MARBURY, Md. — Last Saturday, the Potomac River made its 2025 debut on the Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine schedule for the Northeast Division opener. This weekend, on May 17, it’ll be the Shenandoah Division’s turn to take on the storied fishery, and it sounds like the bite should be even better.
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What to expect
Robert Grike notched his 15th career Top 10 in MLF competition on the Potomac with a third-place finish last weekend. While the weights at that event looked solid on paper – it took 18-5 to win and 14 pounds to crack the Top 20 – Grike said the conditions were actually pretty tough.
A strong northeast wind blew water out of the tidal river and into Chesapeake Bay, causing water levels to plummet. Thus, as the tide dropped, Grike said there was little to no water left on a lot of the best fish-holding cover. He doesn’t expect that to be the case this Saturday.
“The high tide in the morning was over a foot lower than it should have been,” Grike said. “So, by the time the tide was a third of the way out, all the cover on any of the flats was completely dry, just about. So, it made it really hard. Like, on Friday, on low tide, I caught a fish off a duck blind, and when I went there at low tide on Saturday, that duck blind was 6 inches out of the water. So, it was a dramatically low tide on Saturday. If things normalize out this weekend, we should see a lot better of an event.”
The tide will likely be the biggest variable most competitors have to game plan around. Most times of year, Grike said low tide typically brings a better bite. But right now, with many of the fish on or around spawning beds, high tide tends to produce better, and it’ll be important that anglers take advantage of that bite window.
“To separate yourself, you’re going to have to find a way to catch a big fish or two (at high tide),” Grike said. “And you’re going to have to find a way to catch them when the tide goes out.”
The other X-factor to keep an eye on is fishing pressure. Grike said there’s been less grass growth in the river this year than some years past, which has concentrated the bass into a few small, well-known areas. He expects the prime spots to get crowded with competitors.
Thus, finding some spawning bass away from the crowd could be big. If an angler can find a bedding bass that hasn’t been harassed too much, Grike said it’s not hard to get it to bite.
“Right now, I can tell you, if you can put your lure in front of a fish, they have been eating,” he said. “It’s been easy to get them to bite. You just have to find them and put a bait in front of them.”
Baits to bring
Bladed jigs are always a must-have for plying the grass flats on the Potomac. Grike also expects flipping to be a popular approach, plus an assortment of finesse rigs (Neko, wacky and drop-shot worms), especially around low tide.
What will it take?
If the field sees more stable conditions this weekend, Grike expects the weights to tick up. He thinks it will take more than 20 pounds to take home the trophy.
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