I went to smallwood today to practice and was confronted with lots of thick grass and balls/schools of shad that were 1 to 2 inches long, There were some shad flipping out of the grass and the smaller shad were outside the grass. The shad were pretty shallow in only 1 to 2 feet of water. I fished grass along the bank that was in 6 feet of water. My dad got 1 bite on a bluegill colored swimming jig paired with a double header colored rage craw. I tried throwing a sammy and walking the dog with it and could not get bit, I also tried a Sexy shad colored spinnerbait along the grass and could not get bit. I tried a square billed crankbait and could not get bit. My dad had a few pecks on his Berkley Chigger Craw. I also tried a Rat over the grass and could not get bit. I also threw a senk all over and could not get bit. Any suggestions? I tried a White rage toad and could not get bit. It was 80 degrees here and blue skies and sunny................ The shad were very active and were constantly jumping and breaking the surface. The bottom of ther river was covered in algae.

First off... Tide is very important. You will do the best when the tide is moving.

Some key baits:

Buzz frog

Hollow Bodied Frog

Senko

1/2oz pegged trig

Spook/Sammy/Popper

There are good areas to fish close to the launch site. You can fish straight across on the point (trash point). Fish the grass mat 100 yards out and 50 yards to the left of the launch. Fish the first point on the left of the launch. If you need more info just PM me.

Is 20 pounds possible from Smallwood?

20 lbs in possible in any creek in the Potomac.

Is 20 pounds possible from Smallwood?

http://www.laprbass.com/standings.php

Scroll down to the potomac results from this year.  These txs launch from Leesylvania, so I bet at least some of these winning bags came from Mattawoman.

Ok, My mom talked to the tournament director today and he said there will be a 150 boat tournament going out of smallwood on Saturday and that he is going to have us out on the water by 6 a.m. How bad is the fishing pressure going to affect the fish? Do I need to down size. Im thinking of starting first thing in the morning with a small black buzzbait, then a jitterbug, then a popper, then a sammy, and then either a rage shad or eeliminator to try to get my limit early. The tournament director said he has had 10 of his guys call in and say they will be participating in the other tournament going out of smallwood........

I think the tournament your in is over, but just an fyi. Smallwood and Mattawoman hold a ton of fish, as do both points and around Trash Point. I've always done well with traps, 4" worms and jigs. Like someone said, all the creeks can hold good fish and tide plays a big factor. I like the outgoing.

I here pitching a jig is very productive on the potomac when the bite is slow

It is over, I got 3 bites in a 9 hour day........ One of the bites I had was in the grass, the bass got hooked and I had pressure on him but by the time we got to him by way of trolling motor he was gone. My Partner caught one 14 incher that weighed about a pound by punching isolated grass on the main river. Several guys didn't catch a thing all day, only 1 guy had a limit weighing 9 pounds. I did catch a 6 pound cat fish

goodluck man