Interesting Day

[charliepff]

Hello Everyone,

 

I ran the wife down to the Lander boat ramp to do some fishing on the Potomac today. Conditions were interesting. The river is very, very, low and very clear. On top of that there is so much salad floating in the water that it honestly was frustrating at times. We lost a few on texas rigs with super fluke minnows and white grubbs. We unfortunately did not land anything today and talking to a few others the luck was about the same. We did however get to play with large turtle and I floated over a walleye that was the biggest I ever seen in the Potomac. It also had a growth on it. 

 

If anyone has any advice to deal with the floating salad let me know. Good luck to everyone fishing this week. 

[Turtle135]

Ah Lander, one of my favorite spots on the Upper Potomac!

 

The one problem with Lander is that it is a very popular spot. Brunswick down to Point of Rocks gets a lot of fishing pressure. My "prescription" for the conditions you encountered (low, clear and lots of floating grass) is the Z-Man Finesse TRD on an Owner Ultrahead Finesse Ball Head (1/16th ounce, Size 1 hook).

 

I let that tumble through the current. Those Upper Potomac Smallmouth have a hard time refusing that presentation. I use 8 pound test mono.

 

[fishwizzard]

That jig and plastic combo is a winner for sure.  It was the first lure I ever had much luck catching bass with.  These days I have mostly moved on to using the Decoy "Nail Bomb" head in 1/16oz - #1 hook size.  It is very close to the Owner heads but imho stays weedless better and gives better hooksets.  They are easy to find on ebay and are about the same price as the Owners. 

 

[Turtle135]

1 hour ago, fishwizzard said:

These days I have mostly moved on to using the Decoy "Nail Bomb" head in 1/16oz - #1 hook size.  It is very close to the Owner heads but imho stays weedless better and gives better hooksets.

 

 

The one thing that I have found with that style of jig head (when the Potomac is shedding her grass) is that you will collect strands of grass just in front of the hook eye. I will have to try some of those nail bombs later in the season. A better hookup ratio and less hanging up in the rocks sounds appealing.

 

[fishwizzard]

That is a good point about the grass, I admit that I rarely try to fight floating grass, most of my concern is over not snagging in the rocks.  I feel like the vertical eye lets me keep the lure nose up better then the angled Owners and makes poping the lure free more effective.  

 

However, the Owners are a perfect fit for the Zman Finesse Shadz and give them a great "floating" swim action.  They also give a far better hookest then the trds on those heads. 

[Turtle135]

3 minutes ago, fishwizzard said:

That is a good point about the grass, I admit that I rarely try to fight floating grass, most of my concern is over not snagging in the rocks.  I feel like the vertical eye lets me keep the lure nose up better then the angled Owners and makes poping the lure free more effective.  

 

However, the Owners are a perfect fit for the Zman Finesse Shadz and give them a great "floating" swim action.  They also give a far better hookest then the trds on those heads. 

I like that the Nail Bomb is offered in lighter weights, a 1/32nd ounce will probably be even better in low flow conditions.

[fishwizzard]

I have some of them in 1/32 but have never thrown them.  In general, Decoy has some cool stuff in terms of lighter jigheads and finesse hooks. 

[charliepff]

I never realized how much pressure is on that section of the Potomac. The water is awesome their, but I have seen more people their then on most other sections of the river. I was rally surprised at the number of people. The above methods would have helped. In fact, my last hit on the way back to the ramp was dead drifting a warm with a little weight in the deeper current. If I would not have been arguing with my yellow lab at the time I probably would have caught a decent fish. I thought about fishing pressure and changing my methods up. I guess I should have went with my gut feeling. My wife did lose a nice fish off a square bill in a deep pocket. 

 

If you all are out and fish off of kayaks, let me know. I am always game to learn new spots.