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I am 16 years old and have a 14’ jon boat with a 9.9hp. I am obsessed with bass fishing and taking my boat out whenever I can. I have gotten to know Fountainhead, Bull Run, and the Occoquan river with consistent luck, pretty much going every weekend that I can. I have done some club tournaments in the past but looking for something with smaller entry fee’s. A smaller club tournament where I could either use my jon boat or fishing as a co angler. Again looking for a tournament with small entry fees in the Northern Va area or within 45 minutes of Fairfax Virginia. Thanks, James P

Been out here a few times (fishing out of a modified john boat). Did pretty well the first time using a small shad swim bait fishing submerged grass in maybe 4-6 feet of water (we don't have a fish finder). Went back the next weekend and caught one dink on topwater with no bites on the swim bait. Saw a lot of kayakers going super shallow up in the creeks. Wondering if anyone has any experience here with this fishery. It seems to have some great potential but I have yet to really figure it out. Are they up super super shallow? Hiding in the grass? Or deep? Would love to hear some thoughts/opinions/advice. This is my first time posting to this forum and I'm excited to finally become a part of it after having read so much on this site. Tight lines everyone, Ben

(1) Greetings BR members! I've been looking to get after some smallies this summer on the Upper Potomac. I've had success at Riverbend Park and Goose Creek in years past, but I'm looking for spots that I can reach easier by bike from Arlington. The Ohio C&O Canal Towpath would be my route of choice to get upriver, so spots on the Maryland side are preferred (not asking for your honey holes, just general locations ideal for shore/wade fishing). I'm sort of a newbie to bass casting for SM in a river, so I may need some technical guidance and info on specific areas / structure to target. Beyond weedless tubes, it would also be helpful to get some insight as to what bait/profile/size is best for this river. (2) If anyone would like to fish with me, I've been looking for a fishing buddy! Unfortunately, I don't have a boat or consistent access to a car, but I can ride my bike a good long way to reach the fishing grounds. I can also comp for gas or other expenses. PM if interested. All advice and responses are welcome. Tight Lines!

