Upper Potomac

[SimonSays]

               This should be the location of our next Fish-A-Palooza trip after Hunting Run later this month.       6lbs test max!

I agree!

[A.Do?]

            This should be the location of our next Fish-A-Palooza trip after Hunting Run later this month.       6lbs test max!

I'm down for that! But I wanted to use my baitcaster =( i guess i could fish with my spinning gear.....

[JCrzy4Bass]

To all that have fished in the past couple weeks here. We have had some very consistent and stable weather over the last couple days and the trend continues until Monday or Tuesday. My dad and I are gonna launch at Algonkian Park tommorrow morning around 10am or so and fish til' about 3. I was just curious as far as what good spots contained up here on the upper potomac. I am trying for bigger fish so I am going to use larger jerkbaits (hard and soft), minnow stick baits (jointed rapalas), larger 3.5" tubes, etc. We are looking for the 2lbers and larger, but don't mind 10-12" fish either.

Any help as far as what may benefit us as far as direction or what good spots contain up here (structure, cover, current, etc) would be awesome. Not looking for "spots" just info to put some together and find patterns.

Are the islands productive? If so deeper side, shallower sides, points, etc? Are the fish suspending recently, holding close to bottom? Thanks in advance fellas. I'll have a report up Sunday morning with pictures if we manage to snag any. First time out but with the catches you guys are reporting I got a good feelin'.

Oh yea, you guys are making me nervous lol.  How close are the falls to the ramp?  How fast is the current there???  I'm an amateur paddler.  My dad is much better though.  How far upstream should we paddle to get to the nicer spots, or is it all fishable throughout?

[Avalonjohn44]

The current at Algonkian is deceptively quick.  The rapid water doesn't start until a few miles downstream from the launch ramp, so you have a while before you need to worry.  

I've always caught more bass on the launch side, with the fishing getting better upstream.  

My best baits on the river used to be Mepps Black Fury #3 w/red dots for Smallmouth, and black power worms and green/white spinnerbaits for LM...

I haven't been fishing at Algonkian for about 10 years, so it might've changed... Last time I went is when I lived in Sterling, and back then there was no launch fee...

[JCrzy4Bass]

Smallmouth tackle (current)

-All different versions of Mepps inline spinners (4 - 5)

-Gitzit Tubes, Venom Tubes, Strike King Tubes, and Riverside Tubes in sand, green pumpkin, watermelon, white, black cherry.  1/8 - 1/4oz tube head inserts

-Rapala Jointed Minnows f-5, f-7 in trout pattern, gold, and minnow color

-Terminator Tiny T Spinners and Stanley Mini spinners in multiple color configurations and blade configs

-4" Senkos in green pumpkin and pearl w/ 1/8oz and 1/4oz tungsten weights

-3/8oz Rattlehead jig in green pumpkin (new addition)

Anything else I should consider or add for the trip?!?!?

I throw hard jerkbaits and tubes most of the time.  But I'm willing to try smaller hair jigs/jigs, plastics, etc if they work well to.  Does anyone catch smallies around here on shakey heads?

[A.Do?]

Okay here's the real report.

Got to the Algonkian park launch at 6:30AM where I met up with Simon.  We got into the water and peddled our way upriver pass the first island and as far as we could pass the second.

The water was completely different than it was last week. Visibility was about 3-4ft where you could see grass and hydrilla on the bottom, but not every pebble like we could last week. LOTS of dead insects on the top of the water and the fish was nippin at them constantly.  Current was also faster, to me, than it was last week. Our floats down were a lot faster. There was also a lot of floating grass.

We fished the side closest to the launch where we had success last week.  We decided to start the day with topwater, Simon throwing buzzbaits and I was throwing my Cicada lure.  I had 2 or 3 blowups but only managed to hook up with one smallie. He was a small guy and I didn't even know I had him hooked. When i set the hook I didn't feel any pressure but Simon say him jump out of the water.  We then changed it up, Simon throwing his curly tail grub and I switched to the tube (3.5" in "natural" goby pattern). I got a gooood hit that took me for a quick run before spittin up my hook  

Simon then caught this nice smallie on a watermelon/red tube.

So I changed it up too and caught this guy

Simon then caught this guy to keep up.

We then went back up and fished the other side. Simon switched to a white with black flake tube and caught this guy

Following suit I caught this 12"er

It wasn't much but it's my new PB and spit up lots of crap onto Simon  ;D We caught a few more throughout the day but nothing of size. We did see HUGE bass but the current was so fast we were pass them in no time and couldn't get them to bite our lures.

By the end of the day I decided to try my luck at catching those large bluegill we were catchin last week and threw an inline spinner and caught 3 smallies under 10".  It was a fun day but a lot tougher than last week.  Ended the day with about a dozen smallies total. Better than nothing!

