Hidden Largemouth Gem

Upstream from walk-in

 

Note ~ nice rocky bottom

I spent last evening looking through maps of the tidal Potomac looking for likely spots that are accessible with a little bush-waking and sense of humor.  Having found three likely spots I set off at 0700 to check them out and scout for future outings.  The first two spots disappointingly turned out to be behind gates aboard Fort Belvoir.  The last spot exceeded my expectations and after dropping the jeep into 4-wheel drive I found a parking place off the beaten path and conveniently just far enough away from some no-trespassing signs.  I found the water in great shape and was pleasantly surprised to find that it meandered enough to have deep holes and cut banks with many different poppers from small blue gill poppers to larger size 6 bass poppers.  I also tied on several bugger type droppers and had luck with all.  These largemouth were far slower than I had thought, they would slowly rise to poppers when annoyed but were (of course) far slower the the abundant pan-fish.

Much of the fishing was sight-fishing so if I saw a blue gill about to take the popper I'd try to lift it away.  Of the 7 good sized bass I caught I probably saw 5 of the takes. I fished today with a 5/6 wt travel combo given to me by my friend John Caldwell.  When I go back to this water I'll probably go with a 3 or 4 wt to make those many sunfish more thrilling.

Sight fishing both exciting and frustrating