One time for smallmouths

With the weather being unusually warm and seemingly on an upward trend, it seemed like a good time to hit the Potomac River to see if the smallmouth bass were venturing out of their wintering holes.

On Monday, I fished below the Dickerson Substation.  First time here for me.  The internet told me that the power station's discharge is released into the Potomac, which leads to unusually warmer water temperatures this time of year.  I've wanted to hit this spot since the beginning of the year, but the water was always too high according to the gauge readings on americanwhitewater.org.

The water was going back to normal levels, so it seemed like a perfect time to shake off the cabin fever.

Venturing into new territory, I started off near the parking area downriver from the plant and worked my way up along the muddy bank.  The water was really murky -- visibility maybe a foot or two below the surface.  It didn't look very "fishy" at least for smallmouth bass -- no rocks or anything visible below the surface or protruding from the water.  Lots of mud and flat underwater terrain.  Tried plastics and Rapala Shadow Raps and only had one bite (on a Shadow Rap).

As I was leaving, a guy pulled in to the parking area and asked me the usual ("Whatcha fishing for?  Didja catch anything?").  He said the best spot is right at the warm water discharge, and that water holds both smallmouth and largemouth bass.  It was getting dark, and a hike up there didn't seem like a good idea.  Maybe another time.

Got off work a little early on Friday and headed back to the same spot.  This time I walked up to the plant along the C&O Canal Towpath and followed the chainlink fence from the towpath down to the river.  The river here looked like a good spot.  I tossed my thermometer in the water to check the temps -- 60 degrees as opposed to 40 degrees from just down river on Monday.

Unfortunately, there was no action.  Nothing.  Zero.  Zilch.  Everything I had with me was cast out in the water.  No hits or anything.

Nothing.  Zero.  Zilch.

When I got home, a search on the Maryland Angler's Log revealed that, yes, people had reported nice catches of smallmouth and largemouth.  At this time of year, too!  One photo showed a guy holding a 3+ pound smallmouth at the exact same spot where I fished from earlier in the day!

Karen and I had been planning to go camping this weekend at one of the C&O Canal campgrounds, but while the temps were going to be in the 60s, the forecast was calling for rain.  We decided to go fishing and then just stay at her mom's house in Sharpsburg on Saturday night.  I really wanted to go back to Dam 4 to try for some walleye, but a recent post on the bassresource.com forum indicated that it has been pretty crowded.  He called it "opening day of a kid's fishing derby."  Instead, I decided to fish near Antietam Creek because there were a few areas we could easily hit.

We started off where I caught 10 smallmouth bass in about three hours last year.  That day's catch included my biggest smallmouth so far.  The water was fairly clear and just a tick below 50 degrees.  But we had no luck at all.  We moved down to Antietam Creek, the same area I caught eight smallmouth last year over two days.  Again, nothing.

With the sunlight dwindling, we moved further downriver to a natural dam that stretched nearly the entire river.  Fishing once here last year, I had decent success.  This section of the Potomac has a good mix of rocks and deeper pools.  Karen said she was getting some action from nibblers, but I wasn't getting anything in a small pool downriver from the rocks.  I moved up to a spot near her and closer to the shore where the water looked to be deep (by "deep" I mean you couldn't see the bottom ... at least three to four feet).

I mentioned the Rapala Shadow Rap earlier.  Since tying one on last year for the first time, it has been one of my favorite lures.  They've hooked smallmouth, walleye, catfish and failfish.  You can vary the retrieve, and the lure doesn't seem to do the same thing twice.  It suspends in the water and has a nice flash of silver when moving it through the water.

A little chunky, but don't let her hear that.

With the deeper water, I threw out a Shadow Rap.  On the second cast, I got a hit!  Or maybe not?  As soon as I set the hook, it felt like there was a tug at the end of the line.  But then it felt like it got hung up.  Damnit!  I hate when you get that rush of a hit but then it turns out to be a snag.  I tried for 10 to 15 seconds to work the lure free, and it wasn't budging at all.  But finally it got loose.  Started reeling in ... no, wait ... there was a fish on the other end!!  Whatever was on the other end was making a beeline for the shore.  It briefly broke the surface, but I couldn't tell what it was.  It was tugging back pretty good, and then I saw why -- it was a smallmouth.

I landed the fish and unhooked the Shadow Rap.  The smallmouth was surprisingly only 12.5 inches.  It felt a little bigger than that, but I'm sure that has been said so many times after reeling in a smallmouth.