[A.Do?]

I was just curious as far as what good spots contained up here on the upper potomac.  I am trying for bigger fish so I am going to use larger jerkbaits (hard and soft), minnow stick baits (jointed rapalas), larger 3.5" tubes, etc.  We are looking for the 2lbers and larger , but don't mind 10-12" fish either.

Can't help you there but I'll try and answer the other questions.

Any help as far as what may benefit us as far as direction or what good spots contain up here (structure, cover, current, etc) would be awesome.  Not looking for "spots" just info to put some together and find patterns.

Not sure about specific spots but all Simon and I do is peddle up till we can't peddle anymore and then we just float down the middle. We fan cast upstream and bump/hop tubes off the rocks and into the grass.  It takes awhile to tell the difference between bites and rocks as you're moving pretty quick on the kayak and dragging the tube along at a fast rate. Many of the fish we caught were in the middle and if you see panfish hitting the top of the water, throw an inline spinner or a small jerk/swimbait at them and you should be able to pull a smallie or large bluegill. Top water is fun too if you don't see a lot of dead bugs on the water like we did it should be good. Try a buzzbait or jitterbugs.

Are the islands productive?  If so deeper side, shallower sides, points, etc?  Are the fish suspending recently, holding close to bottom?

I had a huge hit fishing the shore line of the first island but wasn't able to set the hook > It's worth a try and the river isn't so wide that you can't try it for a bit. There are lots of over hangs that a skipped senko would probably produce. Just remember to cast upstream of all your targeted strike zones as the current will carry the lure pass it.

We were also told of two spots near the boat launch where creeks feed into the river and some of our buddies have pulled bass of size from there. We haven't tried that yet so can't tell you where they are but you might have some luck there if you can spot it.

Oh yea, you guys are making me nervous lol.  How close are the falls to the ramp?  How fast is the current there???  I'm an amateur paddler.  My dad is much better though.  How far upstream should we paddle to get to the nicer spots, or is it all fishable throughout?

You should be fine, Simon and I have never been down stream far enough to see the fall. We like and have had success upriver so will keep doing that. Hope any of this info is helpful. Good luck out there.

[A.Do?]

oh yeah, don't forget your PFD's, licenses and a whistle. They checked us and we didn't have a whistle!! But the nice lady let us go after asking a few questions about my kayak.

[JCrzy4Bass]

Location Sterling, Va (Algonkian Regional Park)

Time 10am 245pm

Today my dad and I made a trek up to Sterling. We had a later than usual start because we had family in town that were leaving in the morning and wanted to see them off. But it sure didn't effect the fishing at all. This was our first trip on the upper Potomac river and we were going strictly off of information provided by our bass forum buddies. Needless to say, thanks for all the input and starter points fellas. They paid off today.

I ended up catching 16 smallmouth bass today and 7 bluegills. My largest smallmouth today was 2lbs 2ozs and managed to break my previous personal best smallie by 6ozs. The fight was unbelievable and one I will never forget. I can finally agree with the smallmouth addicts I know that pound for pound there is absolutely NO WAY a largemouth is a better fighter than its smallmouth cousin. My other better fish went for 1lb 8oz. I had one that was about 9 and the rest were all between 3-5.

My dad did great today as well. He caught a total of 12 smallies and 8 bluegill. He also nabbed one largemouth. His best smallmouth was 1lb 1oz. He also had another that was about 9 10 and then the rest were the same size as mine. His bucket mouth went for about 9 10 as well but it had a nice size gut. Had to be from the bluegills the size of my palm that we were pulling in today.

So total for the day was 28 smallmouth bass, 1 largemouth and 15 bluegill. The numbers were great and they were biting in many different areas but the following is what we found applied for most of the day.

For the full report visit my blog site as it is a little too long to post here. But I do think it's worth your time. Discussion of a new smallie bait I found (inline spinner... not mepps) and the story of my pb are there. Pics will be up in a few minutes. Full post will be in my blog by 1030pm or so tonight. Enjoy folks.

Average Dink

My 8" SMB

My 1lb 8oz SMB

My 2lb 2oz SMB (PB)

My Dad's 8" SMB

My Dad's 1lb 1oz SMB

Average Bluegill

[Paul Naj]

Jason / Ron, good job. This fishery is just plain fun. I'm back from vacation and cant wait to get out again this week.

[A.Do?]

d**n! Nice smallies. Glad you guys were able to catch some fish!

[Mepps]

Nice PB Smallie J! I bet it fought like a champ. Still trying to get out with you guys ones day soon.

[rondef]

The upper Potomac was a lot of fun to fish.  We definately caught quite a few smallies, however most of them were small in size.  

