Trolling for Bass

[DaveKile]

Just got back from a four day canoe trip down the Potomac just north of Hancock, MD staying along the C&O Canal at night. I was with my son and his scout troop so I did not get a fishing schedule on the agenda like I might have if I was just on my own.

To say I was truly fly fishing most of the time would have been a stretch, but I did catch a lot of smallies just dropping a small white wooley bugger off the back of the canoe attached to my fly rod and real. Pretty fun as I was catching a fish about every 25-50 yards at some points. Only a few were better than 10 inches, but fun none the less. The surprising number of fish was not only entertaining to me, but had all the boys trying to keep up with their spinning gear.

I didn't mean to mislead the boys about the sport, but as I was catching so many fish they all kept asking me about fly fishing. So I ended up sharing some conversation with them about the real virtues and hopefully getting them interested.

Fun time especially with my son.

 

[albatross]

Sounds like a great trip Dave. How did the troop fare with the rain?

 

[Fishidiot]

Dave,
Sounds like a great time - camping and fishing on the Potomac - What could be better?

The water looks to be decent, maybe you beat the heaviest rains.

 

[DaveKile]

The water level was about 18 inches higher than last year and fortunately very clear in much of the river. We got our fair share of rain.

It really poured on Friday from about 8:00AM to about 3:00PM. We were joking as the rain steadily came down harder. We gave it a scale of 1 to 10. I think we agreed we hit 9.5 at one point. We could see a wall of rain coming down the river at us like we were about to ride under a waterfall. I was actually kind of chuckling the whole time as just kept catching bass after bass.

We took a lunch break to get some food and warm up under a tarp. Smart move as there were a few blue lips among the crowd.

We had a nice break Saturday as it was sunny and about 80 some degrees. I spent more time actually fly fishing rather than the trolling. Then again rain Saturday night from 9:30 PM through Sunday morning.

Sunday morning I think everyone was ready to get home and dry off. The boys did a great job. We did this same trip last year of about 38 miles afloat. You certainly need to be a little sturdy as it is not a trip for the meek.

 

[afishinado]

dkile wrote:
To say I was truly fly fishing most of the time would have been a stretch, but I did catch a lot of smallies just dropping a small white wooley bugger off the back of the canoe attached to my fly rod and real. Pretty fun as I was catching a fish about every 25-50 yards at some points. Only a few were better than 10 inches, but fun none the less. The surprising number of fish was not only entertaining to me, but had all the boys trying to keep up with their spinning gear.

Sounds like a great trip Dave.

LOL, when I kayak and fish with my wife, I skillfully work my fly through all the prime spots, and she employs the trolling technique dragging the fly behind the boat. She kicks my butt fishing almost every time! That goes to show how important and effective our fancy casts and fishing techniques are....

Also, catching fish in the wake of the boat sure disproves the belief that kayakers and canoers spook all the fish. One more excuse we can't use to explain why we didn't catch any.