02-12-07, 08:40 PM | #1 |
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Potomac River
Hey guys,
Does anyone have any tips on this place? I HOPEFULLY can go down there for my tournament, through my club in the spring. Gotta convince the parents first. I really want to go in the worst way. Anyways we are going out of smallwood. I will be going as a rider, as my baot doesnt have enough HP. Anyt ips on rod selection, tackle choice, etc? It will be a spawn/post spawn event I think. Thanks in advance, Nick
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02-12-07, 08:58 PM | #2 |
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nick
i know of ONE person you could ask.. a person who fishes the mighty potomic a LOT.. a person who is a very member here.. maybe you have heard of him... names KEVIN... site admin.. zooker
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02-13-07, 12:51 AM | #3 |
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Zook, thanks for the tip...I need to contact him and get some of his secrets!!!! Here I thought you were talking about Capt. Mike or Hef or myself.
In order to help you PB we'd need to know when you are coming down, what lures you prefer to fish, what your strengths are, etc. Spinnerbaits, shallow running crankbaits (4-6'), jnp, creature baits, 4-6" worms, and senko's all work well. Key to fishing the Potomac is understanding tidal water and how fish relate to the changes in tide. Most people who have fished streams and rivers understand current and can fish outgoing tide but are unsure of what to do during slack tides or incoming tide. You also have a lot of different cover. Milfoil and hydrilla are just two of the many types of grass. Spatterdock and other pads exist. Creek channels, ditches, and flats all have rock, wood, and man made cover like old sunken barges and dock pilings. |
02-13-07, 10:58 AM | #4 | |
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When is your tourny? And where do you launch from? I will put together a plan for you. You may use it if you like it or not.. But you will have five in the live well/released recorded upon weigh-in.. I would be glad to help.. Capt Mike
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02-13-07, 01:07 PM | #5 |
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Hey guys, as Zook mentioned, I've been fishing the Potomac for a long time, so I hope my tips and suggestions will help you out on your trip up here in spring (Spring by the way is the best season on the Potomac).
The first thing you need to know about the Potomac is that it is almost entirely a "spot" fishery. This is rather unfortunate, because it places a large disadvantage on the anglers who are not familiar with the river. I think many anglers who are new to fishing the Potomac try too hard to "figure it out" and put together some form of pattern that they can replicate in different areas. The Potomac isn't kind when it comes to providing clues. You should think of the Potomac more as a "take it when you can get it" type river. As 3dkicker mentioned, the tides play a major role in where the fish are positioned, and more importantly, when they decide to feed. It would be hard to argue that the last two hours of outgoing tide and the first two hours of incoming tide isn't the best time to target. But I have never liked targeting certain stages of the tides, because I believe that can be a dangerous game - placing your entire strategy in the hands of the tides. Just fish more aggressively during the low water periods, with the trolling motor running a bit faster than during the high water tide periods. Forget the "chase the tide" motto. As a newcomer to the Potomac, competing in a tournament, I believe taking the "take it when you can get it" approach to understanding the River can be your best strategy. Though it does sound a bit hopeless, what this strategy does is not keep you guessing throughout the entire day, and keeps your game plan much more steady and "ready" (the important word here) for when the Potomac bass come to life and begin their feeding. The Pro's on the B.A.S.S. Tour know this as well and from my observations, this is the strategy of choice. Even though their knowledge of the river rivals that of many hardcore locals, they understand that Potomac River bass are extremely hard to pattern, and it is best to rather succumb to that notion, pick a stretch of water they feel holds a good population of big fish, and stick with it throughout the entire tournament. I know, when people hear "stretch of water", sometimes that can mean an entire side of a creek or a 3/4 mile of shoreline. On the Potomac, a stretch of water, more often than not, means a couple hundred yards of water, sometimes even less. As an example, this past year I was out on the Potomac during the Bassmaster Elite tournament, and almost all the anglers were in Mattawoman Creek (the creek Smallwood launch site is in), and each had a 100 or so yard stretch of water that they called their