Potomac River Is a Cool Treat for Warm-Weather Washingtonians

Tag : cool plus


It's the Potomac River , with forested banks and a breeze corridor that runs clear to theocean. For years, working people in Washington built temporaryshacks along the shore to take the air in high summer. Theold-timers at Fletcher's Boat House can point out where they stoodacross the water on the Virginia shore.

The shacks are gone now but the Potomac from Chain Bridge up to Harpers Ferry still offers respite from the worst of summerin Washington. Not many people choose to swim or wade close totown, particularly downstream of the fetid confluence with theAnacostia. But upstream, scores of places beckon with clear,shallow water full of life.

The beauty of the upper Potomac is that the entire Maryland shoreis protected by the C&O Canal National Historical Park,which means public access is unlimited. It's also well charted: TheInterstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (PotomacRiver.org)offers a set of excellent, detailed maps for $10.

Anglers, paddlers, waders, picnickers, tubers, bird-watchers andhikers all use the river, but once you get above Great Falls it'shard to find a crowd. When my fishing partner Larry Coburn and I parked the pickup truck at an unmarked turnoff nearWilliamsport on a postcard-perfect day last week, we found just oneother pair of canoeists preparing to put in.

"We'll try to stay out of your way," I said.

"Don't worry," one replied. "There's nothing but room out there."

We launched off a steep mud bank between Dams 4 and 5, paddledupstream and never saw those two again.

We did see plenty of fish. Using flyrods and spinning gear to workthe riffles and slow-moving deep holes, we caught dozens ofsmallmouth bass up to 15 inches long plus bluegills, crappies,goggle-eyes and three plump largemouth bass.

Coburn's son Ryan, who lives in Hagerstown, hits the river herefrequently and gave us hints on where to go, but you don't needinside information to have a good day. We found fish where he saidthey'd be and in plenty of places we explored on our own. In truth,it was hard to find a place where fish weren't.

We had the advantage of the old Grumman canoe, which provides flexibility. In many places above GreatFalls the Potomac is shallow enough to wade, but then you get to adeep channel and your options shrink. Our technique was to paddlefrom one promising spot to the next, then tie off the boat and getout and wade. Sometimes you just tie the boat off to yourself.

The lure of choice on light spinning gear is a three-inch-long,chartreuse- or watermelon-colored plastic grub threaded on to aneighth-ounce jig head. Dance that wriggling combination across therocky bottom near fast water and you're almost sure to get a strikefrom a hard-charging bronzeback. You'll also lose some jigs hangingup in the rocks, so bring plenty.