Potomac River, Washington Co. MD, 06/16/2015

[3wt7X]

Time Fished: 0500 PM to Dusk

Water Conditions: I don't know the exact CFS, but the river was running about a foot and a half higher than normal summer flows. Clarity was not terrible, but it was mudded up a bit from the recent rain storms. Temps in the low to mid 70s.

Hatches: Not much...suprizingly for the potomac, as it usually is a bug factory. A few dragon flies around, and some sulpher/cahills towards dusk (Light Yellow with a size 14 body).

Tactics: Poppers for a bit, then switched over to a sink tip with various streamers.

Results: Nice time on the water for the first float with the new two man pontoon!!! Fishing was slow, as we moved only three bass between 10-13 inches, a green sunfish, a nice fall fish and a 3 pound channel cat. We saw a couple larger fish busting minnows on the banks, but for some reason we had a slow pick at it. The fish seemed to be holding in deeper 4-6 foot rock structures, and they were not moving far for a fly. The cat was the most aggressive take, as it shot out from under a tree branch and crushed an articulated streamer. All and all a great relaxing evening on one of my favorite local stretches of water.

 

[sarce]

Nice report. I had similar results on Sunday a few miles up from Great Falls. Only one bass hooked (and fortunately landed) in 3 hrs. I also noticed that the water was on the dirty side, about 1.5-2 foot visibility. We've been getting scattered downpours nearly every day and I think it is sending in shots of muddy water from wherever those storms happen to hit on a given day, while many tributaries stay clear. The water temps are also very high, mid 80s at Little Falls. I think those two things combined are keeping the bass from being more aggressive, though I'm not that experienced with smallmouth bass fishing this time of year.

 

[Fishidiot]

Neat report. I'm planning on hitting the "P" this summer.

June is a month that traditionally treats me pretty tough with bass fishing and with all the precip we've had lately, the summer season may come on slowly. Nevertheless, there are a lot of good bass reports from the river coming in lately.

The catties in this river seem to me to be more aggressive than in other rivers. They often hit flies and are fun.

 

[charliepff]

Next time you get down hit me up. I usually use crayfish patterns in the rocks around 4ft deep and do really well. I fish mostly the Shenandoah since it is minutes from my house, but I am only 20 minutes from Dargon and such in Washington County.

 

[3wt7X]

Charlie,
Thanks for the offer and I will take you up on it. Once I get back from Colorado, I will be floating the big P about every week. Such a beautiful river for the bad rep it sometimes gets

 

[charliepff]

The wife and I have caught some really decent fish on it, but, we have also had days were we have gotten nothing except a scenic day on the water with the Labrador. It is sometimes a hard river to read too. You are right, it deserves a better rep then what it has.