home, and fished it all day long. They go hours without a bite, then, without notice, in 15 minutes they have their limit. Then for the rest of the day, they may catch one or two more. The action is anything but steady. Those 15 minutes can sometimes mean a 20+ lb limit. All this from that 100 or so yard stretch of water. Talk about a boring strategy, but it works. Luckily your tournament is going to be in the Spring, and on the Potomac, that lends itself to much more forgiving circumstances. Spawn occurs very late on the Potomac, usually in the 70 degree mark, but I believe bass spawn there throughout most of the first half of the year. But the most concentrations of spawning fish will occur in mid-May to early June (depending on the water temperature). If the first hour and a half of the tournament suggests that the fish are actively feeding and spread out, then by all means, cover as much water as possible and fish to that notion. On the other hand, if the first hour and a half of the tournament suggests that fishing may be very tough, pick an area, hunker down, and start picking it apart. Without a solid understanding of all the spots on the Potomac, a run and gun strategy leaves you much more in the hands of chance. For the most part, the Potomac has a familiar look and feel whether you run 15 miles north or south in either direction. Trying to determine what spots are "good" or "bad" in 8 hrs of tournament competition is somewhat like rolling dice, if you stumble across one of the "good" areas, you may hit it right and catch a limit, but if you waste half your day fishing "bad" spots, you're not doing yourself any good. So what makes a good spot "good"? Well, for the spring, you are looking for short grass growth on flats, with nearby hard, and preferably gravel bottoms. The reason hard, gravel bottoms are so important, is because that is where the tiny snails congregate at this time of the year. Have you ever fished a pond that had nothing but nasty muck on the bottom, and every cast you made came back with that same muck all over the hooks? Well, you want that to happen on the Potomac in the spring, but instead of it being muck, you want it to be snails. To many of you, this may sound crazy, but you want your treble hooks to be plucking snails the whole way back to the boat. The fish that feed on these snails are the same fish the bass chase on these hard bottomed flats. Add to this combination a healthy short-grass growth, and you have yourself a good spot to cover in spring. Prime springtime lures on the Potomac include lipless crankbaits (red), senkos (they work ANYTIME of the year), small shallow-medium diving crankbaits, jerkbaits and swimming jigs. I have to admit, however, that in the past couple years, you'd be hard pressed to pry the red lipless crankbait out of my hand in the springtime. Let me give you some spots you should consider for your tournament. Mattawoman Creek (the creek you launch from at Smallwood), is undoubtedly one of the best creeks on the entire river. There aren't many bad spots in this creek. It is loaded with forage and the population of bass here is tremendous. Check out "Marsh Island" (directly across from the launch site) within Mattawoman. I do very good here, and is a great springtime spot. You will see a lot of people fishing this area, but most of the time they fish towards the bank. Get away from the bank and position yourself out in the open water near the island. It should be 2-3 ft deep depending on the water level. Cast those spring baits in every direction and cover the entire flat. I can't stress this enough, stay off the bank! Way off the bank! You will have short grass all over to cover. Make long casts with a 7'-7.5' rod, and retrieve your lipless crankbait over the top of the grass with your rod as high as you can hold it. You will get tired out quick, but it is what you have to do to keep it from getting covered with the soft mucky grass. Outside of Mattawoman, head North about 8-10 miles to a spot on the map called 'Greenway Flats'. This is a little secret spot of mine, mostly because I rarely see other anglers fish it - in fact, I fished it all last year and didn't see one angler fishing it with me, so to my knowledge it gets no pressure at all. I don't know why though, because I do very good here, and it has some of the largest bass on the Potomac. And remember the "snails" strategy? This place is prime. Again, stay off the bank a bit (1.5 - 2 casts). I hope I didn't let too much of the cat out the bag. If you want to take a nice boat ride during the tournament, you can head North about 15 miles to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge (the start of Wash D.C.). You will need a DC license to fish inside DC, but check on a map an area called the "Spoils". This is without a doubt on of the most heavily pressured areas on the Potomac, especially in Spring.. but as you can guess, it is because it is a good spot. The shoreline that is just south of the southern point of the