River report--April 28th AM

[Lane Thurgood]

Hit the river from 6:00 to 8:00 this morning from rocks between Fletchers and Chain Bridge.  Gauges indicate river is rising and turbid.  Indeed, it was VERY turbid this morning.  Lots of logs, dead things and debris coming downriver and fouling lines and hooks.  Two of us got not a bump.  No perch, no shad, nada.  Walked back down to Fletchers and talked with two guys just leaving from a boat.  They said they hadn't had a bump and hadn't seen a fish all morning from any of the boats.  

Better luck to you.

[Andrew Sarcinello]

Sounds like conditions are pretty bad for now, appreciate the report. I stopped by Great Falls after work yesterday to buy a National Park pass, and took a minute to walk over and see the falls. It was raging indeed!

I got out after sunset last night at one of my go-to spots in the general area of the Pentagon. I must have beaten the dirty water, because it was clear and there were plenty of fish around. I felt a few herring bump into my legs, caught a 14" striper on a 5-6" long fly that looks a bit like a herring. Every few minutes i'd see a schoolie blast something on the surface, but I had my sinking leader on so I couldn't tie on a popper to take advantage. downsized to a clouser before leaving and immediately caught a 13" crappie. I am wondering if I return tonight if the muddy water will have filtered in?

[Andrew Chaney]

I'm a big fan of the USGS website. It gives water data for hundreds of rivers around the US. I discovered it after getting burned by high water a few times and went looking for useful resources.

There are a number of gauges along the Potomac, but here's my favorite: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?01638500

As you can see, it's about 2 feet above it's historical median right now. As long as we don't get any significant rain over the next few days, I think the Potomac should be fishable by Sunday at least.

[Ed Hickey]

I typically will go off of the USGS Little Falls Dam guage. 3.0 -3.5 ft at Little falls seems to be around an optimal level. Currently Little Falls is at 4.92 ft @ 3:45 pm on
4/28 so yeah...pretty damn high. Here's the link if you wanna bookmark it.
-Ed

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/md/nwis/uv?site_no=01646500

"Make voyages. Attempt them. There's nothing else!"
- Tennessee Williams, Camino Real