Potomac kayak fishing, out of Pennyfield lock

[eric]

I had the day to myself yesterday, and finally put my inflatable kayak
in the water.

The boat: A Sevylor inflatable whitewater kayak. It is high quality
inflatable, high pressure, self bailing deal. It is pretty quick to
set up. The seat is not all the comfortable (at least not with my
life jacket on). It is very nimble, but does not track all that well
(I should have been able to guess that since it is a 'whitewater'
kayak).

Anyhow.. the fishing: The launch at Pennyfield is pretty cool - you
launch into a creek (north end of the parking area - took me a while
to figure that out..), paddle under the canal and right into the
Potomac. The creek is pretty skinny though, might be tough with a
bigger boat.

I wasn't sure how well I would be able to paddle up river, so I didn't
go downriver at all. I made my way (slowly) up to the bottom of the
Seneca Breaks, which was about a mile. I had a 7wt rigged with a blue
popper, and a spinning rod rigged with an 1/8 oz jig head and brown
split-tail grub. I did well with both setups, though it was easier to
throw the spinning setup while I was underway.

I caught smallies up to 14" on both rigs. Man, those fish are
strong! The fish were all throughout the section, with high
concentrations infront of rocky ledges. Right below the Breaks was a
real hotspot.

I was on the river from 2 - 8pm. It was a good day.

Eric

[HeaveToo]

Try to through a Murray's Madtom in the areas with deep rock ledges and current.  Fish it slow.  It is deadly for very large small mouth bass.  My biggest two smallmouth bass, including a 20" fatty, were caught like this.  As the light dims a little when the sun is going down it really is prime time.  I usually tie it in a size 4.  The pattern sinks well with deep water lead eyes and the rabbit fur.

Sounds like a fun day of fishing. 

[boatdrinks]

That's great.  I'm probably heading to swain's lock or pennyfield this weekend.

[Rich, Marek]

Fishing Pennyfield, Violettes or Seneca Locks can be a ton of fun and productive with a fly rod, but I would definitely look for a stretch of 2-3 days of good weather. The water clarity and power subsides substantially.

 

Just my 2 cents…

 

Marek

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[eric]

Thanks for the fly tip HeaveToo, and the conditions tip Marek..

For conditions - I know upriver storms can cause a problem.. Will a
storm make the water unfishable (too muddy) without registering as a
spike on the online flow rate gauge? Or, how big of a spike will
cause a clarity issue?

Also, I'm curious. If one puts a kayak in at the top of the Seneca
Breaks, and paddles/fishes down through that drop, can you get out at
the bottom and paddle back up the canal to get to your vehicle? Seems
like it would be a fun, short float..

Also, how do you attach pictures to these messages?

Thanks,
Eric

On Jul 6, 10:20 am, "Rich, Marek" <mr...@hbwgroup.com> wrote:
> Fishing Pennyfield, Violettes or Seneca Locks can be a ton of fun and
> productive with a fly rod, but I would definitely look for a stretch of
> 2-3 days of good weather. The water clarity and power subsides
> substantially.
>

> Just my 2 cents...
>
> Marek

[eric]

I tried this trick that Dan posted, but it just sent the email just
comes from my own email address, and the pictures in the reply are
only sent back to me ?? Wasn't there some talk a while back about
converting this forum to one of the standard 'message board' formats?
Maybe I am partially computer dumb (almost certainly actually), but
the Google groups discussion format is really slow and difficult for
me..

"Here's a new trick I figured out for those of you who don't receive
every
email. If you receive "Digest Email" or "No Email", you can go to
the
our forum
home page <http://groups.google.com/group/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders?
hl=en>, log
in, find the post you wish to add photos to, and forward that post to
your email address. When the forwarded post comes to your inbox,
reply to
it and attach your photos as you would a normal email. Hope this
helps."

[Dan Davala - Founder/President]

Eric and others,

 

If you go to the FORUM HOMEPAGE, log in, and make your post from there, all you have to do is click the picture icon in the tool bar above the message you are composing and attach a photo like you would on any other forum. 

 

I still find it easiest to attach photos through my inbox in the same way I would in a normal email to a friend.  I am far from tech-savvy, so this works the best for me.