Spoils is a good early spring area because of its proximity to deep water and tons of bottom cover and old debris from construction. Inside the Spoils, you have a lot of varying cover that you can attack with just about any technique you wish. I used to fish the Spoils, Fox Ferry Pt., and surrounding area a lot in years past, but it hasn't produced as well for me and I have found much better areas for consistency. But this place is tried and true and worth a look. Note- I still wouldn't spend a whole tournament day in the spoils though. You most likely will be fishing with a lot of other boats. And be very careful boating in this area. This has got to be one of the most dangerous areas for boating in all of the country, because of the lack of proper cautions and markings. For the love of god, don't head north of the spoils under power without consulting a good map. Fox Ferry Pt. is one nasty obstacle if you don't know it exists. I've been fishing and navigating fox ferry for my entire Potomac fishing life, and it still scares me. I spend a lot of time way up in DC too. I really like the scenery, for some reason it is more fun to me, and things like watching the big jets fly in over your head still excite me. For those of you who are interested in where some great bass fishing is in the upper DC stretches, Pentagon Lagoon is a great spot I frequent, along with Washington Channel and the concrete wall at the Kennedy Center (can catch smallies here as well). These areas are certainly fun and worth fishing, but I wouldn't recommend wasting your time running all the way up here for a tournament from Smallwood. For the average springtime tournament, you're going to need at least 20 lbs to win. Regularly, 22-23 lb 5-fish team limits fall short of first place. A small club tournament might see a first place around 13-15 lbs. So just prepare your mind for those kinds of weights. I hope I've started you off in the right direction as far as how to approach the Potomac for the first time. I truly believe the Potomac is an extremely unique fishery, and one that warrants an almost entirely different mindset and strategy as an angler compared to other rivers in the US. Knowing all the spots is a great advantage, but with the strategies I have mentioned, I believe you can even the playing field and put yourself in a much better position to compete with even the best of locals. Be sure to let us know how you make out. Good luck, take care and good fishin' Kevin
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02-13-07, 04:47 PM | #6 | |
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Kevin, Thanks so much. As well as everyone else. I will be going as a rider, If I go. So rod choice would be prime. If I go as a boater, I will only have my 9.9, so long runs will be out of the question If I take my boat. I wont be able to pre fish so as a a rider im at the hands of the boater, or by myself with my boat im stuck to mattawoman. Kevin I really appreciate the in depth post. Thanks!
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April 28 is the Tourny.
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02-13-07, 06:50 PM | #7 | |
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Lizards
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02-13-07, 06:57 PM | #8 |
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Crap! Crap! Crap! I cant make the tournament! But I will go downin the summer with my boat, and fish near mattawoman
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02-14-07, 04:30 PM | #9 | |
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Kevin - Fishing the "flats" !!!! I'll keep it quiet I saw a few boats out there last year but not many. I'm surprised myself that it hasn't been fished hard over the past couple years. I guess they're all up around the corner fishing Bryan's. It's amazing the way the river changes and new areas become old and old areas are new. I wonder what section of the river will be "in" this year. PB - That 9.9 will get you to Marsh Island or into the no wake zone. Talk to Capt Mike about fishing the pad fields during the summer months and don't forget to bring a push pole!!!!! Lizard - I believe you'd go anywhere as long as there is a chance that they're biting! Last edited by 3dkicker; 02-14-07 at 04:39 PM. |
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02-14-07, 04:38 PM | #10 |
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How far do you think it is safe to run on the 9.9? How big is mattawoman
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02-14-07, 04:58 PM | #11 |
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Compared to most creeks Mattawoman is a big creek for the Potomac. The no-wake zone, 6 mph zone, is only 2 minutes up stream from Smallwood in a regular bass boat. Smallwood has a small no-wake zone surrounding it too. You won't want to run out on the main river with the 9.9. You can get 3-4' swells on the river. Mattawoman is protected from North and West winds.
