Hows the Potomac looking?

[Jeffrey Rasband]

Looking to float the White's Ferry stretch for Smallmouth. Anyone get a good look at the river and can report on the water clarity in that stretch? Looks like the flows are finally fishable with the long road but I just want to make sure the fish will be able to see my popper :cool2:

[SteveL]

I was out on the Po below Great Falls this evening and I have been on the river between there and Harpers Ferry each day for the past 4 days. The level is stabilizing nicely and the clarity is improving each day, but for sure the river has more water in it and faster flows than we usually have this time of year. It is fishable now and clarity will improve a lot over the next few days--it should be excellent by the weekend. Good luck and please post a report if you go!

FYI, the Monocacy has some of the most sediment laden water of any of the close by tributaries, last weekend the Shen. and Potomac at Harpers had much better clarity than the Po below the confluence with the Monocacy. If its marginal down river sometimes its worth fishing in the Point of Rocks, Lander and Brunswick areas or Harpers Ferry if you really want to fish. Also its a good water clarity indicator to watch for the Monocacy to drop down and flatten out. See:
USGS Real-Time Data for Maryland_ Streamflow (http://waterdata.usgs.gov/md/nwis/current?type=flow)
USGS Real-Time Water Data for USGS 01643000 MONOCACY RIVER AT JUG BRIDGE NEAR FREDERICK, MD (http://waterdata.usgs.gov/md/nwis/uv/?site_no=01643000&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060,00062,00054)

[HJS]

Jeff & Steve - Late last week parts of northwest Frederick County in the moutains was hit by an incredibly severe thunderstorm. I don't think I've seen rain that heavy for a very long time. It only lasted 10-15 minutes but thats was all it took for heavy run-off to carry off lots of farmers soil. Friends Creek and the Monocacy looked like a chocolate milkshake. The Monocacy may keep bleeding its muddy water into the Patomac for several more days yet.

[Jeffrey Rasband]

Sounds like I might as well hit Brunswick-POR stretch this weekend just to be safe. It's a shame the Mudocacy is so sensitive to rain as thats another place I would love to float.

[SteveL]

Its not looking good for finding clear water on the Po soon. It rained all day in Jefferson (near PoR-Brunswick) and the forecast calls for more. See:
http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/fill_94qwbg.gif
http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/p120i12.gif

[HJS]

I fished Chain Bridge today, 6-17-09, 10:00am to 2:30pm. Water clarity wasn't too bad, better than I expected, maybe 2'-2.5', not great, but it'll do. I caught 4 stripers -- approximately 15", 18", 18", and 22". Also caught about 10 catfish from 16" on up to cats I never saw, they just kept going downriver. I was using my heavy spinning gear too. Everything was caught on 4" & 5" opening night BAs on 1/2oz heads. I had the feeling there were very few stripers there. I probably caught a striper every 100 casts. The cats kept things interesting, especially the big ones. Rained light/med 1/3 of the time. Started raining harder on the way home. We'll see how much we get by morning.

[SteveL]

Well we have plenty of rain--its coming in waves like hurricane rain!

Its time to hit the ponds and lakes or tidewater, within a day the rivers will not be fishable for a while for anything other than cats.

[Salmo trutta]

Just when you think it's going to get better, last night happens. I fished the mouth of Seneca Creek at the Potomac the other night. The Creek was clear but the river was still muddy but definitely improving. The Monocacy was still supplying all the silt.

I don't think I remember a year like this when the rain just keeps coming or when we had so many back to back torrential storms. The intensity of these storms is irregular and the frequency of them is just not normal. Those tiny streams just can't take all this flooding. All this water falling in such a short period of time is reaping havoc on the streams and bay.

Well.... there is one river system that fishes well during high water events and that's spring creeks. Normally they are constant, stable, low and clear bodies of water but with a good rain, they get turbid, the invertebrates get mixed up, worms get washed into the stream and the fish become stupid for once. They too can get chocolate milk but it takes a lot for that to happen and they usually begin to return to normal rather quickly because their drainage area is tiny. Spring creeks begin from a hole in the ground and are usually good size from the beginning. So... you want to catch some decent fish, or better yet trout, during a rainy year or rainy time.... than fish a spring creek.

[Jeffrey Rasband]

Man this rain sucks. Thinking of taking the canoe to Prettyboy then the GP for smallmouth and trout, respectively. Anyone have any advice on longrodding Prettyboy? I'm thinking with all this rain and cool weather the smallies will still be near the surface and away from the thermocline.

[HJS]

Jeff - Unless you have a season pass to launch at Prettyboy, you'll have to fish it from shore. The is no daily launch fee there and no boat rentals. If you are fishing from shore then Loch Raven is generally a better bet. You can rent a rowboat at Loch Raven too.

I'm guessing with all this rain that the Gunpowder is flowing strong but clear.

[Salmo trutta]

I hear Pretty Boy has some HUGE bronze backs. Check Jeff Little's book out. He's been dialilng in on those big trophy lake smallmouth. I'd say you had a very good plan but I didn't realize it was seasonal only.

Any of the other reservoirs could be doing well too but clarity could be an issue. Can't go wrong with Gunpowder trout.

Black Hills is a lot closer to home and tends to fish well after a rain. I think the lake is too clear any other time thus making fishing difficult but the fish feel safer in the murkier water near the creek mouths. It might be too murky too close to a stream but I'm sure it will settle out some. Then you have LSC trout to play with too.

[HJS]

I forgot to mention that both Liberty and Loch Raven Reservoirs also have a seasonal passes for private boats. Years ago you could trailer in and launch private boats on Loch Raven on a daily bases but that has since stopped. Now its season pass only. And to make matters worse, once you buy a season pass for a private boat, your boat can not be used anywhere else except the 3 City Reservoirs... zebra mussel thing.

[SteveL]

The Po at Little Falls went from 3.8 ft to 4.9 ft (8.5K cfs to 20.8K cfs) in a half a day, its amazing! The ground is so saturated that the rain running off the riverbanks and little tribs is flashing the river up.

It was like chocolate milk below Great Falls tonight. I saw a 10 lb class channel cat get landed on the VA side near Rocky Island.

One local fishing spot not often mentioned is in widewater, the C&O canal above Anglers Inn (which is located on Clara Barton pky). Last friday I saw a shoreline fisherman land a 4+ lb lg. mouth, I think he was fishing an unweighted plastic bait right along a rock wall that is part of the canal. I paddled and carried up the canal from near Anglers and then came down the river today, and we had such hard rain the canal above widewater was muddy. I don't remember seeing that before, but widewater was still clear and fishable. Anyway widewater is another local place to consider when the river is muddy.

[Salmo trutta]

I've fished widewater with a canoe a few times and quite a few times from shore. The lock upstream of wide water is often a hot spot for big bass.

Or anywhere along the rocky shoreline too. We lost a LM bass in there once that looked like Floridian trophy. But there were also lots of carp that stayed near the surface. Some of them looked like common carp but others may have been quil gordans (sp?) or quil backs or some other inferior mouth bottom feeder.

I'm fishing Keystone State park and Summerset Lake this weekend for Muskie. Two small impoundments that are supposed to be loaded with smaller muskie, something like 5 fish per acre and they are both less than 75 acres in size. It would be cool to get one of them on a fly.

[Capt.Nick]

It was a bit cloudy upriver in Washington county last monday.

[Capt.Nick]

Prettyboy has always had the largest Smallies in the state.I knew guys that caught 8#ers back in the 60s.Duke Nohe was a sharpie up there catching 8s every year .RIP