 

Dan

[eric]

Hmm.. that sounds easy enough, and I can get the little window open
and upload the pictures, but then it gets stuck and I can't close that
little upload window, so I can't post. I give up for now - I'll try
later. ..they aren't even of fish ;)
Eric

On Jul 6, 1:03 pm, Dan Davala - Founder/President

<daniel.dav...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Eric and others,
>

> If you go to the FORUM HOMEPAGE<https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/tidal-potomac-fly-...>,

[Art Friedlander]

Have never done it but my understanding is that kayakers commonly paddle up the
canal to Seneca Breaks then drag it overl to the Potomac and float back down to
the car.
Are there any significant rapids on the float from Seneca Breaks to Pennyfield?

Art

----- Original Message ----
From: eric <ela...@hotmail.com>
To: Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders <tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wed, July 6, 2011 11:01:49 AM
Subject: Re: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: Potomac kayak fishing, out of
Pennyfield lock

Thanks,
Eric

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You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal
Potomac Fly Rodders" group.

[eric landis]

Hi Art,
 
When I am referring to the 'breaks', I am talking about the rocky/rapids area stretching from violets lock to ~3/4 mile downriver.  I don't know if that is correct or not..  Those are not real significant rapids (maybe some spots, depending on the flows).  More likely, there may be too little water to float over the rocks in some places..  Below that rocky area, it is pretty calm all the way to Pennyfield.  If you are floating that section, I guess the real important thing would be to stay to river left of the big islands b/c they are really long and you wouldn't be able to get out at Pennyfield.  The 'birds eye view' in Bing Maps, has some really clear close ups of the river.
 
Next time I go, assuming I get a chance for 'next time' this summer, and water levels cooperate.. I'm going to try to put in at Violets lock and float down through the 'breaks' (as I think of them anyway), then get out and either paddle back up the canal, or carry my boat if I have to (it's a light boat and it's only ~ 1 mile) back to the car. 
 
Hmm.. I changed my setting so I get emails now.. I'll see if I can attach my pictures this way..
 
Eric
 

 

> Date: Wed, 6 Jul 2011 16:25:23 -0700
> From: just...@yahoo.com

> Subject: Re: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: Potomac kayak fishing, out of Pennyfield lock

> To: tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com

[Barracuda]

This is indeed a well-known kayaking trick -- kayakers have been doing
it long before fishermen were in kayaks. I haven't been up that way in
a while, however, and I'm wondering if there's enough water in the
canal to paddle these days. In so many places the canal is too shallow
and blocked by downed trees to actually paddle...

Barracuda

[Brendan]

Impressive that you paddled up to the breaks in an inflatable, it's a
decent hike even in a kayak or canoe that is more aqua-dynamic and
tracks well. I find the breaks almost look like a distant mirage in
the afternoon sun and always take longer than expected.

The last time i rode my bike through that section the canal was not in
good shape(impassable), but it's been a couple years so who knows what
NPS has done with it. Curious to find out.

Speaking of bikes... they are one of my top 5 fishing accessories -- a
little peddling on the towpath will allow you reach a lot of great
water that's otherwise a tough and/or dangerous paddle or a very long
walk. Always be careful when wet wading, but riding your bike back to
the car with your clothes soaked from a day of fishing can make you
feel like a kid again. Another thing i used to do before getting a
boat is walk up and then wade/float down the rock gardens with the
help of life jacket. Actually kind of fun on a hot day, tho it limits
the gear/supplies you can bring.

The upper Potomac is fishing reasonably well, after a couple weeks of
'bleh'. The high air and water temps limit have made the prime fishing
times narrower, as usual this time of year, but there's still a good
hour or two on either side of the day even when the temps are in the
mid 90s.

[eric]

I know what you mean by 'distant mirage'.. but slow and steady with
lots of stops to fish made it seem like fun.

Good tips about biking, and wade/floating. I rarely get enough time
to deal with the inflatable, so I'll be looking for some good walk-in
locations where I can access some of this type of water. I tried
River Bend park a couple weeks ago, but access was tough and the
fishing was not great. Any other suggestions?

I need to get a bike.. I can imagine, with a smallish inflatable boat
like my kayak or a watermaster, and a bike with one of those kid
trailers - the river would be wide open. For instance you drop the
bike/trailer at Pennyfield, drive up to Violets, float down to your
bike, pack the boat into the trailer and bike back up to the car.. A
kind of utilitarian triathlon..