first Potomac trip of the season

[bassboogieman]

Headed down to the river for a few days (Wed - Fri). No boat so I will be limited to Mattawoman Cr in the kayak which isn't a bad thing as it's probably the best fishing location on the river. Weather does not look good (Wed) but I can fish in the rain and it is supposed to clear up Thurs. Hoping for some snakehead for the pan and some decent bass fishing. Heavy rain may squash that but it's the annual BBC gathering (8th year) and a lot of the guys I haven't seen for a couple years because I skipped it last year in favor of Dale Hollow. Situation is reversed this year and if nothing else we will eat (and drink) good.

[Captmikestarrett]

Just came from the river and you are in for 6 feet of extra water.. I find that many feeder creeks that still run clear will produce. Luckily the top of Horsemans Creek will be perfect and the creek out of Bullet Neck Point will be clear. The fishing pier and the ramp most likely will be under water.
If you have a military ID go to Stump Neck and put in at Magazine AA on the Chixamuxen Creek.

Capt Mike

[3dkicker]

Club is fishing on the river tomorrow morning. TD may have to cancel if it's up 6 ft. We've got high tide at 9am tomorrow. Horsemans Creek and Bullet Neck Pt are both in Mattawomen??? If we fish we need to find some clean water or else it'll be a long day.

[bassboogieman]

There was a LOT of water today. We fished about 4 hours through several down pours. Thunder storms rolled in just before 3 PM and we got off the water. Torrential rain hit as we left Slavins. Mattawoman is high, muddy and cold. Tomorrow showers & thunder storms predicted, another wet day coming. Hope Fri is better but the fishing probably won't improve much. Both of us managed two bass each today, big fish only 17".

[Captmikestarrett]

Yes both in Mattowomen and both fed by swamps so less mud. Capt Dave fishes Sunday with clients but it will be better by then. Two days after a rain event it starts clearing.
Capt Mike

[lilmule]

Kinda tuff to fish the pads when they are 5ft under.
But same rain came here first,ky lake at 2ft over pool running 120,000 cfs,lake temp dropped 6 deg now 64.Spawn is normally over about now and just started.
Nice to have some time out,and to catch fish let alone yak about it.

[Captmikestarrett]

All the feeder creeks on the Potomac have returned to normal this morning. But the main river is a mess. I would say by Monday most of the flotsam will be jetsam. If we get a west or east wind.

Capt Mike

[bassboogieman]

We caught some today, nothing big my largest today was as only 16.5". I found them very tight on wood, nothing willing to hit a moving bait. Saw dozens of snakeheads yesterday but none would take a bait. I had two break the surface right beside my kayak that were very big, I would bet they were 10 - 12#, they are getting large. They were way back in the creek, today we fished the opposite direction, towards Smallwood.

[3dkicker]

Sounds like you caught a few and it wasn't a wasted trip. Very different presentation vs what we found on Thursday. All of my fish were on moving baits and relating to pads or new emerging reeds/spatterdock. We didn't make it into Mattawomen but talked about it.