Why is the Potomac brown now, and when will it clear up?

[Riazuli]

I know this doesn't have a clear cut answer, and I know it has to do with wind, rain, and tides, but I've never seen it this brown for this long... Granted, it has been pretty windy somewhat consistently for a while... When the wind starts settling, should we see the river clear up?  What have been yalls experiences over the years?  I'm new to the river, having just moved to the area not too long ago.  @Sam, I though I would tag you as you seem to be very knowledgeable about the river, and I was interested in your input on this.  

[BrianinMD]

It never really clears up until the grass gets up. Couple days of calm weather will get rid of the wind/rain added stain but it's not a clear water river.

[TOXIC]

You can thank Mother Nature for wind, rain and crazy Lunar tides that have drained and refilled the creeks on a regular basis.  There is no "normal" on that crazy river but it usually takes about 1 week of normal tides to clear up the river after a moderate rain.  

[Riazuli]

6 minutes ago, BrianinMD said:

It never really clears up until the grass gets up. Couple days of calm weather will get rid of the wind/rain added stain but it's not a clear water river.

That makes perfect sense with the grass acting as a filter... Do you think the grass will pop up this month? 

5 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

You can thank Mother Nature for wind, rain and crazy Lunar tides that have drained and refilled the creeks on a regular basis.  There is no "normal" on that crazy river but it usually takes about 1 week of normal tides to clear up the river after a moderate rain.  

I can deal with a week, but I'm not holding my breath!  I'll still be going out, just curious as the creek I fish can get super clear at times. 

[TOXIC]

There's plenty of grass up right now, it just hasn't topped out.  So much so that it's already impossible to fish a shallow running crank in some areas and I've had to downsize rattletraps to keep it above the grass.  Make no mistake, there's still a lot of growth still to go on the grass and it will help clean the water but with the amount of rain and tides we've had it will be a while for it to clear and I agree 100% with BrianinMD that it is not a clear water river although it has it's days.  

[ptomacbass]

The super heavy rain caused it. Give it a week and a half to clear up. Southern stuff clears first, and the stuff closest tondc clears last.

[Riazuli]

7 minutes ago, ptomacbass said:

The super heavy rain caused it. Give it a week and a half to clear up. Southern stuff clears first, and the stuff closest tondc clears last.

I can live with that.  

[Sam]

Riazuli, no, I am not an expert on the Potomac but I will offer the following based on my experiences:

 

Muddy or heavily stained water is usually from runoff due to rain, and we have had some powerful storms around the Potomac this month.

 

The wind, especially from the east, will keep the water in the river and not let the muddy water move towards the bay. Once the winds die down the tides will take care of the muddy water. Check the Potomac Tides chart to note the tidal action coming up this weekend and into next week:

http://www.saltwatertides.com/dynamic.dir/potomacsites.html

 

If you are going to fish the Potomac on a regular basis save the tide chart in your favorites for easy future reference. Remember, you want an outgoing tide although the first hour of an incoming tide is good, too.

 

Once the tide stops the bites usually stop until the tide starts to move again.

 

I don't believe rain is in the forecast until next week so the river will start to go from muddy to heavily stained to stained. Fishing will improve each day.

 

The Potomac has lots grass that keeps it clean. As stated above, once the grass starts to emerge and grow the water conditions will improve. And it is the grass that makes fishing the Potomac so good. The grass can be your friend or enemy so you need to look for baits that will not get hung up in the grass plus finesse and trick worms and including Senkos to throw in the open pockets around the grass.

 

You may have some success with a lipless crankbait until the grass takes over. With the bass in the spawn you may not get a bite until the spawn is over for the majority of the bass.

 

Don't let the water conditions bother you. Go out and do some fishing. Try to find some beds, which will be extremely difficult with the current water conditions, and coax those big ladies to hit your bait.

 

Try different baits and techniques. White spinnerbaits can work as will plastics.

 

Be safe, don't forget your needle nose pliers and your fishing license, and post some pics of what you catch.

 

 

[Riazuli]

48 minutes ago, Sam said:

Riazuli, no, I am not an expert on the Potomac but I will offer the following based on my experiences:

 

Muddy or heavily stained water is usually from runoff due to rain, and we have had some powerful storms around the Potomac this month.

 

The wind, especially from the east, will keep the water in the river and not let the muddy water move towards the bay. Once the winds die down the tides will take care of the muddy water. Check the Potomac Tides chart to note the tidal action coming up this weekend and into next week:

http://www.saltwatertides.com/dynamic.dir/potomacsites.html

 

If you are going to fish the Potomac on a regular basis save the tide chart in your favorites for easy future reference. Remember, you want an outgoing tide although the first hour of an incoming tide is good, too.

 

Once the tide stops the bites usually stop until the tide starts to move again.

