Tidal Potomac Walleye

[Snakehead Whisperer]

I am very new to walleye fishing and they are one of the most challenging fish that I've ever tried to target. I've really had to pay some serious dues in order to get walleye into the boat (especially here in the DC area where they are not as prolific as they are up North.) There are good numbers of walleye in the Potomac up near Harper's Ferry, WV and upstream from there, but I am talking about the tidal Potomac river right here in Washington DC. 

 

I had heard that there were walleye in the tidal Potomac from a few different sources, but I'd never seen a fish or photos (or any proof for that matter.) Nor did anglers seem all too certain about it. When I asked if they had ever caught one the usual reply was "No. But I heard about a guy who did." I had also heard some stuff about walleye staging to spawn in the Chain Bridge area around late January/February. This seemed more promising. I've fished the spot numerous times hitting the eddies like many had advised, but always to no avail. After reading numerous articles/books and absorbing as much info on the subject as I could, I finally landed my first walleye! Right here in Washington DC, and it wasn't at any of the places that they are rumored to be lurking.

 

I have now been catching walleye for a while. I don't really want to give up my spots or the details (as there aren't a lot of walleye in this part of the river, and I'd like to fish for them for many years to come.) What I will say is that if you do your homework, the fish are here. The fish follow normal walleye patterns, just not common ones.

 

Anybody else here catch walleye in the tidal Potomac?

 

 

 

 

[ClackerBuzz]

you are a multilingual whisperer my friend~

[Snakehead Whisperer]

you are a multilingual whisperer my friend~

You're cracking me up over here. I do my best.

[CMG]

Walleye from Key Bridge to Chain Bridge is no secret.  Deepest stretch of the Potomac there.   Probably plenty all the way up to the falls.  I've caught one 1.5 miles below the falls.

[Snakehead Whisperer]

Walleye from Key Bridge to Chain Bridge is no secret.  Deepest stretch of the Potomac there.   Probably plenty all the way up to the falls.  I've caught one 1.5 miles below the falls.

I've heard this before too. I'm wondering if maybe the location and technique is a secret though. I spent the better part of a year researching this stretch of river and never got any closer to these fish until I started doing some real research on my own (articles written by Midwest and Canadian anglers.) I admit I am a rookie walleye fisherman, so it's more than likely that I was overlooking key habitat. But if it's true that the walleye are well known in these parts, then why don't I ever see other anglers targeting them? They've provided me and a few friends with an awesome winter fishery. It's really hard to make a call on this as walleye aren't really a very popular game fish in this area.

 

On a side note, when I first started going for snakeheads in this area most of the advice I got was useless. Once I discovered a good pattern I started to notice more subtle approaches at tempting these fish. It's probably the most common of all fishing paradox's... Are the people giving me advice trying to help, or are they trying to steer me in the wrong direction? Or better yet, do they have any idea what they're talking about? 

 

When you were fishing below the falls was it in the Mather Gorge area, or further down by Anglers Inn? Just curious, as I've tried that area from Fisherman's Eddie all the way to Little Falls without any walleye (some nice SMB and Rock Bass though.) I'd really like to step my walleye game up.   

 

Thanks for the insight. 

[BradH]

I river fish smallmouth, pike and 'eyes in the winter in the midwest.  I watch my sonar and I have my "spots" that I like to visit.  I don't know what it looks like back east but I look for deep spots on the outside of a bend or up against a bluff.  I troll upstream with cranks, usually balsa (shad rap, minnow rap, taildancer) and I vertical jig downstream with hair jigs or a drop shotted clouser minnow.  I work these spots back and forth picking up fish both ways.  I keep the cranks bouncing off the bottom so I adjust my cranks based on how deep I need to go.  If I'm up against a sharp drop running 4 rods I might be running a #7 shad rap on one side of the boat and a taildancer on the other with some other stuff on the two middle rods, bouncing cranks off the drop from top to bottom.  As far as hair jigs go I tend to use 3/8 or 1/2 to keep vertical in the current.  If you are in 5' to 10' you might be able to get away with 1/4 if the current isn't too heavy.  Wood and hair when the water is cold.

[Snakehead Whisperer]

I river fish smallmouth, pike and 'eyes in the winter in the midwest.  I watch my sonar and I have my "spots" that I like to visit.  I don't know what it looks like back east but I look for deep spots on the outside of a bend or up against a bluff.  I troll upstream with cranks, usually balsa (shad rap, minnow rap, taildancer) and I vertical jig downstream with hair jigs or a drop shotted clouser minnow.  I work these spots back and forth picking up fish both ways.  I keep the cranks bouncing off the bottom so I adjust my cranks based on how deep I need to go.  If I'm up against a sharp drop running 4 rods I might be running a #7 shad rap on one side of the boat and a taildancer on the other with some other stuff on the two middle rods, bouncing cranks off the drop from top to bottom.  As far as hair jigs go I tend to use 3/8 or 1/2 to keep vertical in the current.  If you are in 5' to 10' you might be able to get away with 1/4 if the current isn't too heavy.  Wood and hair when the water is cold.

The description you gave is dead on (deep spot, outside bend.) However, the fish I am catching are all in 30-75' of water. Usually on the deeper end of that.

 

So far I have been vertical jigging spoons and grubs. I will break out the planer boards next time and try doing some trolling. 

 

At 60+ feet how would I troll a crankbait? Best I can come up with is to use a bottom bouncer rig and a shallow diving crank on a 3-way swivel. Does that sound right?