The Potomac River is still chilly with temperatures stable in the lower to mid 40’s. However, this doesn’t take in to account the multiple water discharges where water temperatures this time of year rarely fall below the ’50s. Those of you familiar with the Potomac know that it doesn’t take much of a warm front in early spring to really start heating things up all over the river. The Potomac is a beast and it can test your mental toughness more than any other fishery I'm familiar with. However, it is also my favorite fishery, toe-to-toe with Lake Marion in S.C., because it offers some of the most intense brief periods of action I’ve ever experienced. This being said after 10 years of heavy bass fishing (I’m only 22). I used to hate the Potomac with a passion. I fished Junior State Qualifiers out of Aquia creek from when I first started tournament fishing. I stunk it up just about every time. I tried to fish the river my way, instead of listening to the river and ultimately the fish that call the Potomac home. So, this is where I’d like to give my first pointer to anybody trying to figure the Potomac out for the first time. You have to understand the TIDE. As with any tidal fishery, the fish relate to the tides more than almost anything in the river. Of course, bait, vegetation, and structure all have a weighted say in the position of fish, but on the Potomac, there is no shortage of forage in just about every creek, pocket, ditch, marina…etc. A few general pointers for Potomac tide IMO 1. The best tide is outgoing tide for just about every creek. 2. Feeding windows are tight and determined by the tide 3. Read tidal charts, understand when your best opportunities are 4. Don’t get discouraged. If Bob says they’re biting one creek up, your creek is probably about to start popping off once the tidal conditions become simultaneous with the creek Bob’s in. 5. Expect lull’s especially during slack tide 6. Use Low tide to your advantage to spot areas that you couldn’t see during high tide 7. Also use the low tide to pick apart obvious cover methodically, as fish will often hold tighter to cover in low tide. 8. High Tide can be tricky. But I almost always just cover as much water as possible during high tide Tides can be funny, and these are in no way full-proof pointers, instead, they are guidelines I use every time I fish the Potomac. Tides can be fun, just as much as they suck. A buddy and I one time caught close to 60 fish in two, one hour periods, during a tournament in June 2017 because we used the tides to our advantage. When it's on its on. The next big one is Grass. Love it or hate it, the Potomac has grass everywhere, some areas are just grassy(er) than others. I won't get too scientific, instead, just go over some baits and approaches to fishing the grassy spots of the Potomac. 1. Lipless/ Rat-L-Trap - One of the best Potomac pre-spawn baits. Any color will work as long as it RED. Just rip it through the grass. (IMO) 2. Chatter Bait - Better on grass edges and early grass that isn’t very dense yet 3.Swim Jig 4. Weightless Fluke 5. Any type of weedless swim-bait can produce well (what our 60 fish were caught on) 6. Some type of craw to pitch through pockets of grass. 7. TopWater! I'm a frog addict and they’ll hit topwater in the back of creeks when the waters in the 50’s on the Potomac. Sometimes, as much as you think you know the Potomac you just don’t. Eventually, you’ll have one these days on the river. You’ve tried just about everything and followed the tidal charts. You got yourself in a good position to take advantage of feeding river fish, yet it doesn’t pan out. That’s when I run like crazy around the river… just kidding…not really. JUNK-FISHING! Honestly, sometimes you gotta just go junk fish. Sometimes you have to run around and fish the rocks at Leeslyvania state park. (sorry if I gave away anybody's favorite spot). But in all seriousness, the Potomac is littered with various man-made structures and marinas that you can junk fish your way to a limit. My biggest bass out of the Potomac was an 8lber caught junk fishing in early April North of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. We junk fished our way into my most unforgettable day of fishing because what we thought we knew didn’t pan out. 1. Marinas are everywhere on the Potomac and they hold plenty of fish. Lots of Snakeheads as well, if you’re into that kind of thing. 2. The areas around the Woodrow Wilson have a high concentration of man-made structures. 3. Some of these areas, above the Woodrow Wilson, are community holes, but even the unsuspecting areas in this section of river hold beast. 4. Bridges. There are tons of bridges and you can use outgoing and incoming tides to your advantage with bridges by positioning your boat the right way. 5. Docks. There isn’t a ton but there are stretches of docks that produce fish in all conditions. In addition to all the other pointers, one of the most important tips I can give is to use your mapping charts wisely to navigate safely, find depressions, and abnormalities in your favorite creek. The Potomac can look the same in every creek, so find the abnormalities and ditches the fish use as highways. Also, the Potomac can become inches of water deep just about anywhere at any given time. People get stuck on mud flats and sand bars all the time! Until the tide rises them from stuck, to floating, after a few hours. I hope this helped anybody who is looking to get out on the Potomac or at least made an interesting (or laughable) read for those Potomac lovers like me. This is just some information I wish I had when I first fished the beast of a river the Potomac seems like at first. Whatever you do, don’t let the Potomac discourage or scare you, it is simply just another puzzle in the bass fishing world that is highly rewarding when you figure it out…or think you’ve figured it out. Mix it up on the Potomac once you get comfortable, the tried and true lures work, but sometimes, the Potomac can be an awesome big swim bait fishery (hint hint). I hope whoever reads this gets a chance to tear the river up this year. I am currently in my Junior year at VT after transferring this fall, so I'll only be able to get up there a few times during prime-time. I can't complain too much because I’m on the fishing team here and it opened up the door for me to experience plenty of new bodies of water and bodies of water I only sparingly fished beforehand. Good Luck, and let me know any Potomac juice you’re willing to share below.

Due to some interested people I have created a little something for people that want to find some snakeheads in VA. This is the information I have gathered from my personal experience. Keep in mind I am no subject matter expert, just a fishermen just like you. Snakeheads are found all over the Potomac River from Washington to the Bay so anywhere in between is a good place. First you have to understand the kind of areas they like. Then you have to look at what they like to eat. Research has shown them to like blue gill/sunfish and killifish (look kind of like minnows). They love to spawn in grass or some sort of aquatic vegetation. Okay, now for the fun part. You have to find a creek or area on the river that does not have a lot of current. So next time you are fishing look for a area that is somewhat protected from current. The next step is to look for an area in very shallow water with a lot of grass growing along the bank/shore. Once you have found all of this put on your polarized sun glass and start looking. Keep in mind that snakeheads will take off fast if they see you near them. So walk slowly along the bank. I have seen 13 pound snakeheads in 3-4inches of water. What I would recommend is using a chatterbait. They will murder a chatterbait color is not important as long as they can see it. They also hate topwater baits like poppers or frogs but only early in the morning or late in the evening. I am talking about after the sun goes down or before it comes up. As far as the tides look for a high tide going out. So if high tide is at 4pm go fishing for snakehead at 4:30pm. When the high tide is going out the snakeheads are most active. They can be caught all day long though. If during high tide the shore vegetation is submerged the snakehead will actually get all up in it. You will notice the grass moving be patient they will go in and out several times. Snakeheads breath air so keep your eyes peeled when they are in deeper water (normally 3-7 feet is where I see them) and they will give up their location. If they slowly sink straight back down you can catch them with a rattling black blue jig w/ trailers. Just toss it just past where they surfaced and try to keep your bait moving in that general area( kind of like you would with a shakyhead. The bite on a jig is no joke they pound it hard). If they come up for air and don't go straight back down but swim back down your best bet is fan casting the chatterbait or use a rattletrap (I think its the tight vibration these baits let off). They are also found underneath heavy aquatic vegetation as all the bass anglers know, because they have all been catching them by accident. As I mentioned before that’s where they do their spawning. Sometimes snakeheads can be kind of moody and when your bait goes by, they fly in the opposite direction. Just like bass this is the time for a more finesse approach. After you have noticed this behavior switch to a senko type bait or a fluke. Remember match the hatch (blue gill, sunfish, killifish). REMEMBER DEAD water protected with little or no current, shallow flats are awesome too. MAY/June are the best months for wall hangers! Keep me posted on your catches and let me know if this was useful for you. Jay

