at along Potomac River, Karen said, "You haven't caught a catfish in awhile."

Pondering that for a bit, I couldn't remember the last time Mr. Whiskers found me. Probably our 2020 road trip where we fished Lewis and Clark Lake (Missouri River) on the Nebraska-South Dakota border. (I don't write this blog for its tens of views -- I write it so I can "remember" stuff like this.)

This is foreshadowing.

Sunday morning, waking bright and early, ambling down from our campsite to wade in the Potomac River, before I even stepped foot in the water, I spotted a wee catfish cruising around a rock.

More foreshadowing.

After about 45 minutes casting a Cabela's swimbait and a River2Sea Whopper Plopper, I didn't have a bite. But my persistence rewarded me with a hard strike after firing the swimbait toward a dark formation of submerged rocks in the middle of the river. This was an actual smallmouth bass that looked to be around 12 inches.

Smallmouth bass clearing the area before Mr. Whiskers showed up.

With only one other bite the entire time, I glanced at the fish watch and saw it had been almost two hours since dipping my toes in the river. Figuring maybe only another five or 10 minutes before heading back to the campsite, I made a few more casts. Again making long casts with the swimbait near the middle of the river, something grabbed on. The fish wallowed on the surface, and I could see that distinctive dorsal fin -- catfish.

It was a good "eatin' size" so I decided to do just that -- keep it for fileting! Catfish is among my favorite freshwater fish to eat. Walleye > perch > catfish. Although I haven't had crappie or sunfish for a long, long time.

This was also in the general area where a catfish stole a Whopper Plopper a few years ago. Who needs chicken livers when you can use swimbaits and topwater lures?!

That catfish and the smallmouth weren't the only fish I caught over the weekend. 

After arriving at the campsite on Saturday, I went upriver and caught a 12-inch smallmouth on the same flavor of Cabela's swimbait that would land Mr. Whiskers and another 12-inch smallmouth the next day. However, a smallmouth that was around 16 inches missed a picture-taking opportunity when the line snapped just as I was about ready to "lip" the fish. The fish put up a good tussle and had briefly burrowed into the rocky bottom, and the line frayed at the knot. "Snap!" and the fish was gone.

First fish of the weekend, a 12-inch smallmouth bass.

I also had a few more misses Saturday, but those fish merely unhooked themselves.

The Whopper Plopper yielded a couple blowups (which I think was the same fish) Saturday at dusk. My gut told me topwaters would be killing it since the river was so low and clear, but the fish thought otherwise.

Next up is our annual roadtrip with a date set again with RainyDaze Guide Service on Rainy Lake bordering Minnesota and Canada. We fished with them first in 2019 and then again in 2021. They have been posting pictures on their Facebook page of beast walleye and northern pike, so hopefully there are some left when we get there!

Bonus content:

Nah, you guys can have that spot.

Mr. Whiskers was rewarded as dinner.

Sunrise on the Potomac.