Rain Rain, Go away. Fished with my Brother Anyway!

 My brother and I have been planning an overnight float for months that was supposed to occur this past weekend.  Well, as usual, mother nature didn't cooperate.  Storms moving from the gulf up the east coast the days leading up to our trip had me scouring the USGS water data <http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/rt> and weather forecasts all week trying to pick the most favorable float.

Sidebar - The USGS water data is probably the single most important internet resource I have in determining where to go fishing.  It also saves me a huge amount of time and frustration by not attempting to fish rivers that are in bad shape due to rain or high/swift due to unscheduled dam releases.  Additionally, some of the flows log temperature data, which is great for predicting local river fishing patterns. 

Back to the trip ... We decided to bag our overnight.  I was trying to figure out a way to salvage the weekend and actually do some fishing and I suggested that we try a small flow near Raleigh.  The rain didn't hammer it and I've fished it in the spring where other rivers were pure mud and this one was in good shape.  We took a small gamble and planned to meet at the put-in at 7:30. 

The gamble paid off.  I arrived about 7:15 and scouted the water.  I was pleasantly surprised to see stained water with 18"+ visibility.  We launched and starting throwing topwater right away.

Brother caught a small bass within 10 min of launching and followed it up with a nice sunny, both on a Pop-R.  We caught several bass in the morning and brother caught a nice white crappie.  We switched positions in the canoe for the afternoon and I took full advantage.  I started off after lunch with the biggest fish of the day (3.5 lb largemouth), caught on a simple small white curly-tail grub on a plain 1/4 oz lead jig-head.  I was actually trying to catch some more crappie, but I'll take it!

The rest of the day was spent tossing the buzzer and I finished with close to 20 bass on the day.  I'll never get accustomed to seeing a viscous topwater strike near the boat.  I had several on the day and man are they startling and exciting! 

Great weather and good times on the river ... quality time with my brother.  He walked away with my MH spinning rod/reel because he liked it so much.  At least he paid me :)

Late Summer Smallies in MD

This past weekend, I drove the family up to Maryland so we could spend some quality time with inlaws.  As usual, my wife and I had an agreement that I could get out in the canoe during our visit.  I ended up fishing Friday afternoon and Sunday morning. 

With recent rains, the Potomac basin was very swollen.  In fact, the Monocacy and Potomac both hit flood stage about 10 days prior to my arrival.  I was eyeing the gauge all week and thought my efforts to fish would be futile.  Without anytime to scout the Monocacy, I decided to try a new spot first that I thought would have relatively clear water.

On Friday I fished the Patapsco river downstream of the Liberty Reservoir.  I arrived around 3 pm with intentions to float downstream to the confluence with the uncontrolled fork of the Patapsco and paddle back up.  I didn't quite make it down to the confluence due to very shallow conditions and lots of rapids.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect in terms of bass species or size, but I did expect to see some smallmouth.  The water proved to be very clear.  In fact, a little too clear for such a shallow and skinny river.  I was easily spooking fish and had a tough time fooling them with my offerings. 

I landed about 10 bass (one tiny smallie), and handful of small sunnies, and lost my best fish (a largemouth) just before dark on a black strike king minibuzz.  All the fish I landed were small, but it was a very scenic area with lots of deer and steep rock outcroppings.  Below are a few shots of the Patapsco.

I was able to scout the Monocacy on Saturday and decided to fish it on Sunday.  I launched around 7:30 am and floated about 5 miles of a section I hadn't fished.  The water was up about 2 ft, but was surprisingly "clear" with visibilty around 18-24".  Current was swift and my anchors got considerable use. 

I enjoyed this section of the Monocacy and will definitely fish it again.  The state has prohibited taking black bass from the lower Monocacy and I was hoping to catch a few nice ones.  I landed about 10-12 bass, all smallies, and most were very small.  Caught them on a buzzbait, rebel craw, and a rootbeer flake yamamoto cuttail worm. 

The bigger fish caught were hanging in the middle of the river in swift water downstream of shoals and were caught on the rebel craw crankbait.  Along with the smallmouth, I saw many birds of prey, herons, and a wiley fox.  Below are a few shots of my best fish during a relaxing and scenic day on the Monocacy.

Lastly, I had something happen at the get-out that has never happened to me.  As I was unloading the boat, a game warden pulled up to the parking area, made her way down the ramp, and requested to see my license.  Thankfully, I remembered to bring my 3-day I purchased at Wallyworld on Friday morning.  She also checked my pfd and we talked for a few minutes about their challenges in keeping the local non-english speaking anglers from continually breaking the law.  It's hard to imagine that I've never been stopped since I was 16 yrs old.  The only time I've seen a warden was on the James where my dad got stopped, and I think I was ~10.  Word to the wise, it can and will happen one day, so be prepared!

-Jeff