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Up and Down and Dirty and Good Report for 8/1-8/15
Our weird and wet summer has finally caught up. . .steady high water gave way to a set of high-water crests that have made guiding difficult though fishing has been quite strong throughout. Just as it did around Father's Day, the river came up and dirty but warm, and fish responded by feeding heavily even though the scenery and the boating were iffy. So long as there was little trash in the water, bass fed well even in low visibility and spin anglers could score on bottom-oriented jigs and spinnerbaits.
One of the slugs of water was both 'doah and Potomac, and washed out several trips in the last days of July; the most recent one, last week, was all Potomac so some trips ran despite higher water and found clear 'doah water all the way down and kept every body happy. The key problem, of course, is visibility and flow for flyrodders, who normally count on August as prime time to show flies to bass in low, clear, cover-full water.
Grass remains extremely thick despite some high flows and crests over 7 at Harper's Ferry. The substrate and root systems were very stable after last year's low water, though the unusual species, such as Pondweeds, which have appeared in the Brunswick area, may have suffered a bit. Bug hatches remain sporadic on our stretch and the evening to dark bite we've come to count on in former years has cooled, but that's ok considering that the afternoon bite has been very strong, uncharacteristically strong. That may be due to a bumper crop of crayfish.
As levels have fallen this week water remains somewhat stained, so best bets for flyrodders are larger, paler flies for moving water, including poppers (even in dirty water--ask John's client who took a very nice fish on a popper in water with 4" visibility) and big nymph patterns that imitate hellgrammites and, especially, crayfish. Remember that those lures don't have to be perfect imitations in dirty water, so a big dark woolly bugger with some weight on it is probably a prime choice.
Spin guys--flash and drop are the keys. That's an either/or, not a both, so far as I know. Drop big jigs in cover and current breaks or against broken-rock or bluff shorelines; run big spinnerbaits in the same areas.
August is booked-looking except for weekends later, and September is filling rapidly as word of good fishing (reliable reports or not-so-reliable reports both) spread. We haven't seen any 20-inchers lately, and I'd doubt reports that they're plentiful, but excellent numbers of fish in the 12 to 17 inch range are making for an excellent late summer.
Dave
Steady summer times Report for 7/22-7/31
Typical summer patterns--with one interesting variation--obtain now on the middle river. Our ballyhood drought is nonexistent; the hay is high everywhere and my agricultural economist sources tell me that it may be the best corn harvest ever. We are finally getting steady summer levels that will allow wade fishing in the gravel beds and will concentrate fish in the river channels, but flows are good and steady. Easier on the guides.
Fishing has been very steady. We are still taking some larger fish, with the general average fish health and size a great improvement over years past. Weed growth is very heavy, especially in the Knoxville and Brunswick areas. The Shenandoah has finally stopped delivering dingy water, and clarity is strong even after thunderstorm days or even the four-day drizzlefest we had last week.
Strongest fishing has been midafternoon to evening, with a disappointing evening/nightfall bite. We have a theory, free here at MKFS.COM: crayfish. Jig-and-pig and tubes have been unusually strong, and a large proportion of caught fish have crawdads in their gullets (look for the antennae peeking out). Conversely, the topwater standards like buzzbaits, zoom flukes, and topwater flies have been good but not all, as they were last year. Strongest lures have been eighth-ounce bucktail or craft-fur jigs (or Frondorf/PRSC living rubber jigs) or other bottom-working jigs. Yamamoto hula grubs are a good choice if you are independently wealthy. One giveaway: a lot of bottom hits aren't distinct "tunks" like you get in the springtime. Fish are observing the lure then slurping it off the bottom, so a weedless (or rockless, more like) rig is a good choice. Fish it down there, let it stay.
Flyrodders are doing best on dark colored streamers or crayfish imitations which will need a bit of a dead-drift to get them down in the nymph zone. They don't have to be dead-bang crayfish lookalikes, and size is good. One of my recent clients took a nice 16 incher on a conehead woolly bugger in brown and olive, about size 2. Flukes still work well, and we've been using a variation by a Susquehanna-based outfit called Snoozers--I've thrown their 5" "thrasher" jerk bait in a brown/crawdad color with good success. It's a slimmer bait than my favorite in white, the Zoom Super Fluke, but it fishes very well and fish tend to hold it. I'm excited about checking into the rest of their selection of soft plastics. Check their site at http://www.SnoozersBaits.com .We have also been experimenting with circle-hook rigs for finesse baits; more on that later from Jeff Kelble, who has only one more important thing on his agenda than writing an article for this site. Anyway, if you're on the finesse bus, let those lures dead drift and work slow. We're also rigging them with big, heavy hooks to give them extra sink. Patience.