I'm pretty sure the fish got briefly wrapped in a log or something on the bottom, which is why I went from "Oh it's a fish!" to "Oh crap it's a snag!" within a couple seconds.

But that was it for either of us.  Karen said she continued to get nibbles on four-inch plastic worms, but no fish to show for it.

Flood levels at Point of Rocks.

Today after a short trip to Antietam Battlefield, we stopped by Point of Rocks.  I hadn't been there before, and I just wanted to scout it out.  I think this is the closest point of entry to the Potomac from my house.  The river looks really "fishy" in this area with rocks, a couple big islands and the supports for the Route 15 bridge.  Of course I couldn't scout it out without throwing something in the water.  I fished  right under the bridge for about 45 minutes and actually had a fish on.  It looked like a smallmouth, but it somehow didn't manage to stay clamped on any of the two treble hooks on a Shadow Rap.

While the week wasn't very productive, looking back to last year at this time, I didn't catch any fish at all until April (well other than a nice largemouth bass when I was in Florida).  Already, I've landed a handful of walleye and an angry smallmouth.

2015 Year In Review

A look back on this year, I have learned a lot whether hiring a guide or just by absorbing information watching fishing shows on TV or reading forums.  Fishing has replaced (at least temporarily ... maybe?) my hobby of autocrossing, so I dove into it this year.  I have lived near the Potomac River for almost 20 years, but this is the first time I decided to hit the river to try to hook into one of my favorite fish, the smallmouth bass.

14-inch Antietam smallmouth.

At the end of 2014, I caught a handful of smallmouth bass on the Potomac River using a Heddon Zara Puppy.  Other than that, I was pretty clueless on what lures and presentations to use.

In early April, I went out with Jeff Green at Shallow Water Fishing Adventures on the Potomac River.  Looking back, it probably wasn't a good idea because the river was still pretty high and cloudy because of the melting of winter snow.  Karen went, too, but the only fish caught by the three of us was one 10-inch smallmouth.  By me.  But Jeff showed us how to bounce tube baits off the bottom when searching for smallmouth.

A couple weeks later, what I learned paid off as I caught eight smallmouth bass on Antietam Creek, mostly using a tube bait on the bottom.  This was just fishing from shore -- no boat and not even wading.  The biggest was 14 inches with a few other in the 12-inch range.

A few weeks after that, I discovered the Little Patuxent River near my house.  No wasn't the first person to find the river.  It has been there for several years.  But I found that it contained smallmouth bass, too.  And it was by accident that it happened.  The Maryland DNR stocks the river with trout, and that's what I was fishing for when I went to the river armed with Rooster Tails.  I caught three rainbow trout before I caught sub-10-inch smallmouth.  Hmmm, if there are little smallmouth here, then there should be bigger ones, right?

Something bigger on the Little Patuxent -- 15" smallmouth.

I must have hit the river about 10 times over two months and caught a smallmouth bass every time.  I caught a 15-incher near a spot on the river where I parked in a strip mall by the "easy" access point.  Personal best day was catching six, including one measuring 15 inches and another at 12 inches.

From July onward, my only luck was on the Potomac.  The Little Patuxent ran clear, and the water was really shallow in most places.  While I love fishing the Potomac, it's at least an hour drive to the closest spot.

But the drive was worth it most of the time, whether just fishing for a few hours or spending the night on one of the campgrounds along the C&O Canal.

My biggest of the year -- 16 inches.

One Saturday-Sunday camping expedition at Paw Paw, I caught 19 smallmouth.  Then the following week, I caught 10 smallmouth upriver from the Antietam Creek Campground fishing for a few hours.  Of those 10 was my personal best smallmouth-- 16 inches.

I had some luck using Rapala Shadow Raps and various topwaters, but most of the fish were caught using some kind of plastic bait rigged weedless and bouncing it off the bottom.  Three- and four-inch Stik-O Worms from Bass Pro Shops, Gulp! Killer Crawlers, three inch tube baits in varying flavors.

I ended up catching more than 150 fish for the year.  Of those, 106 were smallmouth, and around 30 of them were perch when Karen and I went fishing on Lake Erie.  The rest: 14 sunfish (mostly redbreast sunfish), eight fallfish, five walleye, five rainbow trout, three channel catfish, two largemouth bass (one being about five pounds when I went fishing earlier in the year in Florida) and one crappie.

