MARBURY, Md. – Whenever the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Northern Division visits the Potomac River, it’s a pretty good bet that shallow fishing will dominate and that most of the tackle box will be represented in Top 10 Baits. Between finesse options, winding baits, presentations tuned for heavy grass and more, it took a lot to get the job done.
Here’s what worked best in the September grinder on the big tidal river.
1. Tidal ace mixes and matches
Doing a little bit of everything on the week, Bryan Schmitt showed off all his skills to earn the win on his home river.
For baits, Schmitt used a 3/8-ounce Hayabusa Lil’ Schmitty Swim Jig with a Missile Baits Chunky D trailer in the grass. For hard stuff, a Missile Baits Magic Worm on a drop-shot and a SPRO Little John MD got the call. He used a 3/16-ounce weight for his drop-shot with a Floatzilla Fire Tail and a Hayabusa 957 hook.
Schmitt also used a SPRO Bronzeye Poppin’ Frog in mats, and a Missile Baits D Bomb in bruiser flash with a 1.5-ounce weight and a 5/0 Hayabusa FPP Straight HD accounted for his punching fish.
Of particular note, Schmitt used his signature Fitzgerald swim jig rod when he was swimming his signature jig. He used Fitzgerald rods for everything else as well, SPRO JC Elite MG baitcasters, a SPRO JC Elite MG spinning reel and P-Line across the board.
2. Fish flips and frogs for second
Finishing runner-up in a pretty tight race, Samuel Fish rolled up the leaderboard with 17-7 on the last day. For the event, Fish weighed 12 bass punching grass and three on a frog.
Punching, Fish used a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver in hematoma and Cali 420 with a 1.5-ounce weight, a 7-foot, 9-inch, heavy Daiwa Zillion rod, an 8.5:1 Daiwa Zillion reel and 65-pound PowerPro. For his frog, Fish chose a SPRO Bronzeye in natural red enhanced with some BBs, and he fished it on 60-pound Sunline FX2 spooled up on a Daiwa Tatula SV TW Limited and 7-3, heavy Hammer Elite Series combo.
“I was running into Belmont Bay, just to go look around, and I saw this stretch of matted hydrilla out by the mouth,” Fish said. “I saw the cheese and the brown, and I pulled over. I put the trolling motor down, and there was bait running around, and that famous sound we all listen for in the mats. It had all the life you wanted. The first half hour of practice, I caught a 3 1/2-pounder and a 3 1/4 out of it.”
On the final day, Fish spent the entire afternoon there once the tide had risen, never picking his trolling motor up until it was time to head in.
“The tide chart on the Lowrance was key for me this week,” said Fish, who ran a pretty tight game plan and only a few areas. “I punched on high tide and then would frog on a low tide.”
3. Another good one for Greico on the Potomac
Based on his results on the Potomac, Christian Greico should consider moving a little farther north. Lately, it seems like a guaranteed paycheck every time he launches the boat there.
This time, he did his work on a white SPRO Bronzeye with two 6 mm Epic Baits Beads for added weight and noise. He also flipped a Googan Baits Bandito Bug on a 3/4-ounce Epic Baits weight. For the frog, Greico used a 7-7, extra-heavy Trika 6X rod to gain some extra casting distance and muscle.
“I caught like 95% of them on the frog,” Greico said. “I was primarily throwing the frog to cover water, and the mats were really cheesed up. I didn’t figure out how good one of the mats I was fishing was until Day 2, and Day 1 just never got any big bites. Days 2 and 3, I caught every fish out of one mat.”
4. Buzzeo keeps it moving
Finishing up fourth and staying fairly consistent despite a tough bite, Anthony Buzzeo knocked it out of the park in his first Toyota Series event as a boater.
“I upgraded Day 1 with one punching,” he said. “But I was winding a swim jig, probably that was 75% of my bites, and I caught a kicker on Day 3 on a ChatterBait. I filled out limits every day with a Senko as well, but that swim jig was in my hand pretty much all day long.”
Buzzeo’s swim jig of choice was a 3/8-ounce Hayabusa Lil’ Schmitty Swim Jig, which he trailered with a Strike King Rage Craw. He also used a 3/8-ounce Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait JackHammer in golden shiner with a Rapala CrushCity Freeloader for a trailer. He used Dobyns Fury rods across the board and 15-pound P-Line Tactical Fluorocarbon for his winding baits.
5. Isolation key for McCluskey
Rallying after a brutal start at Champlain, Matt McCluskey knocked out a 17th-place finish at the St. Lawrence and a Top 10 at the Potomac to make it above the Toyota Series Championship cutline.