Those (such as myself) who can't get themselves out of the dahlberg-diver pattern have been having most success by throwing them far and working them fast--to draw fish up from the depths, presumably. Fish are also taking well on slow down-and-across deliveries across the deeper channels or on the fringes of big current-breaks. Topwater has been hit or miss, especially as the light falls.
That's the only downside. The low-light period from 6 to 9 pm has been very quiet on our stretch. White fly hatches have been sporadic (as they were last year) with some excellent showings early then very thin numbers, and very little surface activity of late even when the bugs are in evidence. The hallowed evening topwater bite has been only steady, though good afternoon fishing has more than made up for it. It's a bit strange, perhaps a function of the cool, cloudy, rainy pattern we've been in.
As always, an August lull right when the fishing's good. We've got some dates open in the next week and more later, and September and October--some of the best fishing of the year--is beginning to book up. Call or e-mail to check availability.
Dave
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Better Late than Never!
6/26-7/5
Summer's finally here on the middle river. What's the old adage--knee deep by the fourth of July? At the moment the river is still a tad deeper than knees, with dam releases and headwater rains making for pop-up afternoons, and the water is still well over means, but it has cleared and settled enough for the fly and the fluke and--especially--the buzzbait to begin to attract attention from the smallmouth bass.
After last year's scrapy conditions, it's not surprising that we are a bit shy. Reservoirs must have been full to bursting on the promise of the meteorgli--megiorals--metrolglo--weathermen. Then this fluky jetstream pipeline gave us a wet June while the corn pops in the husk throughout the south and midwest. So we have a late summer, so what--cool water and plentiful flows have to be healthier for the habitat and it makes it legal for my wife to wash her car three times a week. But it kept the fish a bit on guard, either eating heavily or laying off depending on whom you ask. Now we can see the bottom, and they're coming up.
Flukes and buzzbaits made a splash this week, as we hope for. Sunday and Monday trips hit good numbers of fish in the 8-14" range, though more short-strikers than gulpers were in evidence. Both days had a lackluster evening, with rainstorms and slight rises in the river keeping things quiet when in mid-July to September the evening bite should be hot. Fastwater fish more than made up for the evening lull, with the Needles and other riffled sections of the river fishing very well and even providing some larger fish, which isn't typical of our standard summer pattern. Fish were holding well back in the seams behind good rock cover, where the water is still quite deep. Later in the day, in the lower sections of the river, fish were holding more tight to the cover, but the aggressive feeding behavior of the morning is more in the flats and creases. Fish were especially common in the deeper seams near fast flowing water. Monday anglers Vince and Garry took two excellent fish in the 18-inch plus range by running buzzbaits through every conceivable crease and seam. They had many good hits on the buzz and took most of their 60 or so fish with it, including several others over 13" or so. Later in the afternoon in the prime water fish came on well for the flukes, with several other good fish making an appearance. The river was still over 3 at that time but clearing quickly.
The usual sour note of summer: bad behavior by tubers in the Needles to Dam 3 stretch. Some outfits are putting anybody out there, and the number of drunks and morons is up. Tube outfits who don't discourage drinking and littering need to be disciplined, perhaps even put out of business. One discouraging factor this year is a complete absence of enforcement from the Maryland DNR and the Park Service. In over twenty trips I haven't seen a single check, and I've seen a huge number of tubers without PFD's and often come into the dock with more of their trash on board than my own.
White flies and sulphurs should be along any day now, and heavy grass beds are dominating the Brunswick stretch. Several stretches and areas of the float trip are fishing very well--we know where!
