Follow the signs towards the Balls Bluff Battlefield park and you will eventually hit a dirt road at the end of a housing area. Do not be confused by the low key entrance to the park! Follow the dirt road all the way to the end where you encounter a wide parking lot with a kiosk that contains pamphlets describing all of the trails in the park and the history associated with the site. If you are fishing, the most important thing the kiosk provides is the layout of the trails in the park area. There are two trails in particular that lead directly to the river -- the yellow trail and the red trail. Don't take the yellow trail because that leads to something called the overlook - that implies a steep slide down to the river's edge. Instead, take the red trail and it will lead you to the river. The red trail starts at the upper end of the parking lot. Once on it, all you need to do is follow the red blazes on the trees at the edge of the trail. It will eventually take you down a steep hill and across a small creek. Don't succumb to the temptation of following the creek to the river as it gets pretty tight at the end. Remain on the trail, head over the hill and you will be at the river in short order. The trail is well-maintained with broad paths and easy walking throughout the entire course. The problems associated with fishing this location began when I reached the river. This is not a rocky bottom section of the Potomac. It's full of mud and sand - you will sink up your shins in the mud that clings to the shoreline. As I looked down to the center of the river I could see islands of vegetation surrounded by the lighter brown color of the mud. It looked shallow in the middle but the deep section was next to the bank and prevented me from wading out. I walked up and down river looking for the terrain to change and was disappointed that it maintained the inaccessible character. This is marginal fly fishing country.  With the steep bank behind you, your casts are limited to parallel the shoreline. The many overhanging trees add complexity to the technical challenge. There is plenty of structure lining the bank as you can see from the pictures below. Numerous overhanging trees hover over submerged logs and bushes. I did the best I could working down the shore to flip poppers and damsel flies into this collection of ideal habitat with no results -- not even a sunfish. I did see a fish jumping towards the center of the river but nothing significant was moving along the shoreline. One thing to note about this spot is that the river that you see in the pictures is not the main channel of the Potomac. Immediately across from Balls Bluff Battlefield, there is a long that island that separates the battlefield from the main current of the river. Of course, if you are limited to wade fishing, this is the only section that you can walk into unless you want to take a swim. There may be a time when the water is low enough to allow wading over to the island but today was not the day. Bottom Line: I give this a no go for fly gear. If I had had my spin rod with me, I could have had a good day fishing up and down the shore as it would not have any problem at all to cast out into the middle of the side channel. But even with that, I wonder if there would be a decent population of smallmouth bass here given the slackness of the current and the muddy character of the bottom. I do not recommend this -- go upstream just a little bit and hit Point of Rocks instead. Secrets Revealed?  No.  This is a very public location that is documented in the information about the Balls Bluff park.	Pressure Trout Size N/A Physical Fitness Bass Size Unk 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 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)   Date Fished: 9/18/2009 Tell a friend about this article by clicking on this link
Trail along the river	Mouth of the creek - pretty tight - this is why you want to stay on the trail
Tight vegetation	Good luck casting a fly around this
Trail map - Go with the Red Trail	Plenty of logs and bushes in the water near the shore