Northeast Division set to start the season on the Potomac River
After a year off the schedule in 2023, the Potomac River will represent the playing field for both the first and last events of the 2024 season for the Northeast Division of the Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine. The well-worn tournament venue will host the season opener on May 18.
One of the most diverse BFL circuits in the country, the Northeast Division will take anglers to Lake Oneida, the St. Lawrence River and Lake Champlain between the Potomac bookends. While smallmouth will be the target species for most, if not all, of those events, shallow largemouth will be the prize on the Potomac.
Tournament details
Potomac River
Marbury, MD
May 18, 2024
About the fishery
A historic venue both in the sense that it flows through Washington, D.C. and has a rich tournament tradition, the Potomac travels south until it meets Chesapeake Bay. Its tidal waters feature a plethora of shallow bass habitat – both emergent and submerged vegetation, wood, boat docks, riprap and other manmade cover.
The grass, however, is the primary draw. Predominately milfoil with some eelgrass, hydrilla and other species mixed in, it should still mostly be beneath the water’s surface when the BFL field arrives in mid-May, allowing anglers to dissect it with a variety of baits. While there’s a fair amount of grass (and thus bass) to be found on the main river these days, most past tournament success has come from the numerous creeks that feed the Potomac, with Mattawoman, Aquia and Chickamuxen being the most popular in recent years.
What to expect
Bass Pro Tour angler Grae Buck jump-started his professional fishing career with a BFL Regional win on the Potomac in 2015. The Pennsylvania native has spent plenty of time on the waterway in the years since, and he said the bass population is thriving right now, especially when it comes to numbers.
“It’s been a very healthy fishery,” Buck said. “The last few years, the grass has been growing really strong. So, plenty of habitat for the fish … the numbers of fish in that place are up right now.”
When the BFL field hits the river, Buck expects anglers to find bass in all three phases of the spawn. The majority will likely be on or around their spawning beds. He expects quite a few anglers to target them around grass flats, using a moving bait like a bladed jig to cover water and then slowing down with a soft-plastic presentation once they’ve located a population.
“I think a ChatterBait is going to be good just to cover area, figure out where those fish are,” Buck said. “And once you get in that area that you’ve got some fish, maybe slow down and start dragging a Z-Man Bang StickZ around, or something like that – some sort of soft plastic – and really pick it apart from there.”
As usual, Buck expects Mattawoman and Chickamuxen to be popular areas, especially the former. At that time of year, though, he thinks anglers will be able to spread out a bit, with Aquia Creek and Belmont Bay likely attracting competitors, too. All those areas have resident populations of bass – the key will be figuring out which one has a group of big ones that are catchable on tournament day.
“Mattawoman’s always good,” Buck explained. “It’s always got a healthy population; it’s always got big ones in it. The Chick, the last couple years, that has been playing a lot. There’s a lot of good fish in there. It can spread out a little bit more. I wouldn’t doubt if Belmont’s got something going on. Aquia might have something going on. You’ve got to figure out that week which one has the biggest fish and which one they’re biting the best on.”
As for weight, Buck expects some solid bags to hit the scales, predicting the winner of the single-day competition will have to amass well over 20 pounds, possibly more than 22.