After being at the beach in Wilmington North Carolina all week on vacation, I was anxious to get back into some good smallmouth bass fishing. The Basswife was itching to go as well, so that put us into the canoe and I decided to fish upstream from Brunswick. I stopped in at the Smoketown Bait and Tackle to drop off some of my Potomac books and took that opportunity to get Andy's advice on what to use. He recommended green tubes and I picked up a bag from him. The small channel out of the launch is blocked by a downed tree and anything with a deeper draft than a canoe or kayak will drag on the sandy bottom to reach the main river. Even with my lightly loaded canoe, I hopped into the water to push it out to the river. Once there, I found a "deep" channel, set the trolling motor on high and churned my way upstream. There were plenty of other fishermen  wading along the shore and underneath the bridge. The water is at a perfect level to do that and, on a river at this large, it is impossible to feel pressured. Sadly, the water was not clear but was running with a slight silty tinge. It was hard to see the bottom in many places and visibility was generally only a foot or two below the surface. I knew this was going to impact my day and resolved to get up near the islands where I knew there would be plenty of rocks and decent numbers of fish. It took a while, pushing against the current, for the canoe to reach the lower boundary of the Brunswick Islands. Once there, we threw out the anchor and began to drift downstream, 25 yards at a time. We had fairly decent luck, nothing big, but caught a good number of 10 to 13 inch Smallies and the assorted sunfish that come along for the ride.With the low humidity and the bright sunshine, it was a perfect day to be on the water. I know there are plenty of people who argue that an overcast day will produce better fishing and I believe that is true. However, I will always trade a bluebird, bright sky day for one that threatens clouds and rain! The other challenge was that the Basswife does not get up early and does not want to stay out late. That pushed me onto the river during the worst time of the day and we fished between 11 and 3.  But, we caught fish, had a good time and avoided the traffic on I95 - perfect day!

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)   Getting There: See page 185 in the book Secrets Revealed?  No.  This is a very public location that is documented in Fishing the upper Potomac River. Point of Rocks Gage: 1.7 Date Fished: 7/2/2011 Tell a friend about this article by clicking on this link

Brunswick Bridge

Start of the "islands"