In the 1960s, I wrote an article for Outdoor Life magazine about catching 100 smallmouth a day on the Potomac River. I wasn?t bragging, and it wasn?t an example of great fishing prowess or the once-in-a-decade day when everything good came together.
Fishermen expected such action on the Potomac back then. The same thing existed on Pennsylvania?s Susquehanna River with these popular fish, which were transplanted from the Ohio River to Maryland in 1854 and to Pennsylvania in 1869.
Now, male smallmouth are developing eggs, minnows and frogs are deformed, and smallmouth recruitment (spawning) is dismal. Clearly, something is wrong with our rivers ? and our smallmouth. Just what is wrong is hard to say, according to Don Cosden,Department of Natural Resources regional manager of inland fisheries.
He notes that male smallmouth developing eggs was first reported five years ago in West Virginia. One strongly suggested cause is the increasing amounts of pharmaceuticals, antibiotics, farm chemicals and even antibacterial soaps flushed down the drain. This happens by dumping old products or voiding both prescription and over-the-counter medications, many of which are only partly absorbed into our bodies.
Chemicals used in no-till farming are also blamed, particularly during heavy spring rains when added farm products wash into rivers. Low spawning over the past 10 years is also responsible for fewer smallmouth.
However, there is some good news. The short-term news, according to Cosden, is that the farther upriver you go on the Potomac, the greater the likelihood of more and larger smallmouth. He floats the river and notes that the approximate 25-mile stretch from Keyser to Cumberland on the river?s North Branch has good numbers of fish to “13 and 14 inches and some to 17 and 18 inches.”
But with rising gas prices, longer trips are more of a financial strain. Access is also more difficult upriver. (Information is available from the Oakland regional DNR office at 301-334-8218).
There have been only two good recruitment years in the past 10. The long-term good news is that one of those was last year (the other was in 1997). Those fish should be reaching 12 inches by 2009.
At least on the Potomac, our choices for decent smallmouth fishing are clear: Drive farther upriver or wait a little longer.
C. Boyd Pfeiffer is an internationally known sportsman and award-winning writer on hunting, fishing and the outdoors, and he has more than 20 books to his credit. He can be reached at [email protected].
