Fishing the Upper Patuxent

Type: Freshwater
Region: Central
Location: Upper Patuxent

The other day my friend and I decided to flex our freshwater muscles and try our luck at fishing the upper Patuxent. We trecked deep into the woods, getting to the hard to reach places in the river. Fighting through the woods, we found that the best way to get to the fish was to get in and swim with them, sometimes finding ourselves neck deep in water, treading with teeth clenching the shaft or the fishing rod.

The result was a stretch of water that was very much untried, full of fish very willing to thump a lure. The goal was to find deep shady slackwater pools, adjacent to current. Wherever the fish could have relief from the current and the sun while still being able to hunt was where you wanted to place your lure. Some lure favorites being rooster tails, small rattletraps, spinnerbaits and beetle spins.

Really anything that mimicks a minnow will draw interest. The home run lure for me was a yellow jointed shadrap. Excelent castibility, great action and the bill deflects off the many branches and logs that are eager to steal your lure. We caught largemouth, smallmouth, fallfish, red breast sunfish, and crappie. We were surprised to run into traditional Chesapeake Bay denizen with the catch of rockfish and white perch. Tired legs after a great journey downriver, we then realized that we still had to treck all the way back up! Good fishing.

Tags: largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, fallfish, red breast sunfish, crappie, striped bass, white perch