Up and Down
6/18 to 6/25
Fluctuating water levels have kept guides on toes in the last ten days, with wild variation in both rivers, generally at different times, keeping both clients and fish on the move. In recent days action has swung wildly from excellent to poor, though even the poorest days offered good numbers of smaller fish. The general pattern has been poorer fishing on the rising water with a window of excellent action at the first hint of a hitch up, then solid fishing as the water falls. Clarity is also an issue, with dirtier water requiring bottom-bouncing crayfish imitation and limiting our usual summer fun with flukes and buzzbaits to an afternoon window. Weather has also been a factor, leading to afternoon boomer sessions that dampen fishing and anglers and occasionally provide unwelcome fireworks displays. Few of the boomers have been of the heaviest "hunch and pucker" variety but they have been enough to hitch the water levels up and turn the fish off.
Wading is still iffy with water levels hanging in the 3' zone at HF--Drought? What Drought?--but higher water has led to some seriously fat fish. That's good news bad news, of course, as the choice of what they're eating is key. Some are striking and holding lures instead of taking them deeply enough to get a good hookset.
Monday's trip suffered all of the above. Guides are often guilty of terminal optimism so I'll give you the worst case. Excellent anglers, already rebooked once for weather, and we couldn't buy a solid strike. First it was nasty hot, then we couldn't find a lunch spot that wasn't awash in boy scouts or trashed by the unclean. Then, after a late lunch, the fishing began to pick up sharply--until a badly organized line of thunderstorms bumbled around and spoiled the evening with tons of rain and just enough lightning to keep us unhappy and hugging the shoreline. End result: a couple of nice walleyes and about 50 fish, only a few of which topped 12 inches, out of a huge number of strikes. Eagles and eaglets and a glance at the mink, and my best jokes, and we call it a day. It's not always easy. Gracious clients always help.
But summer levels are gradually asserting themselves, water temps are getting up there, grass is growing and fish are looking up at the mayfly smorgasbord. Clarity improves an gauges begin to give good news, so fishing is going to be solid from now on.
Dave Motes
Muddy Action
Report for 6/17 and 18
With water temps and water levels up, the summertime high-water pattern is established and the fish couldn't be happier. It doesn't look great but it's an excellent time to catch a big fish.
MKFS and associates celebrated Father's Day on the island this weekend, enjoying the perspective of their river trip from the client's eyes. With fabulous dinner fare and good conversation, the party was only threatened by rising river levels which might have required a midnight bugout--but the river crested with about 18 inches of clearance before Bird Sanctuary Island became Bird Sanctuary Sandbar with Trees and Tents. The rain passed through and left a beautiful misty sunset, and the fish cooperated heavily. Motes and Murphy, fishing from a canoe, found many active bass in midriver seams and on bank patterns, with a very hot bite Sunday morning resulting in at least 50 fish total, including three smallmouth in the 18 range and some big catfish besides, with one 7 pound plus specimen finally wearing through Dave's six-pound test. Crayfish jigs--jig-and-pig and other bottom-bouncing presentations--prevailed, even in water with less than six inch visibility. Bank areas on islands--places with good clarity--were best, with midriver rock ledge complexes providing fewer but larger fish. Levels at Point of Rocks peaked at well over 6 feet Sunday night, and Harper's Ferry was nearly six. That's high for canoeing and fishing but in summer flows with warm water the fish can go on a tear.
With falling and clearing levels this week fish should gradually occupy each successive area of cover as it's exposed--look for ideal holds with good flow but an obstruction that would allow bass to cover likely areas of bottom as the forage--especially crayfish--venture out. Darker lures, especially purples and blues--will be best. Lift-and-drop presentation, with good bottom relation, will be the ticket. Fly guys will have to push water and fish big to draw strikes, though when the clarity improves they should be able to cash in as well. Read about Bottom Contact in the River Academy.
Fish are fat and happy and ready to go--so are we. Opening in July, especially weekdays. E-mail Dave or call Mark at 301-588-8742.
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Summer--it's about Time
Report for 6/4-6/11
Water temps finally returned to the mid-70's and clarity improved this past week, bringing much improved bass action in the middle river. Though we're happy with the normal water table and solid, cool flows from a resources standpoint, the fluky weather and cool water made it tough to catch large numbers of smallies. That's changing.