So it was definitely my most successful year fishing.  Ever.  My previous best was maybe 30 fish when I was a kid living across the street from Hanscom Park in Omaha, Neb.

For this year, while it would be nice to catch more than 150 fish again, I'm going to focus more on finding bigger fish.  While it's fun to catch a lot of fish in the 10-12 range, as I found last night reeling in all those little walleye, it will be more of a challenge to catch bigger fish.  Maybe a 20-inch smallmouth?  Or a big walleye?  Or hooking into an elusive muskie?

A good start to 2016

I figured I wouldn't do much fishing until March or April because of the impending cold weather.  Maybe hit up the Little Patuxent River when the Maryland DNR started stocking trout.  But after catching five walleye on the Potomac River to end last year, my fishing plans for the "offseason" have changed.  While the smallmouth bass are shacked up in deeper pools, the walleye have come out and are thriving in the colder water.

Today I ventured back up to Dam 4 on the Potomac River to target walleye. I tried fishing on New Year's Day in the same area, but the water was way too high and flowing too fast after recent rains.  Normally, the river is just under five feet as measured from a gauge just north in Hancock.  But last week it was just under eight feet!  I didn't even think to check the level of the river before I went out last week. 

This time, I monitored the gauge throughout the week and saw the river level steadily dropped.  There was a call for rain on Saturday, so since I freed myself from work early today, I decided to hit the river again.  As I drove up I-70, the temperature display on the Lightning went from 40 to 34 degrees.  Water temp when I got there was just over 30.

First fish of the year!

And man was the water COLD!  On Christmas Eve, I waded out until the water was just over my knees (wearing non-insulated hip waders).  I could tolerate the cold temperature for 10 to 15 minutes.  Today I tried the same thing and made two casts before heading back to shallower water.  My plan was to fish just below the dam like on Christmas Eve and toss a Rapala Shadow Rap out toward deeper water, but that wasn't happening this time.  (I did order insulated waders using a couple Bass Pro Shops gift cards I got for Christmas, so maybe they will be here next week.)

I wandered down to the same section I caught my first Potomac walleye about a month ago.  Again using the Rapala Shadow Rap, the second cast, I got a hit.  Reeled it in and it was -- go figure -- a walleye!  First fish of the year.  It was about 12 inches, and I unhooked it and let it go.

A few casts later, it felt like I had a hit, but it was a really quick stop and release.  I figured maybe it wasn't a fish but the lure briefly snagging on a rock.

My expert analysis determined that the lure didn't snag a rock:

Scales snagged on hook.

Scales from whatever fish snagged on one of the treble hooks.  Either the fish hit and missed and got the business end of a treble hook, or the Rapala ran into a fish.

After a little while and not much action, I went further down river looking for similar spots -- a slow, deep pool of water bordering a faster channel.  My theory is the fish hang out in the pools and feed on baitfish or whatever meal that gets churned up by the faster water.

There were a couple promising areas, but I didn't get any bites.  I walked along the towpath and saw some deep sections but by this point, the bank was too steep to walk down.  Maybe with those insulated waders I can get in the water further upstream and wade down to those sections?

Further downstream I found a natural dam and a few fields of larger rocks that I definitely want to hit during warmer weather for smallmouth.

By this time it was around 4 p.m., and I turned around to head back to the spot where I caught the first walleye of the day.  Karen gave me a St. Croix fishing rod for Christmas that I was anxious to try out.  It's a lighter weight rod that I want to use for working jigs on the bottom for smallmouth bass.  I lucked into my first Potomac walleye using a Charlie Brewer Spider Jighead with a three-inch Gulp! Killer Crawler, so maybe this would work again.

Yeah, it worked.

Walleye landed on my new St. Croix rod.

The walleye were tearing this up!  One that I caught was 13 inches but most were 12 inches or smaller (mostly smaller), but still fun to catch. One walleye struck the jig just as it hit the water! I finally lost the worm and switched back to the rod with the Shadow Rap, and the walleye tore this up, too!   I counted eight total walleye and even one fallfish, so I was at nine walleye at this point. 

The skies were overcast and getting darker, so I went back up to the dam.  There's a point along the rocky bank below the dam where you can climb down (gingerly!) about 15 feet and get close to the water.  There was slow moving water along the shore that bordered faster water.  It looked like a good spot but I didn't get anything.  No action on the Shadow Rap.  Nothing on the Killer Crawler.

