Potomac at he WW Bridge August 8th

[RiverCat09]

With all the trolling and live lining for rockfish (and sometimes cow nosed rays!) this summer, I’ve had an itch that I’ve wanted to scratch for a while, the lower Potomac catfish itch. A trip to the river in the flat back canoe was a little over due, so we took only our second trip of the year this past Thursday August 7th.

The fishing was a little slow, but it was a gorgeous evening. Our efforts above the Wilson Bridge on the Potomac yielded us three fish apiece for a total of six. The highlight of the fishing was when a 10 1/2 blue inhaled a piece of cut spot took off like a rocket, and broke the surface 40 feet from the canoe. I grabbed the rod, and the fight was on. I was able to quickly get the fish to the side of the boat, as Norm readied the net. On one try, Norm netted the fish perfectly. The hook was lip hooked, and was easily removed. The fish was not measured for length, but it tipped the scaled at about 10½ pounds. We took a couple pictures, and the mini brute was released.

This was not amongst our most memorable trips to the river, but between the sunset and the lightning, is was beautiful evening punctuated by the occasional pullage of a channel or blue cat.

[crabby and son]

Where were you fishing. My 7 year old wants to catch a catfish in the Potomac. We have tried near Fletcher's and by Blue Plains. Please enlighten me, bait, depth ect! Those are some nice looking cats.Thanks Gary