April 28th you'll find pre-spawn conditions on the river and water temps from 45 to 60 degrees. Check out http://home.earthlink.net/~smithdavidl/ I've posted some reports on the river over the past couple years. Last edited by 3dkicker; 02-14-07 at 05:07 PM. |
02-14-07, 05:22 PM | #12 |
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thanks man!
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02-14-07, 06:57 PM | #13 |
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see told ya...
zooker
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02-14-07, 07:10 PM | #14 |
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Im doing a road trip in the summer, since I cant make the T. I plan on exploitiing Mattawoman for all its worth with your tips Kevin. Thanks a bunch guys
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02-14-07, 08:10 PM | #15 |
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only thing kevin forgot was the newts on the potomic are quite the "horny" bunch...
zooker
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02-14-07, 10:50 PM | #16 | |
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02-15-07, 08:58 AM | #17 |
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Wow, with that detailed explanation from Kevin, all I have to add is........."yeah, what he said". Very detailed Kevin and hopefully I run into you a couple of times this year down there. Oh I actually do have one thing to add. Mike Iaconelli made a funny comment about the Potomac this past year while fishing the Capital Clash. He said fish were relating to the grass, and there are two major beds of grass that they elite series pros were fishing, the north side and the south side banks! You guys that have fished there knows what he meant (the whole Potomac is covered in grass).
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02-15-07, 12:07 PM | #18 |
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Lol thx for all the info im fishing that tourney on the 28th as well ....so it works out prefect for me didnt even have to ask
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02-15-07, 12:44 PM | #19 |
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Your in 5 alive Bassmasters? Or is there another club going out of there? BFL, ABA?
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02-15-07, 01:45 PM | #20 |
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Fishers of men tourney
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02-15-07, 01:46 PM | #21 |
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Nice. Good Luck. You may see my club out there.
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02-15-07, 05:52 PM | #22 |
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Wow. Kevin that was definitely one of the most informative, best planned posts I have ever seen.
Liz- what with the tidal influence, "special spots," long stretches of nothing and big creeks, it kinda sounds a bit like the good ole st. johns
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02-15-07, 06:06 PM | #23 |
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Tides
F 27 High 5:01 AM 2.0 6:17 AM Set 4:05 AM 75
27 Low 10:49 AM 0.3 7:56 PM Rise 3:44 PM 27 High 5:25 PM 1.9 27 Low 11:10 PM 0.3 Sa 28 High 5:51 AM 2.0 6:15 AM Set 4:25 AM 82 28 Low 11:43 AM 0.3 7:57 PM Rise 4:43 PM 28 High 6:15 PM 1.9 28 Low 11:54 PM 0.3 Su 29 High 6:36 AM 2.1 6:14 AM Set 4:45 AM 89 29 Low 12:32 PM 0.3 7:58 PM Rise 5:41 PM 29 High 7:01 PM 1.9 Ok here is the tide table for the 28th. High is 5:51 am at Smallwood. Sunrise is 6:15 so you get one hour of magic at best for the day. I would run the mouth of creek and fish right side grass at PRFC marker till tide wears out. Run straight accross mouth at 11:am to Navy pier and fish deep with weenie worms. Next run back to cove on south side of mouth of creek and fish grass in that cove till weigh in. 5 in the boat guaranteed. I have a charter there as well out of Smallwood. Capt Mike
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02-18-07, 02:31 PM | #24 |
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Let's see...I post a date of a tournament and Capt Mike posts what I should do and he guarantee's five fish . I have to take advantage of this ....
March 31st - April 1st April 7th April 15th PR Series April 21st May 5-6 May 12 BFL May 19 BFL May 20 PR Series June 3 PR Series June 9 BFL/PR Series - going to be a busy weekend! June 10 BASS June 14-17 FLW June 23 PR Series June 24 should I continue???? Looking forward to the Labor day Dragon Run outing!!! |
02-20-07, 09:23 PM | #25 | |
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Lizards
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