At the river, he mixed finesse and power. Punching, he used a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver in juicy and sprayed grass with a 1.5-ounce weight and a 5/0 Owner Jungle Flipping Hook. For hard cover, a drop-shot with a 6-inch Roboworm Straight Tail Worm in morning dawn got the call, and he used a 3/16-ounce weight and a 2/0 Owner Cover Shot hook.
“The main deal for getting bites was isolated hard structure, a dock, a laydown somewhere, a log floating, just isolated hard structure stuff,” he said. “The mat flipping fish, it was similar, it was isolated mats; I couldn’t get bit in miles of grass, it was mats that were 20 or 30 yards long.”
6. LaBelle sticks to a jig
Fishing shallow, as is his forte, Bryan LaBelle made the most of his first trip to the Potomac, notching a Top 10 – his first Top 10 in MLF competition that didn’t come on Champlain. To get it done, LaBelle stuck with a Beast Coast Lil’ Magnum flipping jig and trailered it with a Zoom Super Chunk.
7. Mats key the tournament for Dixon
Doing well on Day 1 and Day 2, Aaron Dixon surged up the leaderboard with 15-15 on Day 3. In the past, he’s excelled fishing the late summer mats on the Potomac, and this time around was no different.
Fishing a black and white SPRO Bronzeye and flipping a Z-Man Palmetto BugZ on a 2-ounce weight, Dixon put his specific skillset to good use.
“I was using the high tide to my advantage,” he said. “When it got up, I would go to my best areas and find a mat, and troll up to the end of the frog lines and fish in further and catch the bass that hadn’t seen a bait yet.”
He also had a good reason for using such a heavy weight.
“I like the 2-ouncer, even in a lot of the mats that you don’t need it,” he said. “You can lay it in softly, and it just goes straight through. You wouldn’t believe it, but some of the fish here will run from the splash.”
8. Floridian Lunsmann sticks to his strengths on the Potomac
There’s a long tradition of Florida anglers excelling on the Potomac, and it appears that Brady Lunsmann is set to continue it. Fishing his first Toyota Series event as a boater, Lunsmann looked right at home on the tidal river.
“I fished it last year as a co-angler, and I was going to fish it again this year as a co-angler,” he said. “I usually travel as a co-angler with Mikey Keyso, and it sets up like old Florida. He couldn’t go this year, he had too much to do, so I just figured I’d go up.”
Turns out, it was a good call.
“I found ‘em on wood, and thought I had a chance to win on wood, and all the wood was just covered in boats – every stretch I had,” Lunsmann said. “I had a stretch I had caught them flipping and frogging, and I wanted to save it, and it ended up being where I spent half the first day and the next two days. Kind of like how Okeechobee used to be: You sit in a spot and the fish come to you.”
Flipping a Reaction Innovations Spicy Beaver on a 1.5-ounce weight and throwing a Berkley Swamp Lord accounted for most of his weight, including a 6-pounder on the frog. Lunsmann also caught a few on a white Reaction Innovations Vixen. Flipping, he used Fitzgerald Vursa Braid and an ARK Tharp Series Okeechobee Special flipping rod.
9. Burger fishes brush and grass
Jason Burger knocked out a good finish with a few simple baits.
Flipping grass and pads and fishing brush, Burger used a 6-inch Yamamoto Senko with Floatzilla Tail Mini and a 1/4-ounce weight, or a Zoom Z Craw when the Senko bite slowed.
“I fished the mouths of some creeks and some brush piles,” said Burger, an old hand with tidal waters. “It was all about the tide – I got less time each day for outgoing. It wasn’t quite right come the third day. The second day, I had a late boat draw, and the brushpiles played a bigger factor on Day 2.”
10. Wagner impresses as usual
A sure thing wherever he launches the boat, Emil Wagner notched another Top 10 and learned a good lesson on the week.
Fishing wood and rock, he used a Berkley Clickin’ Frittside 5 and a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Hit Worm Magnum on a 3/16-ounce shaky head. For the crankbait, he used a 6.8:1 Abu Garcia Zenon X, a 7-2, medium-heavy, moderate Fenwick World Class and 15-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon. For the worm, he rolled with a 30 Abu Garcia Revo Rocket on a 7-1, medium Fenwick World Class spinning rod.
“The second day, I just ran up the river until I stopped seeing grass,” Wagner said. “I tried to do it. Never again. I’ve come to the conclusion, next time I go to a lake that has those giant fields of grass, I’m just not going to do it. This is like the fourth or fifth tournament where I tried to be a grass guy, and it just doesn’t work.
“I fished anywhere that had a laydown or rock or looked good and didn’t have grass near it,” he said. “The second morning, I stopped at my second spot, and put the trolling motor down, and there was grass and I just pulled it up and left.”