We all know about the intersexing of smallies on the Potomac but new research has found the intersexing of smallies on two other great local waters the Monocacy and Conocheuge(sorry bout spelling). I dont know the exact link but it is on the Frederick News Post website. Very interesting

This sounds strange, but I guess stranger things have happened.  So, do you mean that these fish have both types of reproductive organs?  If so, are they able to fertilize their own eggs, or is it necessary to have a spawning partner?  Is this a very common occurrence in the rivers you mentioned?

It is realy common on the potomac. As for my river, the Monocacy, it was just recently discovered. If you go to mdfishing.org the article is there.

I'd be interested to hear about what truly causes this abnormality and what effect it has on the reproduction rates.  The article said that they'll study the effects on reproduction this spring.  Hopefully after they test their hypotheses on that subject, then they can fix the problem.

I sure do hope so because it is one of the best smallmouth fisheries in the state. It is not that large of a river and the past years have shown bad reproduction rates.Hopefully, this has nothing to do with it.

I believe this has also been found on both forks of the Shenandoah river, not sure though.

From what I see on that post, the data was collected up to 2005. My fishing partner and I know a few people at DNR. We had asked late spring last year how the smallies were doing on the Potomac up here in our neck of the woods. The word was the smallies were making a pretty good rebound! I'll have to touch base with my contacts again and see if they have any updates.