It was now around 5 p.m. and I scrambled back down river to the spot where I had caught all the fish before.  I caught three more walleye -- I think one on the Gulp! Crawler and two on the Shadow Rap -- so that made 12 total for the day plus the one fallfish!  Still nothing with size, but I'm hoping to find some decent fish once I can venture out a little further with the insulated waders.

The fish seemed to respond to really slow presentation.  With the jig, I popped it once on the bottom and let it sit for a few seconds.  Same with the Shadow Rap -- jerked it once, waited for a few seconds then jerked it again.  Most of the hits were really light.  In fact the hardest hit was from the fallfish!

Christmas Eve walleye

Walleye with my 1959 Mitchell 300.

Since the weather had been abnormally warm Christmas week, I thought it would be a great oppurtunity to hit the Potomac River before Karen and I went to her mom's house in Sharpsburg on Christmas Eve.  One more time (again) before the cold weather hits.  Since I caught a walleye two weeks ago below Dam 4, it sounded like a good plan to hit the same spot again.

We got there around 3 p.m., and I made my way down to the water below the dam while Karen went up the C&O Canal trail.  It was overcast with the sun peeking through small pockets, and it was nearly 70 degrees!  On Christmas Eve!  This time, for some reason, I felt the walleye would be biting.

Or not.  Sometimes my gut instinct doesn't pan out.  This time it did.

First walleye, happy it's
too small for Christmas dinner.

I decided to try the secret weapon first since that's what I caught the walleye on last time.  I waded out (later measured the water temperature right at 40 degrees) and fired the jig upriver and ... snagged the lure on the bottom on rocks.  I was about knee deep in water and stood on a "ledge" before the bottom dropped sharply further toward the middle of the river -- probably at least four feet, but I couldn't see the bottom.  Whenever I'm wading, if I can't see the bottom, I don't venture further out.

After snagging the jig, I tied on a silver Rapala Shadow Rap.  I hadn't really used the Shadow Raps since the early summer because I had so much luck fishing the bottom with jigs for smallmouth bass. Plus most sections I have been fishing are fairly shallow where the Shadow Rap might get snagged.  But I had caught a few smallmouth with them (including a 15-incher in the Little Patuxent) as well as a catfish and a few failfish, and I figured they might do the trick enticing a walleye.  Or two.  Or three.  Or four.

I cast upriver and worked the Shadow Rap down like a jerkbait (which is basically what it is).  Jerk-jerk-pause, jerk-jerk-pause. On my second cast, I felt a hit on the other end.  I set the hook and had a fish on!  It didn't feel really big but not small.  Got it within sight and it was a walleye!  Looked to be about 12 inches, maybe a touch bigger.

The first walleye, hooked
with a Shadow Rap.

A few minutes later, I had another strike.  This fish felt a little smaller, but was another walleye -- about 10 inches.  They are really skinny fish compared to bass that are the same length.

I had a couple hits but no fish to show for it after a half hour or so, and I moved down river to the same spot I caught the walleye two weeks ago.

I started off with a Berkley Gulp! Minnow on a weedless jighead and bounced it off the bottom.  No interest after several casts.  I went back to the Shadow Rap for a little while and still nothing.  Finally went back to the secret weapon and had a couple hits in the same exact location but couldn't get the fish to get on the hook.  Probably just nibblers, but at one point I reeled in a jig with a half a worm remaining.

Walleye selfie!

The sun was almost down behind the trees above the dam, so I decided to head back to the spot where I started.  I fished with the secret weapon again with no luck after about 10 casts.  Then it was back to the Shadow Rap, and I had a hit on the first cast.  The fish stayed on, and it was yet another walleye.  This one looked to be the same size as the first one of the day -- another 12 incher (the one pictured at the very beginning with the Mitchell 300 reel).

A little while later, I caught my fourth and final walleye, this one about 10 inches.

The one thing that was interesting about the fish is that they felt cold when handling them out of the water, which shouldn't be surprising.  But after catching smallmouth in the warmer water earlier in the year, it was notable contrast.  The walleye were also pretty active -- fought pretty good and swam away quickly when I put them back in the water.

So after not catching a walleye for more than 20 years, I caught five within two weeks.  While the fish weren't that big, I'm sure there are bigger ones beneath the depths of the Potomac.  Next year, I may start targeting them more at least early in the year when the water is still cold.  Maybe before then, I can wade out a bit further closer to the dam in this area with insulated waders.  With the hip waders I had, I could only tolerate being about knee deep for about 10 minutes at a time because of the 40-degree water.