The only problem I had yesterday was with the moron jet skiers who decided to come to close to the canoe on numerous occasions (within 25 feet at high rates of speed).  I will be filing a complaint with the park today about it since they have the information (name, the make, model and license plate) of all who launched these.  They violated the rules on numerous occasions.

[A.Do?]

Ron, that's exactly why I wouldn't go back on a weekend and why we didn't fish the other side when we first went there.  Unfortunately, I don't believe that these inconsiderate jet skiers would have paid the launch fee either  > (just a hunch). I see a lot of guys use the launch and not pay the fee, not just jet skiers either .

How was the water clarity and current?

[rondef]

I called the park and filed a complaint. They took this very seriously and said they were going to look into who paid fees and contact them about their behavior on the water and that they would also call me back later today. I recommend that any one who had a problem with the jet skiers to contact the park officials, they do not want these jet skiers doing this.

As for thw water clarity, it was clear in some spots and slightly stained in others.

[SimonSays]

yea, I hate when they just zoom by without any regard for people around them.  My balance sucks so if I were to go overboard I'd have to kill somebody ><

[bigfruits]

is there a place to launch downstream from algonkian before the falls? id like to do the paddleing in the beginning of the trip, maybe even past algonkian and float back to the car. any recommendations?

[Dan:]

Riverbend Regional Park is below Algonkian and above the falls. That seems like a very long paddle, though.

[bigfruits]

is that the nearest accesible launch site? would you estimate its more than 5 miles? i ordered some maps of the upper potomac but theyre taking forever to arrive.

thanks

-z

[Dan:]

Definitely more than 5 miles. Look on Google maps.

There is a park (Northern Virginia Regional Park on google maps) that is closer but carrying a kayak or canoe from there would be a total pain in the a*& because it is very hilly and you have to hike a while from the parking to the river.

[VolFan]

I think that's Turkey Run.  Getting a boat to the water is difficult because it's 200 ft downhill to the water and very steep.  Getting it back up would be even less fun.  But Flyfishing Virginia and West Virginia swears theres access there.

[m4rch]

Hey guys I just found this forum and I am enjoying all of the information.  I just wanted to to let some of the posters that are looking for a place to wade the Potomac that I've always had great luck at Riverbend Park.  I've never really had that much luck from Algonkian but I am always shorebound.  Once you get into Riverbend walk downstream about 50 or so yards and there are a bunch of rocks about a 1/4 of the way out that I wade to and fish from.  Never been skunked and have caught some smallies up to 2.5 or 3 lbs.

Also if anybody is looking for some new gear the Sports Authority is selling some reels for a discounted rate and then an additional 30 percent off.  I just picked up either last years or 2 years ago Shimano Stradic 2500 for 70 bucks.  I'm in love with it.  Sticker price was 120 then the manager marked it down to 99 something and marked it down an additional 30 percent from that.  They have a ton of 1500 and 2500 Saharas that are about 30 bucks now after the markdown.  They are not displayed and are in a back room on  the left of the fishing dept.  If the manager Joel is there ask for him, if not anyone with a key at the front counter should be able to help you.  

I am heading out to the Shenandoah right off of Route 7 this weekend to wade.  I'll let everyone know how it is.  My buddy and I went for about 6 hours last Sat. and it was a little slower than normal.  My biggest was almost 2 lbs. with about another 20 dinks added in.  We went about 3 weeks earlier for another 6 hours and it was unreal.  I caught one that was about 3.5, a couple near 3, and about 20 or so anywhere between 1 and 2 lbs, with another 20 or 30 dinks.  It was an amazing time considering we only wade an area of about 100 to 150 yards.

Wish me luck.

[Paul Naj]

Welcome to the board!

Nice job on the smallies. Good luck this weekend and take some pics. Be sure to check out the SMB forum on this site as well.

[m4rch]

Thanks Paul.  Unfortunately I don't carry the camera when I'm wading, I have a hard enough time not losing my sunglasses every time I go out.  I also forgot to mention it's the Sports Authority in Sterling.  I've browsed the forums a little bit but I'm mainly on the articles now.  It's a little bit of an information overload coming to the reality of how much I really don't know. :-X

[ggfishing]

Hey guys I just found this forum and I am enjoying all of the information.  I just wanted to to let some of the posters that are looking for a place to wade the Potomac that I've always had great luck at Riverbend Park.  I've never really had that much luck from Algonkian but I am always shorebound.  Once you get into Riverbend walk downstream about 50 or so yards and there are a bunch of rocks about a 1/4 of the way out that I wade to and fish from.  Never been skunked and have caught some smallies up to 2.5 or 3 lbs.

Welcome to the board! I am new to here too though And also a new angler.

The Riverbend park is the only park I often go to(5-6times this July), But I never had the same luck as you did, only several bluegills and a few smallies less than 1lb. Hope I can see you there and learn some new skills. If you are going there recently, PM me if you do not mind :-[