Camping/fishing on the UP near Shepherdstown, WV
TightLine 07/08/2007 - 19:39 Trip Reports Potomac Roll Your Own
Headed to the UP Saturday evening and got the camp setup just in time for a little fishing before dark. We caught several smallies mostly on poppers, but my buddy got the largest which was a spunky 15 incher on a dog-walker. The fish took to the air immediately after being hooked, but got hung under a rock for a short time, and my partner thought the fish got off...just added a little drama I guess, but anyway, he landed the fish.
Since we had had pretty good luck with the poppers, we decided that we would get up really early and give it a shot. At 0530 I took off up stream, and he headed down stream. Well to make a long story short I got into a mess of smallmouths from 6-12 inches. They were knocking minnows out of the water in shin deep water just above a ledge. The action settled down as the sun started to rise, and I moved to another set of ledges, and once again got action on the popper, but this time just below the ledge. Once the sun was up full, the top-water bite went dead. We did manage to catch a fish once in a while on 1/8 oz jigs in the slack water. I haven't fished this area in a few years, but you can bet it won't be long before I hit it again.
-TL
Since we had had pretty good luck with the poppers, we decided that we would get up really early and give it a shot. At 0530 I took off up stream, and he headed down stream. Well to make a long story short I got into a mess of smallmouths from 6-12 inches. They were knocking minnows out of the water in shin deep water just above a ledge. The action settled down as the sun started to rise, and I moved to another set of ledges, and once again got action on the popper, but this time just below the ledge. Once the sun was up full, the top-water bite went dead. We did manage to catch a fish once in a while on 1/8 oz jigs in the slack water. I haven't fished this area in a few years, but you can bet it won't be long before I hit it again.
-TL
