Striped Bass Fishing Forums Forum banner

Potomac river fishing

8K views 13 replies 5 participants last post by  RIVERROCKER 
#1 ·
Good Morning Everyone,

Anybody fish in the Potomac River? Just looking for some fellow Potomac River fisherman to talk River fishing for stripers

Thanks,
Kevin
 
#4 ·
Going to the Occoquan Friday night to see if I can make some bait. Planning on launching out of gravelley point sunday with my buddies Gheenoe and trolling up to Fletchers then probly fishing some chunk baits on the bottom. So we will see if anything has pushed up the river yet so ill keep you updated.
 
#5 ·
RJVA,

Fishing out of Coles Point When do you plan on heading out for the first time? I plan on putting in @ Aqualand on the first weekend of April. What are your plans? Didnt get much of a chance to fish up that way last year, did you and did you have any luck?

Thanks,
Kevin
 
#6 ·
Went fishing for Herring today at the Occoquan,fished from five till dark and saw lots of activity. Heron were diving and the shad were jumping. Fished for about thirty minutes with fish jumping and couldn't get a bite. Finally felt a thud and reeled it in, it was a Gizzard shad that I had snagged in the back. Fished till dark and didn't catch a single Hickory or Herring , but the river was loaded with biggg gizzards. Manged to snag about ten or eleven of them while fishing for Herring and it turned out to be pretty fun. Launching out of Gravely point tomorrow and heading up to Flecher's well see how it goes.
 
#7 ·
Fished the District today from Gravely Point up to the chain bridge. Trolled from Gravely to the key bridge with suspending DD 22's and chutes, didn't get a bite. The water was real muddy and current was ripping, fished three mothers island with chunked Gizzards on the bottom and caught a few catfish. Moved up a little to the next rock pile and the same result, more catfish. Moved up farther past Fletcher's and tried there and more catfish. Saw some boats on the water mostly fishing for white perch and looked like they were doing pretty well with smaller fish. No herring or shad in the river, didn't see a single fish jump all day even early in the early morning. Water was still very cold and lots of debris throughout the Washington area. Gonna try again mid week on the Occoquan then back to the district again next weekend.
 
#9 ·
Hey guys, havnt seen to many potomac river posts. Im new to the potomac and striper fishing and want to try and catch some in the next couple weeks. Ive seen fletcher's cove in a million posts and google searches ive done. If i rent a boat from them, what is the best strategy to use for stripers around that general area? location? depth the fish are at?? and what would be the best bait and setup for a newby to get started? should i be casting a net for live baitfish to use or cutting up herring? i have read alot but alot of the info out there is for different lakes and the bay. so im still not sure what to go with... I appreciate any help i can get! Thanks guys.
 
#10 ·
FITCH,

Fletchers Cove is a good place to fish certain times of the year, cast netting is not permitted in D.C unless you have a permit. The best way to catch bait is a sabiki rig for herring if they are in the area or cast a cast net in the early hours of the morning on the main stem below the woodrow wilson for some Gizzard Shad. Ive also caught stripers on small live white perch fished on the bottom. Fishfinder rigs woth 2 oz lead and a cirlce hook seems to be what works best for me. I useally like to find an area with lots of current and fish the eddies behind rocks or fallen down structure. Renting a boat from fletchers is a good option or fishing from the bank I have also had sucess, the problem is be prepard to lose alot of rigs on the bottom and make sure you have heavy tackle and a strong leader when the striper or catfish decides to make a run into the rocks. When fishing perch I like to make a cut in them near the tail so they bleed, but are still alive. You can fish live herring or chunks, I useally change it up until I figure out what they like that day. Don't expect to go out there and just slay them because it takes alot of time and effort to finally hook one and actually land it. Best times to fish are two hours after high tide and two hours after low tide. Hopefully you catch the timing right and you are rewarded.

Good Luck,
 
#11 ·
I spoke with Alex at Fletchers. Never been there to fish, wanted to know about facilities etc... His plan is to fish for stripers on Saturday using herring either frozen or live. He told me stripers will stop hitting by 0800, so get there early and then fish for perch or shad. Its going to be really cold and I'm concerned about rain later in the week and winds on Saturday. The videos I've seen from people fishing Fletcher's looks like yellow shad darts. That raps me up. will touch base after trip and see how you do. FYI in the Fall I do pretty good trolling perch or shad color deep divers from the dkies down to the statue on the War College side.

BEST ALL TIME TIP for fishing TIDAL POTOMAC --- Buy/borrow/steal Ken Penrod's Fishing Tidal Potomac. My copy is autographed from Baltimore boat show. Also get map from Amazon on Potomac. You will fish like an expert..
 
#13 ·
I fished with fletchers boats saturday morning and sunday morning and then monday in the middle of the day for shad. Saturday noone caught a striper just a decent blue catfish, sunday one boat caught about a 25 pounder, then monday morning a guy and his son landed another 30 pounder. All caught on cut herring.
I couldnt even get a bite from the catfish.
 
#14 ·
Sorry you didn't have any luck, but thats good to hear the spawning fish are in the river. I didn't have a chance to fish the river last weekend because I was in the florida keys. Fished summerland key three days and boated a few tarpon and a 40 lb permit. I ran across this fishing report online from insidenova.com : It's written by a guy named Charlie Taylor, The report is from march 31st. Ill be taking the center console out this weekend saturday and sunday, I plan on fishing the Occoquan and below the Woodrow Wilson on Saturday and fishing in D.C on Sunday and will keep you updated. Heres the report from online:
POTOMAC RIVER - D.C. - Although water levels are still high and dangerous,
Fletcher's Boat House reports that a few herring are in, and striped bass to
48 inches are present in the river. A few American shad and lots of hickory
shad are also being observed, but the fluctuating water temperatures are not
helping the white perch run. Big catfish are biting well on fresh, cut
herring. Slow-rolled spinnerbaits, rattling crankbaits and plastics are taking
some bass throughout the city. Most of the bass are located in weedbeds or on
shallow, rock or gravel points and banks, adjacent to deeper water. As the sun
warms the water, the bass come into the shallows to feed. Better areas for
bass are Columbia Island Lagoon, Blue Plains, Oxon Cove, Washington Channel,
Washington Sailing Marina and the Spoils.
By Charlie Taylor (INSIDENOVA.COM)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top