Upper Patuxent Bass

Twenty years ago or more, I discovered that in summer bass made their way upstream from the reservoirs into the trout section of the Patuxent. I hadn't fished for them for years but decided I would try today.

The river hadn't cleared from recent rains, but although it was quite fishable I didn't catch anything for the hour or two I tried, wading upstream from where I parked. Rather than try downstream I chose to drive to a section downriver below the dam that had been designated a trout stream a few years ago. Last winter I briefly fished part of this stretch but had been unsuccessful and now wanted to explore another part.

When I arrived I liked the look of the water downstream from the bridge crossing and decided to fish it. I looked through my fly box and selected a small black and olive woolly bugger that looked like I had tied it sometime during the first Clinton administration. I wasn't optimistic about my chances since mid day in August is not a promising time for trout around here, and I had no idea what other fish may be present.

Surprise, surprise. I hooked something good on my first cast which turned out to be a fat 15" smallmouth bass. In the 30 minutes I was there I caught a smaller bass and two foot long fallfish.

Glad I decided to fish rather than just explore. Air temperatures in the upper 70's and water level 2.14 at Unity.