Potomac River Rondef and Jcrzy 4/18/08

April 18, 200818 yr

Today's Report

Not much to report. We couldn't put together a pattern all day. All our fish were caught scattered throughout the day in different areas. We launched out of Leesylvania a little late cause I had to wait for the wife to leave for work before I left the house. Got there and launched at 815 or so and cruised across river to Mattawoman Creek.

We fished the bay area to the right of the first point near Smallwood State Park. About 4-5 casts in with my Mann's Minus One in a crawdad color I hooked into a small bass probably just shy of keeper size and lost him by the boat. Soon after my dad boated a 2lb 8oz largemouth using his Mann's Minus One crank but in a chartreuse and blue color. That was towards the tail end of the outgoing tide. Then the bite slowed down.

I missed another fish on a Zoom G-Tail worm (rigged weedless). I went to set the hook after a good sized fish gave my three - four tugs and the hook never penetrated the plastic. So I changed it to texposed but couldn't get it to bite again.

After we fished the submerged grass for a couple hours we headed out to the edge of the grass line near the channel of the bay but got no bites there.

We went over to smallwood and started trolling between the two dock areas on the inside edge of the docks. My dad boated another largemouth, this time going for 2lbs 5ozs. I followed suit less than five minutes later catching a 1lb 5oz largemouth on a Berkley painted green/chartreuse rattle trap. My dad's came out of a boat slip on one of the dock areas to the far left (if facing Smallwood). Mine came by casting out toward rip rap where it meet a grass edge.

After working around here a little more we bolted across the creek and tried the other side with no luck (too many boaters in the spots we wanted to try), so we headed back across river to Neabsco Creek.

It was VERY low tide at this point and we were trying to stay on the main river or fish the mouths of smaller creeks. On our way toward the train bridge I casted between the bridge and right shoreline by some stick ups and nabbed my second fish. It went for 1lb 3ozs and was barely a keeper. After venturing into Neabsco we realized our trolling motor and gas motor were kicking up mud (1-2 foot depths) so we bolted to Powell's and checked the outside of that creek but it was exactly the same.

We decided we would spend our last hour fishing the over pressured jettys by the boat launch. While fishing the inside of the one far to the right hand side (if facing Leesylvania) I managed to hook into one last fish that went for 1lb 6ozs. And it was the most energetic fish of the day. It jumped three times out of the water but didn't manage to come off. It was a firm hookset. I caught him on the same Zoom worm I lost my fish on earlier. My first time using this bait as I bought these yesterday at Boater's World.

So.... summary of the day -

We caught fish on Rat L Traps, Berkley Rattle Traps, Mann's Minus One Cranks, and Zoom G-Tail Worms. Fish during outgoing tide were caught in submerged grass in 3-5 feet of water near the entrance of Mattawoman Creek. Fish during low tide were caught at Smallwood State Park by fishing boat slips and rip rap around more scattered grass. We caught one fish on the outside of a creek where it met the rail bridge in front of Neabsco during extreme low tide (on a regular Smokey Joe Rat-L-Trap). And one last fish was caught by a rock jetty as the tide was starting to come back in on a Zoom G-Tail Worm in Junebug color.

The bite was tough during low tide but we found a few scattered fish. We tried to stick to main river and the outside of creeks during this time but didn't have much luck. We lost a total of four fish today and could have been culling had we landed some. My dad lost one on a reaction strike with a yellow perch colored jerk bait and I believe another on a jig or worm.

Total fish - 5

Total weight - 8lbs 11ozs

Had a great time with my dad and can't wait to get back on the Potomac. First wave of early bird spawners should be coming through in a couple days at the full moon. Three days of temps almost at 80 I would imagine put em' on the beds in the warmer waters of these creeks.

Pictures are starting with the largest fish and going smaller.