Trips last week ran in high Potomac flows and typical Shenandoah summer pool. Potomac flows peaked at 4 feet on the 8th but have carried a stain since mid-May. The light clear flow of the 'Doah provided a refuge for our anglers where good action kept the second half of the trip exciting. Some larger fish were unwary enough to strike in the cooler stained water, so a mixed bag resulted--Jekyll and Hyde River.
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday began to resemble the summer Potomac. Fish took Zoom Flukes and topwaters more and bit consistently on tubes and jig-and-pigs, though those lures can be tough for the novice angler. Crankbaits worked well, too--anything that moved through the deeper water and caught the attention of the fish, which were bottom related. Mark Frondorf's clients took two large walleyes in the confluence area on jig and pigs, and my clients added another on a crankbait lower down--all healthy, sassy fish. The walleye fishery is really strong in the Potomac now, and we have some effective strategies for targeting them. Nobody's booked us just for walleyes yet but we could do it, and probably put some nice fish in the boat for you.
Bass were actively feeding in the lower water column, and up to the subsurface in clearer water areas. Jigs and flies that get down in the water column have produced best. 1/8 oz jig-and-pigs in darks and tans produced the best fish on Sunday--six fish over 15 inches but none bigger than about 17, and the big walleyes mentioned above, one of which topped four pounds. Crawfish seems to be the speciality du jour this June. These fish are fat and looking down. Buzzbaits and zoom flukes--traditional warm water lures--have not become a mainstay yet. Since the smallmouth prefers crawfish and other lower-water-column forage, that may mean that they are finding plenty to eat down there. Good for them. In a switch from the usual pattern larger fish have been holding tight to banks, especially around roots and clay or dirt banks--probably some crawfishy explanation for that as well.
With the heat of the weekend, temps peaked into the warm and comfortable range and wade fishing became comfortable. Mark Frondorf took a nice 16 inch smallie on a chartreuse Dahlberg while wade fishing Sunday--the first real summertime flyrodding fish of any size I've seen. Levels are still pretty high for comfortable wading but fish have become available and temps are tolerable.
Incidentally we are in for a bumper crop of emergent aquatic vegetation. Last year's low water created vast mats of grass, both star grass and a kind of pondweed not usually found in the main river. These mats are reappearing and are already on the surface in Brunswick, channeling water. It'll look like a golf course in a week or two.
Summer heat and lighter rain is forecast to continue, and the Potomac is dropping fast. Soon the oxygenated, grassy stretches of the river will begin to produce large numbers of mid-sized fish. We can't wait. July is beginning to fill up, and later June days are becoming rare. Call Mark at 301-588-8742 or e-mail Dave for details and dates.
A high water Weekend
Report for 5/25-5/30, 2000
Last week's rain revisited in the form of an 18" rise in river levels that came down during the day Thursday and affected fishing through Sunday at least. Combined with cool, breezy, wet conditions all weekend, that slug of water dampened fishing sharply but did make chances for some larger fish.
As always, catching a rise as it comes up in the warmer months can mean a window of good fishing. Thursday's clients had to work hard but moved a good dozen fish over 14", including two stout walleyes, throwing spinnerbaits into dirty water. A strip of clear water in the middle of the Potomac narrowed to nothing through the day, but fish were available here and there all day. Things were helped considerably by a 19" 3 1/2 pound smallie that wolfed a chartreuse spinnerbait from a ledge on about the fourth cast. From there it was work, work as the day wore on.
The rest of the weekend was much the same as the water fell gradually and held its stain. The Shenandoah was the main culprit in this rise, and true to recent form the 'doah ran dirtier than the river level would have suggested. Friday and Saturday were tough fishing even as the river fell and cleared somewhat--levels of 4+ are tough in our stretch since the river washes out so much of our tastiest structure. Heavy grubs and jig-and-pig combinations moved some fish and spinnerbaits the rest, including another heavy walleye and a dozen or so more 14-16" bass. Several largemouth bass were caught on Saturday. Creek mouths, side channels, and the most protected near-bank rock holds were most productive. Many fish were holding well down in the tail of pools or in creases or behind sharp rock cover. With the water up many fish are in 3 or 4 feet of water--let lures settle down deep to find them, or use large, visible spinnerbaits to draw them up.
