Fishing Pohick bay, Virginia

[theBENefit10]

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

[Choporoz]

I am not even sure where to begin....do you have experience fishing anywhere else on the Potomac?  Experience with tidal bass fishing?

  Pohick is a great fishery.  But there are so many variables, that it can take time to get comfortable.   

   Except for a few channel spots, nearly all of the tens of thousands of acres of Gunston Cove is between 2 and 6 feet deep....depending on tide.  Ironically, those kayaks going up the creeks may have been finding deeper creek channels....not just super shallow water.

  Moving water generally best...last 90 minutes of incoming or outgoing tides.  Good wood often holds good fish.  Pads can be good....grass can be good.  It's a huge body of water with lots going on, but all year long, there are a lot of bass there....trick is finding hungry ones....yesterday's answer not likely to work today.

[Nitrofreak]

On 8/5/2021 at 1:02 PM, Choporoz said:

I am not even sure where to begin....do you have experience fishing anywhere else on the Potomac?  Experience with tidal bass fishing?

  Pohick is a great fishery.  But there are so many variables, that it can take time to get comfortable.   

   Except for a few channel spots, nearly all of the tens of thousands of acres of Gunston Cove is between 2 and 6 feet deep....depending on tide.  Ironically, those kayaks going up the creeks may have been finding deeper creek channels....not just super shallow water.

  Moving water generally best...last 90 minutes of incoming or outgoing tides.  Good wood often holds good fish.  Pads can be good....grass can be good.  It's a huge body of water with lots going on, but all year long, there are a lot of bass there....trick is finding hungry ones....yesterday's answer not likely to work today.

Perfect !!

 

Conditions change on the Potomac minute by minute and so do the fish, it is defiantly a fast paced game and you have to make the most out of it when you do get on them.

 

There is a saying on that body of water in which it goes something like this, “if your fishing an area that you have all to yourself, there is a reason for it.”

 

In other words you need to be fishing where everyone else is ?

 

I have only been fishing the Potomac for a brief few years now and finally just getting to know a few things as in the post above, keep in mind that bass move in as the water rises and move out as the water falls, this holds truth to not just vegetation but also for wood and other forms of cover, try fishing moving baits when the water is moving in and out and soft plastics and such when the tides are idle.

 

Bass love edges ?

[NorEastAngler]

Those guys nailed it with their previous comments about bass on the Potomac - following bait and channels/drop offs have worked wonders. My guess about those kayaks up in the shallows - like in the THICK of it... Almost every person I talk to in the yaks from Nanjemoy to Mattawoman, and Pohick to Belmont... after the snakehead way up those pads. Either way, even if you don't catch many, that area is a beautiful place to be fishing.

 

Cheers