First Potomac walleye

I just started taking up fishing again late last year after doing it sporadically for the past 20 years. The last time I was semi-serious, I lived in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan when I was in the Air Force. One of my favorite fish along with smallmouth bass is walleye but I have only caught a handful of them and none since at least 1994, my last year in the U.P. I know the Upper Potomac has walleye, but I had yet to catch one since first hitting McCoy's Ferry last October -- and then quite a few more trips on the Upper Potomac between then and now. Granted, I've been fishing primarily for smallmouth, but I figured I would have accidentally caught one.

That finally changed today!

I dropped Karen off so she could do some Kritmas shopping at the little shops in Harpers Ferry and headed up to Dam 4. When I got there, a couple guys were in a boat right below the dam, so I meandered down a little ways to a small pool of still water just off some faster water. I've never caught anything in this spot even though it looks really "fishy." I've always seen some panfish and small largemouth bass in this section but never hooked anything.

I started off using a Berkley minnow underneath a bobber, but really didn't like the action. The fake minnow was just on a hook (didn't have any small jigheads), and it really didn't sink too fast. I was hoping to slowly reel it in but the minnow still trailed close to the surface when doing so. I switched to my "secret weapon" -- a Berkley Gulp! Killer Crawler on a Charlie Brewer Spider Jighead.

Finally, a Potomac River walleye!

First cast, started working the jig s-l-o-w-l-y on the bottom.  Reeled it in maybe 10 feet and felt a tap-tap-tap on the other end.  The "nibbler" panfish like to nip at the tails of the worms and jigs, but this felt ... different.  A couple taps then a bigger tap and I set the hook -- fish on!  I could feel the fish shaking its head as I reeled it in.  Not the behavior of a smallmouth, which seem to just tug back with all their might.  "Not a sunfish, but probably a catfish," I thought.

I reeled some more and finally got a glimpse of it a few feet away from shore.

"A walleye!!"

Looked to be close to 12 inches (keeper size on the Potomac is 15 inches).  I got it out of the water and took a quick picture.  The hook was in the corner of its mouth, so it was easy to remove -- didn't need the pliers to reach past the fish's toothy grin.

And that was it for the day.  Fished for close to two hours and that was the only fish.  I had a couple hits -- one felt pretty good -- but couldn't hook anything else.

Who's your crawdaddy?

Last week I predicted my last smallmouth.  Today I tried to prove that wrong and failed at proving that wrong.  I fished on the Potomac area between Brunswick and Harpers Ferry and didn't catch a thing.  No bites.  No nibbles No thing.

An old structure along the C&O Canal.

The first thing noticeable when wading into the water was that it was colder than last week.  I threw my thermometer into the water for a couple minutes, and it read 50 degrees!  Eight degrees lower than last week.

Last time I was here, I caught one smallmouth and a catfish.  This time I started further downriver, and I think the river was just too fast this time of year.  At least for smallmouth.  Cold, fast flowing water over rapids.  Lots of small pockets of slow water, but I think with the temperature swing in the water, the fish are tough to come by.  Next year, though, this might be my "go to" spot on the Potomac.  The river is really wide here, and there are a ton of different, challenging areas with big rocks and slow pools.

When I decided to call it quits, wading back upriver, I stumbled (almost literally) on this crayfish:

Potomac crayfish

I thought it was dead and poked it with the end of my rod, but it maneuvered away slightly -- didn't run away.  Chill-laxing in the shallow water looking for little bits of stuff to eat, safely away from any predatory smallmouth. This thing was 4- to 5-inches long, so most of the smallmouth probably wouldn't attempt to eat it!

The most noticeable thing was the coloration.  Brown with some orange, a lot like some of the tube baits I used earlier in the day.  Also, the color was very camouflaged to the color of the rocks on the bottom.

Note: Come back here next year, throw tube baits similar in color to the rocky bottom.

Stay tuned for my year in review!

The last smallmouth?

The colors are a changing.

With the temperatures going down, I have to wonder with each fishing trip if it will be my last until winter comes and goes, and the temperatures start to go back up next year.  I went to the Little Patuxent River last week and caught one failfish, and no smallmouth.  This weekend, the temperatures were higher than normal, and I decided to hit the Potomac River near Antietam Creek where I caught 10 smallmouth in a few hours in July.

