I may be still somewhat sick, but I’m not dead yet.  I took an evening this week, severely medicated myself, and fished the Great, Green, Greasy Potomac River.

The water was about a foot high and a little discolored.  Not too bad, but give it a week and maybe it will be really good.  In the knee-deep water, I could see plenty of baitfish but no crawfish.  They estivate during the winter, and I guess it’s still a little too early for them.  No matter, an estimated 75% of a smallmouth’s diet is crayfish, so I figured they wouldn’t mind if I dropped one on top of them, they would still bite it out of reflex.  I tied on a Skip’s Dad and cast out into the current.

I fished the bottom of Langley Island next to where Turkey Run trickles into the Potomac.  I always liken smallmouth fishing to steelhead fishing.  When you’re standing in waist-deep water and casting into a little bit deeper current that’s about walking speed, that’s where you’ll find both the steelhead and the smallmouth.

I landed a couple of nice redbreasted sunfish and lost about a dozen fish, I think at least one was an average-size smallmouth.  I had to “super-size” the weight on the fly because I just didn’t think I was getting down deep enough.

I quit when it started to get dark (the park police are stupidly anal about locking you in after dark, but stupidly lackadaisical about letting you wade in the river), I broke off my fly in a tree, and my reel seat came unglued and slid off the back of the blank.  I shrugged, figured it was a sign that I’ve had enough fishing for a day, and slogged my way back up the hill to the car.

Not bad for my first time out to this spot of the river this year.

• Friday Flyfish Picture #4
• Friday Flyfish Post
• Friday Flyfishing Post
• Pike
• Skip’s Dad