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Summer Patterns
fishing report for May 10-15
Warm, low, clear, and electrical--ahh, the joys of summer. And smallmouth striking readily in the shallows, taking flies, blowing up on topwater lures--what could be better? Despite a bit of postspawn funk, fishing remained strong and steady in the river this week.
Anglers had variable success through the weekend of 5/13. Fish struck readily but some areas of the river still had light-biters. Big fish were in evidence though the largest fish had some luck--fooled but not finished in most cases. Zoom flukes and large surface flies, especially Dahlberg Divers and other hair bugs--were the ticket. Buzzbaits, chuggers, and other standards worked well in low light conditions.
Saturday's floats were delayed by a chemical spill at the treatment plant on Bakerton Road. Guides Dave and Mark F were able to keep things together with a little impromptu canoe jaunt down from Dargan's Bend. Add hellacious thunderstorms and wind later and you have an interesting day with 30-50 knot tailwinds to make Brunswick Pool feel more like an America's Cup downwind leg. Whitecapping waves smashing on ledgerocks made me think of stripers.
Now that the front is through and cooling things, fishing will likely steady into summer patterns and levels. That means long casts with surface and subsurface lures, lighter lines for spin-guys, and some hot fishing for smallies and walleyes. We have a few dates left in May and June, but the prime days are filling fast. Call Mark or e-mail Dave for further information.
Dave Motes
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Spawning Time--or is it?
fishing report for May 4-9
A little hint of summer made fishing explosively quirky for MKFS guides on the upper Potomac. The best news is that there seems to be a bumper crop of very large smallmouth in the middle river; the bad news is that, like very large fish everywhere, they're finicky and quirky. Trips decked a dozen large fish this past week in highly variable conditions.
Water levels dropped sharply--ok, fell off the table like a Sandy Koufax screwball--as water temps spiked into the mid-70's (and still climbing) over the past week. It buried that cold and rainy April in the memory banks and confused either the guides or the smallmouth or maybe both. Typical spawning behavior was rare as fish came in and bedded then got left high and dry as water levels fell almost two feet in ten days. In some deep areas or spots where water flow keeps the level stable fish were in typical spawning situations, easily provoked into striking Zoom Flukes, buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, etc. Many fish are bedded in such shallow, clear water that they are extremely hinky.
Last week provided stretches of fantastic fishing with as many stretches when fish couldn't be provoked at all. Certain areas of the river were much more productive than others. Saturday afternoon fish were suddenly close-mouthed with fewer hits, but a few chances at big fish. One smallmouth of almost five pounds came in and several others in the 18" range were caught. Sunday fish were bumping lures and taking grudgingly, with several large strikes that resulted in a hookup--then nothing. Smaller fish were often caught with the hook on the outside of their mouth. On Monday anglers had a window of fantastic fishing with four fish over four pounds and numerous smaller fish coming between 3 and 6 PM. Tuesday it was bump and run again, with six or seven fish between 15 and 17 inches but no hosses despite a very skilled angler and many promising hits. Fish behaved the same on grubs, Zara Spooks, buzzbaits, tiny Torpedoes, and a variety of finesse lures.
Smaller lures or flies will occasionally increase your success with bumping smallies, but may increase your chances of deep-hooking fish. One lure that will occasionally improve your odds is a spinnerbait, but spinnerbaits are best in cloudy water. These clear conditions call for long, accurate casts and persistence.
A note of caution with soft plastics. Like live bait, they can be very destructive to fish if the hooking process is mishandled. When smallies are taking well--blowing up on lures, striking hard--they take a lure or bait deep into the back of their mouth almost immediately and hold it there. To understand this process, imagine a bellows--that thing your grandfather used to help start the fire. The smallmouth's violent strike is wrapped around a sudden expansion of gills, mouth, and gullet to create a strong inverse pressure, like the intake of a bellows. Then a pair of muscles at the back of the throat clamp down on the trapped creature or lure and crush it, then it is drawn into the stomach. Teeth and lips are used less to catch and grab than to strain or hold a bait that is already in the mouth area.
When the fish takes the lure, reel up slack and set the hook immediately when you feel weight, movement, or any change in the lure. The image of Bill Dance waiting as a largemouth swims off with his plastic worm is death to a smallmouth, which will have the lure deep in its mouth by that time. You will get a good hookup, a spectacular head-shaking fight, and a dead fish. It will swim away, sure, but it will not likely survive in warm, clear water.
Should a fish take a lure deep, clip the line, try to pull the plastic off the hook (if it isn't already up the line), and release the fish. This will increase the likelihood that the fish will survive. To increase that likelihood further, remember that smallies in rivers are sudden and decisive feeders and there are few or no situations I can think of where waiting on a fish does any good.