I got there around 11 a.m. with air temps just above 50.  I checked the water temp, and it was around 58.  I figured with my non-insulated waders I would be freezing, but it wasn't that bad.  If I was in a deeper section for awhile, I'd wade back to a shallower section to warm up.

I started off with a topwater and didn't get any action.  Earlier in the year, I had a ton of action in this same area on some topwater lures, and I always hope to duplicate the frenzy of smallmouth bass hitting bait on the surface. But nothing.

This area where I was in is a plateau of a rock formation (very few loose rocks).  It's only a couple feet deep and then it gets deeper when you step off the plateau.  You can't see anything from shore but it's very noticeable when wading out.  When I fished the area in April when the water was more stained, I thought it was much deeper.

14.5" smallmouth on the secret weapon

After nothing with the topwater lure, I decided to try the "secret weapon" -- three inch Berkley Gulp! Killer Crawler worms on a slider jighead.  These always seem to be good at finding fish, no matter the size.  If I find "nibbler" sunfish, I move on.  But those same small worms that attract small sunfish also catch smallmouth.  If they're out there.

After about 20 minutes and no action, I finally felt a tap on the other end of the line.  It felt like a nibbler but when I tugged on the rod, it felt like something was pulling back.  I set the hook and there WAS something on the end of the line!  The line as it entered the water started moving upriver and I pulled back -- it was a decent fish, better than 12 inches.  The fish tried to jump a few times, but I kept things under control (while it's awesome to see a smallmouth leap out of the water, that's when they also shake free from the hook).

After about a minute, I landed the fish -- easily 14 inches, maybe 15 ... and pretty chunky.  Also, very nice coloration, with the dark brown splotches on the side and "war paint" pattern on the face.  Most of the fish I've caught this year are more of a plain brown/gold/white pattern laterally down the side.

A nice fish ... for a fallfish.

A few casts later, I snagged a huge leaf on the bottom.  It felt like there was a fish on the other end for a brief second but realized it wasn't a fish (tree limb or weed or leaf).

Why is this significant?  Because few minutes later, the same thing happened.  Felt like a snag, started reeling and reeling ... but hey, it was a fish!  But not a smallmouth.  Or even a catfish.  A failfish.  Although it was probably the biggest failfish I've caught this year, easily the same length of the smallmouth pulled out of the water about five minutes before.  But man, it didn't fight at all.

After an hour or so with no bites, it was time to move on.  I could see exposed rocks protruding from the water about a quarter mile upriver and decided to bike up the C&O Canal Trail to see if there was an easy access point.  I found a spot where I could easily get to the river, looked out on the water and saw nothing but fast water over shallow rocks and rock formations.  It looked like a really nice spot, but I didn't think the faster water would be ideal this time of year with the colder water.  I figured targeting the runs after the rocks and the pools of slow/slack water bordering the faster water might get something.

Started off at the edge of the faster water and didn't get anything.  Moved down some made some casts and nothing.  Moved down some and got a hit.  It fought back like a smallmouth but didn't feel like the same size as the first one from further down river.  Got it closer and it looked to be about 12 inches, and he was angry!  He had been tricked by the secret weapon Killer Crawler!

Angry Potomac smallmouth bass.

It was smaller than the first smallmouth, but I really liked the color on this one.  The dark splotches on the body were darker, as was the "war paint" around the eyes.

I didn't bring a tape measure so did a comparison to the size of the fish on the end of my fishing rod and noted where each fish sized up.  When I got home, I measured the first fish as 14.5 inches, and the second one as 11.5.  How long was the failfish?  Didn't care so I didn't measure it.

The two smallmouth hit like the smallmouth I caught earlier in the year.  Very light taps on the worm, while during the heat of the summer, the fish really attacked similar jigs presented the same way bouncing off the bottom.

If the weather stays like this for the next week or so, the Potomac might be worth a shot again.  Otherwise, I don't think I'll be fishing for smallmouth again.  The Little Patuxent River has been stocked with trout already, so I might try that with Rooster Tails.  Which actually provides an opportunity to accidentally catch smallmouth.

I'm talkin' about perch! Perch, perch, perch!

Karen and I went to the Sandusky, Ohio, area to try fishing on Lake Erie last weekend.  She made all the arrangements (it was her idea) after I found a charter service that would do smallmouth and walleye fishing on one trip.  After thistrip  I figured out there was difference between "charter" and "guide" services.  Charter = get as many fish in the boat as you can.  This time of year on Lake Erie, yellow perch are the easiest to catch.