Jeff Kelble had a good day on Monday with about 50 fish in and several in the 17 inch range, and (as always!) a couple more larger fish hit-and-miss. Jeff's clients learned the tube and probed deeper pockets with good patience to move the heavier bass--a pretty typical falling water pattern. Tubes are an excellent way to provoke the better bass but they are tough to fish well. It's easier when there's plenty of water in the creek.
There's more coming, too. Paw paw gauge (http://md.usgs.gov/rt-cgi/gen_stn_pg?station=01610000) shows another slug of water on the way, but with the Shenandoah low again it will probably spread thin before hitting our areas of the river about Thursday. With some sun and dry weather, fishing will recover this week and summer patterns will assert with the good fishing that promises.
Dave Motes and Jeff Kelble
A Chilly Weekend
Report for 5/18-5/24, 2000
Fishing has steadily improved from the weekend into the week as the postspawn
blues passed off and a little new water came down the creek from the series of rainy days
and thunderstorms over the past few days. Summer patterns are opening up with the
strong, steady fishing they promise, and with our chunky and large fish stocks we should
be in the meat of a banner season.
It wasn't so nice on the weekend. In fact, it reminded me of Minnesota, maybe
a month along. . .As we kicked off from the ramp Friday morning, the day went nasty on
us. A distinct bar of cloud came blowing down from the west, and we were off.
I said, "It looks lighter behind it. . ." but it was rain--steady, cold,
with wind. Nothing to do but to hunker down and keep casting. Which they
did--congratulations to the clients, who kept the flies in the water all day long,
frothing up the postspawn Potomac and tempting enough fish to make a day of it. I
guess the bright side is that all the bad behavior--wind, rain, moon phase, and finicky
fish--came together together.
All weekend the fish gradually opened up from their postspawn funk, and things should be stronger from now on. Bars of wind and drizzle combined with temps in the 50's made it seem more like March than May. Fish were picky, pecking and tapping at flies and spin lures; virtually all fish taken were males and they topped out at around 14 inches. Spin anglers took some larger fish all weekend, with large topwaters and buzzbaits making the best impression--but even that was hit and miss. Good spin anglers were able to convert larger numbers of hits into hookups, but even treble hooks took fish outside of the mouth. Friday's best fish took a large Dahlberg Diver in russet and tan, and came in with the barbless TMC 800 1/0 hook seated firmly in his forehead a good inch from his mouth. That is the way it is in the postspawn on a full moon, I guess. Compadre Harry Schiavone reports good fishing in the Seneca stretch, with some big fish (though skinny) coming in. The Post fishing report was highly optimistic, and it only covers the river from Brunswick on down.
One Saturday trip went off--one elected to wait for dryer pastures--and those anglers shivered through a pretty good day of fishing. As the rain broke up in the afternoon fish became a little more cooperative with one pressing the 16 inch mark, and more hits though still well below our normal summer expectations. More rain is falling at the moment so the river will rise and cool this week, and stimulate some real feeding as the big hens shake off their postspawn glooms and begin to rebuild themselves.
There are three common causes for picky fish on the Potomac: full moon phase, which tends to stimulate night or low-light feeding on molting crayfish; postspawn, which may last from a few days to two weeks; and clear water, which makes fish hinky for obvious reasons. This past weekend we had all of those, yet still had some reasonable fishing on the middle river.
Monday and Tuesday were different matters. Larger fish began to appear--the middle cohort of smallies--and many of those are probably females in the 13-16 inch range. These are staple summer fish. The fish were aggressive and agreeable, though the Needles and Dam 3 areas are still fishing more slowly than the stretch from the confluence on down. Jig-and-pig is a good solution for fish in this late postspawn period--they tend to be sulky and deep and a quarter-ounce jig is just the thing to imitate the one forage that smallmouth will always move for, the crayfish. John Hayes took over 100 fish on Monday though still hitting a ceiling at about 16". Tuesday was more of the same, and Bryan Kelly at Anglers Inn reports similar summer pattern success in his haunts from Dam 3 on up. Time to break out the flyrod and the wading boots!
MKFS is darn near booked up for May and June, though a few dates are still open. Speak now or wait until July.
Dave Motes, Mark Frondorf, Bryan Kelly, Jeff Kelbe, and John Hayes