Despite being almost skunked the last time we fished adjacent to the town of Occoquan, the Basswife and I wanted to take advantage of a few hours of free time early in October. We accepted the fact that we would have to pay a launch fee at the Fountainhead Regional Park and took the short drive from our home across the river to that location. Time from garage to water was less than 10 min. As we pulled into the parking lot adjacent to the boat ramp, I should've taken better notice of the limited parking. There were trucks with trailers scattered as far as the eye could see. After we dumped the canoe on the concrete boat ramp, it took the Basswife a while to park and return. Like last time, we motored upstream and began to fish under the 123 bridge. I was amazed at how rude other anglers were. We were about halfway up, with only about 30 yards between ourselves and the dam and another boat pulled in in the space between us. Get a clue. This river is big enough to provide everyone plenty of space. When I turned around to look back downstream, I was also startled to see two other boats grinding their way underneath the bridge into this crowded water. The heck with that. We headed down and fished some of the docks with no great results. When those became crowded, we motored farther downriver to fish between the boats and then bounced over to the other side to fish the shoreline. Everywhere we went, other anglers soon appeared. I guess the fishing on the Potomac was not good and all these guys were retreating to the side channels. It was a proliferation of massive bass boats creating the closest I'd ever seen to a traffic jam. We plugged away for about two hours, looked each other and agreed to give up. I know there are fish here since Charlie Taylor talks about them all the time, but the end this buzz of propellers and the bleeps of sonars must've put them down from the thousand boats that speckled the scene. Getting There: xxx Secrets Revealed? No. This is a very public location that is documented in the Fairfax County Park website. Tell a friend about this article by clicking on this link Date Fished: 10/8/2011	View Larger Map Pressure Trout Size N/A Physical Fitness Bass Size Access Regulations Hard to Find Stocking Scenery Overall Remember to refer to my rating explanations - these are based on what I look for - so RED for Physical Fitness translates to easy physically - you do not need to be in shape to fish this section.  I prefer terrain that is tough to get into and out of. Purchase Switchfisher's books using the links to Amazon below for: Wade Fishing the Rappahannock River of Virginia (more info) Wade Fishing the Rapidan River of Virginia (more info) Wade and Shoreline Fishing the Potomac River for Smallmouth Bass (more info) Trout and Smallmouth Fishing on the North Branch of the Potomac (more info)
Packed with boats	Wide and deep
Plenty of docks to fish	Plenty of kayakers to get in your way