A few weeks ago, I got up early on Sunday morning for the "early service", and this is the sight I was greeted with at the point in my hike when I first encountered the Potomac. It was about 7 am. It was one of those magical mornings when the steam was rising off the river as I waded, the air temp was 56, and the water I would guess was 70 or so.
The light was beautiful as it hit the rocks. I had to stop and just soak it in for a few before I wet a line. I landed 5 or 6 in a few hours and shot some video landing a few fish, but I accidentally erased most of it. Not a bad way to wake up, I was home by 11 am after a trip to the grocery store.
Work has been pretty stressful, so I decided to blow out two hours "earlier" than most days lately (by earlier, I mean I left only 45 minutes after my contract hours were up for the day). I had packed my light action rod with 4lb test and my vest with only the essentials (a few hooks, soft plastics, camera, forceps and knife). It was a gorgeous Indian summer day, 80 degrees with water temps in the 68-70 degree range. I started wading in a location I knew usually held a few bass and sunfish. I hooked in the first smallie within minutes. Not a soul was around fishing, all I could hear were the geese, and I was shorts deep in the cool water. Suddenly, life wasn't so bad.
I hooked several fish in that spot, and decided to wade up stream, through sections I either had never fished or hadn't fished in years. It didn't matter much, the water is low and its like a whole different river. The old saying is true, "The same man never never steps into the same river twice." Ask this smallie, he'll tell you, check out the color of the reflections in the ripples.
I was doing quite well, and the bronzebacks were in full effect.
Here is a chunky one on the run, one of the eleven smallies I landed . I felt revived in under three hours. What a day, I wish I could do it more often.
Weekend before last, Rochelle and I went down to Gloucester to hang out with my family. My Brother and I got the little outboard running and took it for its first trip on the creek in the undersized flat bottom I have. We ran up and down the creek right before dark and were rewarded with incredible views including this amazing sunset. No time for fishing, the wives were waiting on us, but we snuck out anyway - it was great.