Karen with the only walleye on the trip.

We showed up at the marina at 7 a.m. in the ominous shadow of the nuclear power plant.
Our friend Jay, who we know through autocrossing, was supposed to meet us.  We were waiting around for a little while and I heard the distinctive sound of a Subaru.  Had to be Jay.  He drove around aimlessly like we did and finally found us.

The boat captain said we were going to wait a little while before heading out because the water was too choppy.  Weird because the water in the marina was dead calm.  We would found out later about the condition of the water.

Eventually we got the nod to head out.  We loaded up our stuff and found a seat in the boat as the boat motored out of the marina.  It was fairly narrow with houses on each side, each house having a boat dock.  All of a sudden we reached "the end."  Two towers of rock marked the entrance to Lake Erie, and it was remarkably different than the calm of the boat docks.  Waves three- to four-feet high were crashing on the rock wall.  Small white caps everywhere on the open water.  The boat captain said we were going to head out eight miles into this stuff!

Crash, bang, holding on to the boat with a death grip.  I've been out on the Chesapeake Bay a few times, and it was NOTHING like this.  Capt. Tom seemed calm.  Although when he lit up a cigarette at one point, I wasn't sure if it was from habit or the end was nigh!

Finally we stopped and Capt. Tom threw out the anchor.  The seas were angry my friend!  It's all I could do to rig up bait (minnows) and grab the side of the boat with a death grip to throw the bait out.

About the rigs: spinning rods and reels, braided line connected to a fairly heavy weight with a rig with two hooks.  Both hooks with dead minnows.  We were in a flat area in 30 feet of water, and there was no casting or finesse.  Just drop the rigs over the side of the boat until they hit bottom.  Capt. Tom initially told me to keep everything hovering just above the bottom, but Karen and Jay started catching fish here and there.  Karen caught the first fish, a white perch.  Then she caught a walleye that measured 15-1/4", just over the legal limit.

After almost two hours, I didn't even have a bite.  I'd reel my minnows up, all still intact.  Did this several times.  Then Capt. Tom told me to drop the rig to the bottom and keep tension on the line, then gently lift the rig up about a foot and let it back down.

Jay with a double.

And the bite was on!  All of a sudden, I started catching fish as did everyone else!  We all had several "doubles" with a perch on each of the two hooks.  I would say from around 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the fishing was great.  We finally limited out with 25 fish per person (4+25=100) in the boat.  That's not counting the smaller ones we threw back, so I would guesstimate almost 40 perch reeled in per person.

When we got back to the dock, all our fish where golf-carted away to be cleaned.  Although it was $50 for ALL the fish, I would gladly pay for that again considering I wasn't looking forward to getting home Sunday night and cleaning 50 little panfish.

All told, it was fun but I don't think I would go out with a "charter" again to catch yellow perch.  I really, really, really want to go back to Lake Erie and target big smallmouth or walleye.

The last big fish, a 10-inch perch.

Back to the Little Patuxent

I've had one trip to the Patapsco River and another to the Juniata River in the past month and didn't catch a thing.  Nothing.  Lots of action from "nibblers," my word for small sunfish.  On worms and jigs, they grab the end of the lure but not the hook and take off with it.  And then drop it or it comes out of their mouth when I set the hook.

On Wednesday I decided to hit the Little Patuxent River behind Walking Fish Pond in Crofton.  This is the same area I went to at the end of May and caught a 15-inch smallmouth, catfish and failfish on a Rapala Shadow Rap, but it's the first time I had been back.  The river looked pretty much the same although a couple of downed trees -- where I had a few strikes from ambushing smallmouth -- had been washed away.

After going to Bass Pro Shops and listening to a guy talk about smallmouth at the usual 11 a.m. feeding time in their tank, I picked up a pack of pumpkin pepper chartreuse tubes and decided to try them.  Lots of action on them, but again, mostly from nibblers.  I had one nibbler chase it all the way as I reeled it in, grab it right at my feet (wading in about two feet of water) and try to take off with it.  Too funny.

Down river from "rip rap."

After a couple hours in various spots and not catching anything -- nothing on the tube, and nothing on various straight worms -- I went back upriver to where I started and waded out to a sandbar.  Made some casts and got nibblers.  I decided to switch to the Berkley Gulp! worms I had good success with last month on the Potomac below Dam 4. 

This section of the river definitely feels "fishy."  Fast flowing water over rip-rap, a nice pool of water after that and into downed trees.  I'm really surprised I didn't light things up.  But anyway ...