Hey Everyone, I have a trip planned to the Potomac River in a few weeks. I will be launching in Mattawoman creek and just fishing around from there. I have done a ton of research on all of the major creeks around and I can't wait to do some shallow grass fishing. That being said, I was curious if anywhere on the main river is worth checking out? I can't find much info on it, which may be a sign, but i figured I would ask around on here. Let me know what you guys think! Thanks!

Hey everyone, I will be headed to the Potomac River at the beginning of June. I plan on launching in Mattawoman creek and fishing there as well as the surrounding creeks such as Quantico, Aquia, and Potomac. I just checked water temps and was surprised to see that they are only around 60 degrees. That being said I was curious if anyone could offer any insight on what stage of the spawn I can expect to run into when I head there. My guess is the tail end of the spawn and definitely post spawn, any thoughts? Thanks!!

Saw this article in the local news paper and thought you may find it interesting. "The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is asking that anglers not release [live] flathead or blue catfish back into local waters after they catch them." You can read the article here: http://www.somdnews.com/article/20140416/NEWS/140419512/1043/dnr-hoping-to-control-invasive-catfish-species&template=southernMaryland I had a conversation with a Maryland DNR Police officer about Catch and [live] 0Release of invasive fish. I was told two things you should know. 1. if you bring a fish inside the gunnels of your boat, you are now in possession of that fish. you own it. If you are seen releasing a live invasive into the water you can be fined, unless you are seen catching and unhooking the fish. If you keep the fish outside the gunnels, unhook and release it, no problem, you were not in possession of the fish. 2. If you are found transporting a live invasive from where it was caught you could be fined. There is no way of knowing your true intentions for the fish, you could be transporting it to a new body of water. Best advice I can offer is check with your natural resource police on this subject for yourself. Question: Do you know the four jurisdictions on the tidal Potomac? And where the boundaries are?

Hey ppl, I live in Chantilly, VA. Originially form R.I. I love both Fresh and Salt if I had to chose one it would be saltwater because I love big fish on light line. Since I moved to VA the past several years I have been freshwatering it from a kayak.. I fish the Upper Potomac & Lower Potomac when I can get a chance in my schedule and really enjoy what it has to offer. I was fishing Beaverdam Creek reservior quite often but I am not sure what is going to happen with public access suddenly being closed by Loudoun water.

If you fish the tidal Potomac River you need to read paragraph one. On July 10, 2013 while cruising south on the Maryland side of the Potomac River just south of Greenway Flats my boat struck a submerged object. I believe I hit a shoal incorrectly shown on Navionics Navplanner 2 map at 38 deg 40.0978’N by 77 deg 7.3304’W and listed as “Shoal to 3 FT Rep 1975”. I believe I have found the actual location on Google Earth imagery dated 11/22/02 at 38 deg 40.233’N by 77 deg 7.176’W; you can actually see the shoal in the imagery. I quickly stopped the engine and raised the lower unit to check the prop. I found the prop was badly banged up, and then noticed small black balls of oil rising up from under the gear housing. I became amazed at how the balls broke up into many smaller balls as they raised to the surface where they broke into a very thin sheen that dissipated quickly. Isn’t technology wounderful!! Years ago I would have an oil trail a half mile long. Seeing this damage I decided to head into shore where I could get to the back of the boat for a better inspection. I made it to a location where I soft grounded the boat on clean sand in crystal clear water about knee deep. After removing my boots I disembarked and made my way back to the engine where I found my skeg and the underside of the gear housing was missing and I could see the internal parts of the gear housing. At this point I knew I needed help to return to the ramp so using the BoatUS iphone app I contacted them for a tow. The phone app gave BoatUS my member information and current location and they quickly conferenced me with a tow boat captain who would come to my aid; during my conversation with the towboat captain I told him I was currently soft grounded and safe, he told me I needed to get to deeper water so he could hook me up and wouldn’t have to charge me for a un-grounding. So as I made my way to deeper water, fighting a headwind, I decided to put the TM on high speed to make better headway; a few seconds later I hear a knock from the TM and I go dead in the water. When I pulled the TM I found I could not rotate the prop. This has happened to me years before when I had a Johnson TM; it had rubber magnets on the inside wall of the motor housing and one had broken loose which jammed the armature. Since I had made it to deeper water ( about ten feet ) and could no longer fight the wind I quickly anchored to hold my position. With nothing else to do I went back to fishing. J I must say that I am personally proud of how calmly I took these events, I never had an urge to through a tantrum, through anything overboard, or cuss like a sailor; **** happens, I deal with it and move on, period. About forty-five minutes later I see the tow boat heading in my direction. Once the captain reached me he had to circle me several times due to the wind so he could come along side and pass me the tow line. Once I was hooked up we were on course back to the ramp, which at 5 to 6 mph took about two hours to cover the 11.8 miles. When we reached the ramp the captain made sure I was safely tied up at the dock before he departed. Thanks to my BoatUS unlimited towing insurance all I needed to do was sign my name on his ipad. J This was my first experience using BoatUS towing and I can’t be more pleased with the quality and speed of service; the young lady I first made contact with was very reassuring and professional in every respect; and the same is also true of the towboat captain. As a result of this experience I will never be without my BoatUS Unlimited towing policy.

