Basser714

thanks musky slayer. I have seen a few monsters from the boat, i'd guess they were 5 pounders. but seeing fish in water they always look bigger. The water magnification thing has always made me wonder what they really are. But i am very happy with my 2.8 pounder. But know there are bigger fish to be had. Thanks for Whites Ferry tip.

cool thanks for the feedback. The biggest ones me and my friends have pulled out this year look big... then you weigh them and to make a long story short, we havent even broken 2 pounds yet this year. So i was really happy to pull that fatty out, and even happier to hear he is one of the bigger out there this year. of course, i snuck back there today on my lunch break and got shutout... like usual.

thanks 89. i just had to run and tell the internets! I am not sure how big the smallies get north of chain bridge, but that 2.8 pounder was easily the biggest I have pulled out of the potomac this year. If you dont mind sharing whats the biggest you have pulled out of the upper this year? I am just wondering how he ranks compared to others this season. Its funny on the cast before I landed him, i pulled in a branch. The fish felt the same, and then his mouth emerged at the surface, darn i was happy. I even let up at one point to see if I felt anything, but it just stayed heavy. I like the way the bigger fish are more mellow and laid back then their angry little brothers.

i got a huge smallie today at lunch time just north of fletchers boathouse. 18 inches that came in just under 3 pounds, a personal best. On an Orange Senko in current. I didnt feel anything, just the classic hmm the line seems real heavy. I was expecting a log.

hey brian. the area and the fish I am referring to are all near the bridge. It may be a total coincidence that the fish I have caught lately have had sores etc. I have caught many before that with zero issuses. So if everyone is seeing no problems, its probably my poor fishing techniques lol. Only the swimming wounded near blind and starving buy my unnatural senkolicious presentations. Joking aside, I cant see how it would be that one part of the lake. Maybe next time i will take a picture. It was a bit disturbing but I am happy to hear no one else has seen issues. Phew. We need the fish there to be strong.

I have seen some folks from here hitting the spot referenced in previous posts at Black Hill recently! Its kind of funny, as I see a boat approaching, I speculate where they are going... and to steal a redskins football reference: Bingo! The last 4 fish I have caught at Black Hill have all had health issues. One dude was missing half his lower jaw. Red spots and sores galore.

I didnt even have to read the link. Living in Potomac, i have heard this disturbing news long ago. The river going through our nations capital is one of the more polluted in the country. Ironic isn't? They dont even test the drinking water in montgomery county. The most recent test in DC Found ~6 drugs in DC tap water: Carbamazepine Monensin Naproxen Sulfamethoxazole the most notable. What drinking DC water does to your body... is that nature's fault? Well whose fault is it? No matter the cause, one cannot deny the horrible water quality in our country. And it is deteriorating. You can blame MSN, but that is old news in these parts. I wont belabor the recent warning to not eat strippers out of the bay because of the high mercury content. Lets wise up and not blame the fish. Everyone knows the species doesnt need dual organs to survive. Thus its probably not their doing. Nature doesnt turn the key on stuff like that, and if so, not when its not needed nor that quickly. Being a medicationation does have its downfalls and thats a tough pill for some to swallow.

i landed a 24 inch musky on a tiny torpedo black about 6 years ago at BH. Of course thought it was a big bass until I landed him. I have seen many more since then including many this year (three were hooked and two others in the water). One was a monster. But I havent seen any in months and suspect the run may be over. Last year I saw one and then he started feeding. I was by the stick pile just northeast of the bridge in "the pan fish cove" and spotted him. Then I saw him attack a BG and thrash him about. i was scrambling to get my jig out there and feebly pitched it and snagged into that beaverish stick pile so I just watched the feeding. It was awesome. Yep Hell is right, the lake started to come to life about 3 years ago with 2 pounders. Before that, I had thought there was a massive fish kill... it had dried up for me. The stuff that worked before that stopped. Right around the cicada times IIRC. I bet they tasted nasty and the bass said noooo more lol. I caught fish years before that and then it just went cold, but slowly came back to life. Thanks again Hell and B89.

hell thanks for the valuable information. I sent off an email to you. I wasnt planning a trip up to the lake this week but now I may have to! And will dig deep down in the box for something different.

Appreciate the tips hell. All the DNR and Times august fishing reports for august conflicted with what you said and what I saw. I still knew they were there, and I was there. I think you need to go pro with your august numbers. Maybe some here remember the more lean years. Times have changed but august was slow for me and I bet others. I know the fish are there but getting to those 30 foot trees is tough for us shoreman sometimes. Believe me i have gone as deep as i can in as many places as i can. And i pulled a 6 a month ago so my doors of perception are open. Fall bite to me means when are they are going to come up from 30 feet. Look at the insane number of fall fishing articles on this site. Water temps control their lives. They fall into patterns even if you land a 7 on the slowest day. We all know they start feeding more heavily based on drops in water temperatures and increased metabolism. And I think we all know a bass cant turn down a properly presented meal. For some of us, getting to where they are is the hurdle, not what color chunk to use on my favorite boo. Water temps in a res are a bit more complex than a lake. Thats what I wanted to know about. Thanks for sharing all your tips.

Well B89 you were right. I went to Dickerson today and it was all slack water and grass everywhere. i did see a huge fish on the opposite side launch out of the water 3x in a row by the VA shore. It must have been a musky if not a small sub. We headed North and worked the shore at Point of Rocks and got two dinks and did see a few big ones lurking around. We headed further north about 5 miles and I got a small and a large which was cool.

I usually check the gauges south of there. I dont have much luck when the water is murky and have found with higher water levels that that grass floating in the water is always draped on my lures no matter i use. My noise makers and brights no help. So it sounds like the levels are lower than optimal. It sounds like you go there a lot more than i do. I dont have a boat so low levels usually mean better shorelines and clearer water, all things equal. It seems historically a spike in level should be occuring soon. More than water levels, turbidity is what i like to know. It seems there is some correlation with levels but of course there is no turbidity gauge.

If anyone has been up to Dickerson lately let me know how the bite was. I checked the USGS site and levels are a bit high - discharge about normal though. I am curious about the turbidity and wish there was a site that monitored that. I imagine it will be stained at least. A webcam pointing at the river if nothing else would be nice. Its always nice to have the C&O to fall back on.

thanks B89. My noon trip to the Potomac today was a failure. Better than sitting at the lunch table at work, naturally. There just arent a lot of prime smallie locations that I know of that i can reach on a quick lunch time trip but I will keep trying.

I am a "Murland" shoreman. I fish the upper potomac Tuscarora down to just North of Fletcher's. I also fish Black Hill and Cloppers Lakes. I also do some lower potomac when I can get on the friends boat. I usually use soft plastics but am increasing my arsenal after some recent trips to BPS. Some research shows reservoirs dont follow typical fall lake patterns because the coldest water gets drained. I checked the water temp on shore yesterday and it was 65 degrees. Does anyone know from previous years know when the fall bite is usually best at Black Hill? Thanks of course. I am thinking about heading out to Dickerson after reading all of the above posts. I am sneaking out to get a few casts in for some lunch time smallies.