After a couple casts, I was surprised by an actual hit that didn't feel like a nibbler.  Set the hook and started reeling the fish in, and it jumped!  The sun was in my eyes and I couldn't tell what it was.  Probably a smallmouth?  Another jump!  And when I finally got the fish at my feet ... it was a smallmouth!  Albeit the high end of an "8-10" fish.  But, hey, it was my first fish in three weeks.

A smallmouth on the high end of the "8-10" scale.

I fished a little while longer but didn't get anything else.

I don't want to jinx anything and have bad weather roll in, but Karen and I are going some place next weekend outside of Maryland that has big smallmouth but is perhaps known more for walleye.  Hopefully bad/marginal weather stays away!

Rocks and a hard place

I tried the Taylor's Landing section of the Potomac River today.  Another new spot for me, the next access point down river from Dam 4.  Karen actually wanted to go fishing again, so we headed out and got there around 8:45 a.m.

The site has two boat ramps, one above a natural dam and another below it.  I decided to try upriver from the dam.  For some dam reason.  I started off with a Confidence Baits Battle Stance Craws on one of their Draggin' Head jig heads.  Just got the rubber "battle craws" earlier in the week, so I wanted to fling them around a little bit. Karen was using straight worms in some flavor.

Looking for the school in hard rocks.

When we showed up, there was a guy in a kayak on the boat ramp.  Karen and I walked by and found a spot about 50 yards upriver from the ramp.  I've been thinking about getting a kayak or maybe a small boat, and if/when I do, when I get in the water, I'm going to go as far away from people as soon as I get in the water.

Not this guy.

He paddled up and parked his dumbass maybe 40 feet in front of where Karen was fishing.  I had waded to a section a bit further upriver and watched this dumbass sit there and cuss while he was fiddling with one of his rods.  It's a good thing I wasn't trying to fish where Karen was because I would have started to plink lures off the side of his kayak.  Finally he moved a bit further out toward the middle of the river.

Anyway, back to fishing.  This section was very flat and didn't have a lot of features except weeds.  I didn't get any interest in the battle craw so I switched over to a three-inch green Stik-O worm on a weedless jighead.  Same thing I used on Friday down in the Edward's Ferry area.  I waded out into a field of weeds and actually saw something I had yet to see on the Potomac -- a largemouth bass!  It was just lurking among the weeds, and it was pretty small.  I know they are on the river, but I had yet to catch one, let alone see one.  I think they like the slower water (like this section with all the weeds) and the smallmouth hang out in faster water, behind rocks or in/near pools next to faster water.

Karen's fish.

I didn't have any luck at all with anything.  Karen, too, and she decided to head down below the natural dam.  I went down there, too, and realized as soon as we got there that this is where we should have started from in the first place.  Two-plus hours later.  There were more rocks, and natural rock trenches stretching across the river in this section.

After using the green three-inch worm for a little while, I decided to switch to a four-inch Stik-O worm in the red shad color on a weedless jighead.  The green worm seemed to blend into the surroundings, so I figured the red in the bigger worm would be more enticing.  No luck after several casts but then reeling the worm back after a cast, I had tension on the line and noticed the line moving UP the river.  I waited a couple seconds and set the hook ... nothing.  I let the jig sit on the bottom for a few seconds, and the fish didn't come back for it.

I cast beyond that spot and worked the jig back and ... the same thing!  My line moved upriver again.  I waited a few seconds, set the hook and the fish was hooked this time.  However, it felt small ... and it was small.  But at least it was a smallmouth bass, around eight inches.

Ten minutes latter, Karen yelled that she had a fish!  She got it on a purple Stik-O worm, and it looked to be around 11 inches and bigger than the two she caught a couple weeks ago below Dam 4.  At least neither of us was getting skunked this trip.

Smallmouth ambush spot.

I moved down river a bit and saw a big, square rock just below the surface.  It looked like a good place to fish from, so I waded out and stood on top of the rock.

I made a cast out and noticed a smallmouth bass swim away.

From the rock.

I was standing on.

Usually I cast out to the area I'm going to wade in but FAILED to do so this time.  It was a nice fish, easily legal size and maybe in the 14- to 15-inch range.

I snagged four or five Stik-O worms in this area, had one hit and nothing hooked.  After losing a lure on the first cast with a new lure, I decided to call it quits.  It was around noon, and for whatever reason, I don't catch anything around this time.