 

I don't believe rain is in the forecast until next week so the river will start to go from muddy to heavily stained to stained. Fishing will improve each day.

 

The Potomac has lots grass that keeps it clean. As stated above, once the grass starts to emerge and grow the water conditions will improve. And it is the grass that makes fishing the Potomac so good. The grass can be your friend or enemy so you need to look for baits that will not get hung up in the grass plus finesse and trick worms and including Senkos to throw in the open pockets around the grass.

 

You may have some success with a lipless crankbait until the grass takes over. With the bass in the spawn you may not get a bite until the spawn is over for the majority of the bass.

 

Don't let the water conditions bother you. Go out and do some fishing. Try to find some beds, which will be extremely difficult with the current water conditions, and coax those big ladies to hit your bait.

 

Try different baits and techniques. White spinnerbaits can work as will plastics.

 

Be safe, don't forget your needle nose pliers and your fishing license, and post some pics of what you catch.

 

 

I beg to differ on your expert status Great post!  Thank you for your well thought out response. 

[RockvilleMDAngler]

Last year the grass was really starting to come back to being as prevalent as it was 8 years ago but all this cold weather and rain has muddied up the water for so long that I do not expect the grass to do well this year, at least the milfoil. By July the hydrilla will come in but the best grass is the milfoil. There will be some protected creeks where the milfoil is strong but I expect the main river grass (especially North of Mattawoman) will be worse than last year. 

 

Now I have only been out once this year due to boat troubles so I could be wrong, but my suspicions have been verified from what I have heard from reliable sources. 

[BrianinMD]

I had my boat out around the spoils on Saturday, found grass where we expected to but not very far along. Think it will be okay but just like everything else its behind.

 

Was a ton of fun (sarcasm) getting back up to Gravely at the end of the day, between the wind and tour boats it was a mess. Only damage though was breaking off my transom mounted transducer...

[TOXIC]

20 hours ago, BrianinMD said:

I had my boat out around the spoils on Saturday, found grass where we expected to but not very far along. Think it will be okay but just like everything else its behind.

 

Was a ton of fun (sarcasm) getting back up to Gravely at the end of the day, between the wind and tour boats it was a mess. Only damage though was breaking off my transom mounted transducer...

Sorry to hear about your ducer.  That river claims more equipment/lower units/props and boat dings than any other place I know.  We concentrate on the lower portion and rarely venture above the Quan unless we are really struggling.  Aquia Creek and the surrounding areas normally hold enough fish to keep us occupied.  Problem is in drought times the salt line moves up that far and spoils the bass fishing.  We have caught Bluefish, Redfish and even flounder around Aquia.  That area is also fishable when the weather kicks up.  

[Riazuli]

On 4/19/2018 at 10:37 AM, RockvilleMDAngler said:

Last year the grass was really starting to come back to being as prevalent as it was 8 years ago but all this cold weather and rain has muddied up the water for so long that I do not expect the grass to do well this year, at least the milfoil. By July the hydrilla will come in but the best grass is the milfoil. There will be some protected creeks where the milfoil is strong but I expect the main river grass (especially North of Mattawoman) will be worse than last year. 

 

Now I have only been out once this year due to boat troubles so I could be wrong, but my suspicions have been verified from what I have heard from reliable sources. 

I hope you're wrong on this one!  Although, what you're saying makes sense.  That grass was my best friend last summer 

7 hours ago, TOXIC said:

Sorry to hear about your ducer.  That river claims more equipment/lower units/props and boat dings than any other place I know.  We concentrate on the lower portion and rarely venture above the Quan unless we are really struggling.  Aquia Creek and the surrounding areas normally hold enough fish to keep us occupied.  Problem is in drought times the salt line moves up that far and spoils the bass fishing.  We have caught Bluefish, Redfish and even flounder around Aquia.  That area is also fishable when the weather kicks up.  

Interesting to know about the salt line moving up that far.  Would you say striper are more active towards Aquia as opposed to say, Powells creek/Mattawoman? 

[BrianinMD]

Depending on rain the salt wedge can get into DC, a couple years ago redfish were caught at Wilson bridge.

 

The stripers can be found all over, they are just as happy in fresh water as salt water.

7 hours ago, TOXIC said:

Sorry to hear about your ducer.  That river claims more equipment/lower units/props and boat dings than any other place I know.  We concentrate on the lower portion and rarely venture above the Quan unless we are really struggling.  Aquia Creek and the surrounding areas normally hold enough fish to keep us occupied.  Problem is in drought times the salt line moves up that far and spoils the bass fishing.  We have caught Bluefish, Redfish and even flounder around Aquia.  That area is also fishable when the weather kicks up.  

The ducer was no biggee, did not hit anything other than some rather large waves. The impact broke the piece that attaches it to the boat, the ducer itself is fine. Got some jb weld to put it back together and transducer saves to keep it from happening again.