This just in on WTOP.COM NEWS ........... http://www.wtop.com/120/3421346/Virus-found-in-local-northern-snakehead-could-harm-other-fish

Another news article from WTOP.COM NEWS...... http://www.wtop.com/41/3323302/Herbicides-likely-source-of-growing-intersex-fish-problem-Video

Just saw this on WTOP.COM News http://www.wtop.com/120/3414879/Va-Frankenfish-confirmed-as-world-record

After some fishing on the Potomac for few hrs. it was great to pull some, weather was good and great for my girls, i caught five fish all were cats, my best cat was 22in. saddly I hooked three to soon and lost then but I can tell you this... they were BIG Sorry guys working on how to set the pitures on the right settings on a post, working on progress! http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/uploads/gallery/album_702/tn_gallery_40444_702_628865.jpg http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/uploads/gallery/album_702/tn_gallery_40444_702_479121.jpg http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/uploads/gallery/album_702/tn_gallery_40444_702_166310.jpg http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/uploads/gallery/album_702/tn_gallery_40444_702_637221.jpg

OK, southern Maryland got a 60 deg day today so I decided to exercises the boat and check out the river temps. Due to other requirements I didn't hit the launch at Sweden Point until 14:00L on a low tide, and I had to break ice to launch at that. Water temp at the dock was a steady 39 deg with ice hanging just around the launch area and docks. Moving out to the main channel of the Mattawoman saw temps climb to 46 deg, and that held while heading out to the main channel of the Potomac. Turning south, I set Aquia Creek as my destination and chose the VA side of the Potomac to reverify something I've seen over the years. Generally, depending on wind direction, between the Mattawoman and Aquia the VA side of the river has been colder than the Maryland shore, and today was no exception; with a average temp of 45.5, with low spots of 44 deg.s and a high spot of 47. Aquia Creek was a steady 46 deg. up to the train bridge. On the return trip I chose the Maryland side of the river and found temps of 54.5 at Mallows Bay and Blue Banks, but generally the run was a steady 52.0 deg.s On a side note, the wind was down and therefore the river was soft and flat; I was the only one on the main river. I did run across a boater in distress in Aquia Creek, his I/O was over heating and he was letting it cool before making another attempt to reach his launch; a quick tow and he was at the dock. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a good day also, I hope to get a line wet.

First - caution, I am new to posting on forums! Don't yet know what a Topic Tag is but I'll do my homework and find out. I'm from Waldorf, Maryland (S.E. of Wash DC) and have been fishing the "Middle Potomac" and it's creeks on the MD side since the mid 80's. I started out like many with a 14' jonboat that I added to over the years until the free-board was almost gone to the water line; then I moved up to a 88' Tracker Tournament TX that took me places a fiberglass boat wouldn't go. I had to take about a decade off due to work travel until I hit retirement, then I dusted off my rods and purchased a used Ranger DVS185 with a 150 Merc. Now I can run the "Middle" from one launch site! I make my own Spinner, Buzz, Jigs, Shakers, and soft plastic baits; had to stop the soft plastics though, the wife ran me out of the kitchen. If anyone in the So. MD area would like to join me for a day on the river let me know, I'm looking for another retiree to buddy up with. I would also like someone to show me other locations like Anna, or waters they like. Active military get a free ride. Hooked some Snakehead out there and would like to do my part to rid the river of them. Cheers,