[BradH]

Yikes! I top out at about 50' of water where I'm at and even in the winter I catch them moving on and off 10' flats next to a drop that is usually 20' to 30' deep. The problem for me on river trolling is the runs are just not long enough to mess around with getting downriggers, planer boards, long lines of leadcore and that sort of big lake thing set up and running. It's short runs, get it all in, jig down and repeat. I've been able to get my deeper work done with 30' taildancers running on 20 pound braid with a short fluorocarbon leader, usually 10 pound and about 6' long for starters.

 

I have never used a rig like you describe but I see no reason why it wouldn't work. You could probably get by with some cheaper hardbaits too. Floating rapala, storm thunderstick, etc.

[Snakehead Whisperer]

Yikes! I top out at about 50' of water where I'm at and even in the winter I catch them moving on and off 10' flats next to a drop that is usually 20' to 30' deep. The problem for me on river trolling is the runs are just not long enough to mess around with getting downriggers, planer boards, long lines of leadcore and that sort of big lake thing set up and running. It's short runs, get it all in, jig down and repeat. I've been able to get my deeper work done with 30' taildancers running on 20 pound braid with a short fluorocarbon leader, usually 10 pound and about 6' long for starters.

 

I have never used a rig like you describe but I see no reason why it wouldn't work. You could probably get by with some cheaper hardbaits too. Floating rapala, storm thunderstick, etc.

Yeah, it's a trip. This is probably the one reason why I was having such a hard time finding them. After dark they will move onto a nearby flat that is 8-30', but during daylight I've never seen them shallower than 30'. In the upper stretches of the river I always find them in 5-20'. I can make a 1 mile run or so where I'm fishing, so I will try to see what I can come up with. If it pays off I will post the results. 

 

Thanks.

[basser89]

I have a stretch in the upper Potomac (actually north of Harpers Ferry yet) where I have had some success catching walleye. This time of year, don't overlook the shallow waters as well. I've made that mistake before. I was out with one of my friends one time (for a morning outing: 8am-12pm) and we came up on a stretch that I thought was "unproductive water". I put the trolling motor on high to get past that 2-3' zone for some deeper water. Next thing I know, we're scattering a huge school of walleye that were holding on that flat. Needless to say, we didn't catch any of those fish. Water temps that day were 34. You mentioned you hadn't seen any walleye shallow, had you checked water that is as shallow as I mentioned above? I'll add, that spot was a rocky shallow flat just below an inside turn. 

[Snakehead Whisperer]

I have a stretch in the upper Potomac (actually north of Harpers Ferry yet) where I have had some success catching walleye. This time of year, don't overlook the shallow waters as well. I've made that mistake before. I was out with one of my friends one time (for a morning outing: 8am-12pm) and we came up on a stretch that I thought was "unproductive water". I put the trolling motor on high to get past that 2-3' zone for some deeper water. Next thing I know, we're scattering a huge school of walleye that were holding on that flat. Needless to say, we didn't catch any of those fish. Water temps that day were 34. You mentioned you hadn't seen any walleye shallow, had you checked water that is as shallow as I mentioned above? I'll add, that spot was a rocky shallow flat just below an inside turn. 

I have checked water as shallow as that, but it was up near Shepherdstown, WV that it paid off. We did OK, and my friend Blake caught a 7 pounder in about 6' of water.

 

As for the stretch of river I've been fishing here in DC, I have marked fish in the shallower areas but always assumed they were not walleye (though they look to be the right size.) There is a lot going on in this spot as far as various rock farms, eddies, a sand flat, and a large gorge. I don't get out there often enough because it is miles up from the launch and the recent rains had the river level up pretty high until this last week. I will be focusing more attention on this stretch, as the fishing action around here is pretty slow elsewhere. I'd also like to catch a large female if I can. I know they're in there.

[CMG]

 But if it's true that the walleye are well known in these parts, then why don't I ever see other anglers targeting them? They've provided me and a few friends with an awesome winter fishery. It's really hard to make a call on this as walleye aren't really a very popular game fish in this area.

 

Lots of other species to target.  Stripers and big cats are really popular.  Local fishing reports always mention walleye being caught and what they are caught on.

 

 

When you were fishing below the falls was it in the Mather Gorge area, or further down by Anglers Inn? Just curious, as I've tried that area from Fisherman's Eddie all the way to Little Falls without any walleye (some nice SMB and Rock Bass though.) I'd really like to step my walleye game up.   

 

Thanks for the insight. 

 

I was between Difficult Run and Angler's.  Trolling a crankbait (dives to 5-6ft) along the edge.   I was fishing for smallmouth.

[Snakehead Whisperer]

Lots of other species to target.  Stripers and big cats are really popular.  Local fishing reports always mention walleye being caught and what they are caught on.

 

 

 

I was between Difficult Run and Angler's.  Trolling a crankbait (dives to 5-6ft) along the edge.   I was fishing for smallmouth.

Just surprises me that there aren't more serious walleye anglers around, with striped bass season closed and the shad run still a way off. I read the reports every week. Charlie Taylor's report in particular mentions walleye in this stretch of river pretty often. Using tactics in those reports has never led me to success with walleye.

 

I had assumed that you meant Great Falls, not Little Falls.

[Snakehead Whisperer]

Lots of other species to target.  Stripers and big cats are really popular.  Local fishing reports always mention walleye being caught and what they are caught on.

 

 

 

I was between Difficult Run and Angler's.  Trolling a crankbait (dives to 5-6ft) along the edge.   I was fishing for smallmouth.

Re-read this thread, and I realized that I misread your post. I know that river bend well. It's nearly impossible to hit that area from a boat unless you have a kayak or are willing to carry a canoe/jon boat from the parking lot at Angler's. I've shore fished that area a lot, but never caught anything but rock bass and smallies.

[Joshua Vandamm]

I’m hearing of a late fall walleye feeding run in shallows along river banks.

 

true? Occurring now?