It was a slow summer...

Well it was a slow summer for me in the fishing department. Since the posts you saw over Memorial Day, I only got on the water three total times. Once on a trip to Beaver Island for carp (I know, I owe you a write up), once on a smallmouth float on the James River, and once a couple weekends ago on the C&O Canal.

The canal wasn't much to write about. I hooked a couple fish, but broke them both off trying to land them. The space canal between 7 and 8 was almost completely empty of water. Between 6 and 7 was fish-able, but low and dirty. I would rate the area as "fish somewhere else" based on what I saw. Plus, with the de-watering of the canal coming up soon, it's probably only going to get worse.

That being said, I did see two monstrous grass carp in the main stem of the Potomac. It was a little surprising to see them there since they aren't native (and generally can't reproduce around here) and I hadn't ever heard of a stocking program in the past. Regardless, I couldn't even get them to glance at my flies.

Hopefully soon I should have some video for you from the past few months...

Joaquin Effects

The effects of Hurricane Joaquin will be impacting our fishing for a few days at least, but it's hard to say how long with how frequently it seems to be changing directions. Few of the models still have it making landfall over the mid-Atlantic, or even anywhere in the mainland. Regardless, all the streams should be blown out for the next week at least, I would guess based on the rain we've already received. Besides the rivers just being too muddy, it would be downright dangerous to wade into any streams or rivers. The non-tidal section has predictions at the Little Falls Pump Station of the river still rising by Monday approaching flood stage. The Tidal Potomac at Georgetown is expected to approach flood stage with the next two high tides, and is expected to flood with continuing intensity at high tides through at least Monday. The predictions don't go beyond Monday yet, but I'll be keeping my eye on them. While no one wants the property damaged associated with floods, when the Tidal Basin floods, it creates some fantastic grass flats where the carp are known to come up and feed. We often see that with spring floods, but we may may not see that in the fall. Depending on how badly things flood, the river could mix with the C&O Canal, which could either let fish escape, or hopefully, bring some big fish in that get caught up in the canal. I'm thinking we won't hit those levels though.

Looking ahead at the forecasts, Saturday is definitely a wash (pun intended) for fishing of any sort, but maybe there will be a break Sunday if you have some still water you can hit. Next week should be nice, so lots of opportunities to stick with the still water or even the Canal. Hopefully the following weekend will give the waters enough time to get in some fall fishing.

Is it still summer?

I had a very busy end of the summer, but finally was able to get back on the water on Saturday. Fall made a rapid appearance last week with some fairly cool temps all week. I had no idea what to expect for the fishing.

I first hit Lock 7-8 on the Canal to tune up on sight fishing. The water was high again. In fact, I've never seen more water above Lock 8. The first section of water below 8 was crystal clear, but quickly became pretty muddy after a couple hundred yards. I could only find on fish that was mudding and visible. A few more were throwing silt, but were too deep. There were quite a few that were feeding on something off the surface, but I couldn't figure out what it would be this time of year. Needless to say, after a couple hours, I struck out and moved on to the main stem of the Potomac.

The water was lower than I ever fished before on the main stem. It was also crystal clear. I thought this might be good because the fish would stack up in some of the holds and I'd be able to see them from further away. I'm not sure if it was the low water that made it too difficult for fish to get into the normal places I find them or if the cooler temps made the shallows less appealing, but I didn't see a single fish. I'm sure it didn't help that it was overcast and windy, two things that don't help finding these guys when the bottom is dark as is. I did find tons of crawfish though. Oh, and my scale randomly broke as I was walking around.

Lastly, I went off to Fletcher's Cove. I walked for a while before I saw my first fish. As I was prepping for the delivery, an interested lady ran over to see what I was looking at and promptly spooked it. I thought for sure that would mean a skunk for the day. Luckily, a little while later, I found another fish, delivered the cast and watched it suck in the fly. Several minutes later, I landed a fish I'd estimate in the 8-10 pound range. I had one more shot before I called it a day, but couldn't coax an eat.

Exploring Violette's Lock

On Sunday afternoon, I made the trip up to Violette's Lock (aka Lock 23) near Potomac, MD. I knew there is carp fishing in that area because one of my friends sent me a picture of a carp he caught from the area. I didn't get the intel from him on exactly where he caught the fish, and there was minimal information I could find online for carp. Go figure. It was up to me to find the fish.

I started off the day walking along the C&O Canal for about 1.3 miles. The first 3/4 of a mile was completely unfishable. The canal was completely choked off by weeds, and the height of the tow path would make landing a fish nearly impossible, but even worse, the bank was completely covered with high brush growth making casting impossible. There were also a couple kayakers paddling up the canal which would've spooked anything you wanted to fish anyway. It wasn't until the end of the stretch where the weeds started dying off and I saw a few carp behind the trees. Once the canal became fishable, I didn't see any carp, which surprised me because the conditions looked great. Shallow-ish water with a nice muddy bottom. After about a quarter mile, the water got deep to the point where sight fishing would no longer be possible unless you find fish feeding on the edge of the bank. Once it shallowed up again, weeds started choking out the canal. I didn't find any fishable spots for the entire length I walked. This time of year - especially on nice days on the weekend - I would not plan on fishing the Canal near Violette's Lock.

After that, I grabbed my waders and jumped into the Potomac. I saw someone with a spinning rod in hand walk down a little path, so I went that way instead of walking out towards the direction where people were launching kayaks. The water was surprisingly dirty given how little rain we've received. I couldn't see my feet once I was about thigh deep. It may have been silt getting stirred up from the kayak launch. Because of this, I didn't explore much on the Potomac side since I don't feel comfortable wading in water where I can't see where I'm stepping, particularly with the bottom formation of this stretch of the Potomac. Perhaps next time, I'll try going upstream of the kayak launch. Or just go with my friend that's fished it before.

Potomac Hunting

Two days on the Potomac and nothing to show. I found more carp yesterday on the Potomac, unfortunately, I only found them once I spooked them off. I didn't find any fish in the "normal" carp holes I fish, but I of course stumbled across them (literally) in places I don't normally see them. I've still yet to see the monsters I saw last summer, but my friend went out yesterday and said he saw one that looked to be approaching 40 inches.

Summer Flows

We are finally seeing some normal summer flows on the Potomac. I decided to check it out to see if I could find any monsters in last year's haunts. I saw one fish in the few hours I was out there, and it wasn't eating and I think I heard it laugh when I took a shot at it anyway. Oh well. At least I caught a few smallmouth. I wish the Potomac was easier to wade so I could cover more ground.

I did poke my head over to the C&O Canal, but didn't fish it. Water levels seem back to relative normal between Lock 7 and 8. Above lock 8 has nothing more than a trickle in it, but I never fish there anyway.