The flow must go on

Tide windows key for American Fishing Series anglers

MARBURY, Md. – Tidal fisheries present the classic feast-or-famine situation and while only a few of the FLW American Fishing Series Northern Division anglers starved on the Potomac River yesterday, many are looking for heftier portions on day two.

Fortunately, this river holds such great potential that a dismal day one performance does not necessarily doom one’s competitive chances as in other venues. For example, Virginia pro Michael Hall fished buzzbaits, poppers and wacky-rigged Senkos on day one, but struggled to get three fish worth 6 pounds, 5 ounces for 108th place. Reaching the top spot is certainly a tall order, but a significant improvement remains possible in this tidal environment.

“On the Potomac River, there are so many 5- and 6-pound bass right now, if you hit the right spot, within 15-20 minutes, you can easily score a 20-pound bag,” Hall said. “So you always have to keep your head up and you have to fish hard.”

Central to the nature of a tidal fishery is, of course, its water flow. Most of the general rules of bass fishing – temperature, clarity, oxygen content – all apply in such environments, but you have to also factor in the inescapable reality of rising and falling water. This is what positions fish and forage in tidal waters.

Anglers will have outgoing water until mid-morning, followed by a rising cycle for most of their fishing day, and then another fall in the afternoon. Yesterday’s sweet times were the end of the morning outgoing tide and the beginning of the afternoon fall. With tide schedules advancing about an hour each day, anglers will have a longer period of the morning fall, but a tighter window for the afternoon’s outgoing cycle.

Third place pro Thomas Wooten knows he’ll need to capitalize on the morning action, as his early flight will deprive him of the afternoon outgoing bite. Swimming a jig around grass perimeters and flipping a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver gave Wooten a day one score of 19 pounds, 12 ounces. He’s confident that his spots hold equal or better potential for day two.

“The morning bite was good to me (on day one) and I missed a couple of good hits that I know were pigs, but you can’t get them all,” Wooten said.

Plenty of bass were caught during the midday hours of day one and that will likely be the case today. However, as the high water pushes bass deep into the river’s expanding hydrilla and milfoil the fish become harder to reach than when they roam the weed edges.

On day one, anglers reported catching bass on a variety of presentations from spinnerbaits to dropshots. The two most common tactics remain frogging and flipping. With the former, weedless hollow body models work well during periods of slower water movement, while soft plastic buzz toads rigged weedless appeal to active fish when the tide runs faster.

Flipping baits include Senkos, 10-inch worms, beavers and creature baits. Baltimore pro George Short flipped a green pumpkin Zoom Brush Hog on day one and caught his division’s biggest bass – a 6-9. Short said he’ll flip the same bait on day two in hopes of finding the bigger fish that he lost on day one.

Peter Yanni of Gaithersburg, Md. leads the pro field with 22-10. He found a lot of quality fish in practice, got what he needed on day one and left plenty for what he hopes will be another 20-pound performance on day two. Yanni caught his fish on Berkley Chigger Craws and Berkley 10-inch Power Worms.

Manassas, Va. co-angler Russ Hamilton leads his division with 16-15. He also caught the largest bass of day one – a 6-11.

Day two dawned with more cloud cover than the first morning. If partly cloudy conditions persist, that will moderate temperatures a little, but light winds will offer little relief. Like day one, afternoon thunderstorms are likely today.

Logistics

Anglers will takeoff and weigh-in at Smallwood State Park located at 2700 Sweden Point Road in Marbury, Md. Takeoff will be at 6 each morning while weigh-in will begin at 1:30 p.m. daily. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.

Pros will fish for a top award of $25,000 plus a 198VX Ranger boat with 200-horsepower outboard if Ranger Cup guidelines are met. Co-anglers will cast for a top award of $10,000. If the co-angler meets the Ranger Cup guidelines, they will earn an additional $5,000.

The Potomac River American Fishing Series tournament is being hosted by the Marshall County Tourist Commission.

Friday’s conditions:

Sunrise: 5:45 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 70 degrees

Expected high temperature: 89 degrees

Water temperature: 68-70 degrees

Wind: Calm

Humidity: 60 percent

Day’s outlook: Partly cloudy, afternoon thunderstorms