Fishing in Maryland: Potomac and Conococheague

Once again this weekend found me up in Maryland visiting friends and family.  After spending the day at Pangborn Park playing Ultimate Frisbee, and otherwise goofing off during my friend's annual reunion, my father and I spent the evening at the Potomac River.  This night, the fish were not overly enthusiastic about anything, and very little action was to be found.

After trying deep and mid level waters, the sun was getting closer to the horizon, and I decided that enough time had past since the harsh midday sun to throw on a topwater popper.  This was to be rewarded with a largemouth bass near the edge of a weed patch, and a smallmouth on the edge of a whitewater channel.  This was actually very interesting, as it perfectly highlighted the preferred habitats for both species, and shows how one river can support both species with very little overlapping competition.

This morning, we decided to try a more scenic river, and found ourselves along Conococheague Creek.  We set out around an hour after sunrise, and if you have never fished that early, you are missing out.  One of nature's finest effects is the steam rising off the water early in a summer's morning.  This only happens when the water is warmer than the surrounding air, and never fails to take my breath away.  Even if we hadn't caught a fish, it would have been a trip worth taking.

Smoke on the water...one of my favorite sights

The good news is the fishing matched the scenery, and we had an outstanding day.  Since we started early enough, and since the first stretch of the creek was fairly shallow with lots of grass beds, I kept my popper on from the evening before, and quickly was rewarded with a fun little longear sunfish.

Not the most common of catches East of the Appalachian Mountains

With the topwater bite being strong, I quickly found success targeting smallmouth, and many smallies were taken, with much bending of the fly rod :)  Most of the catches were your average small river bass, but all put up a strong fight.

Small but fierce, these guys are a ton of fun on any rod, especially the fly

The earliest hours saw very aggressive topwater takes, but as the sun rose, and the temperatures increased, more action was found on subsurface streamers.  I found the best luck on green over white clousers, and blue over white deceivers.  All in all, it was a great day, with nearly forty fish landed, including more than five different species.  Definitely a good sign of a great day, and a healthy river.

And, naturally, my father outfished me again...although he does tend to use a spinning rod, so I like to say I have more fun ;)