In my last post, I left you hanging about the value of the section of the Upper Potomac just downstream of the Harpers Ferry bridge. With a comment about the "best spot" from the angler I had run into reverberating through my mind, I knew I had to get back here soon to see if it was as good as he claimed it would be. So on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend I pointed my truck back to Keep Tryst Road to meet with my buddy Jim and his son Ben to explore this upper section. After a smooth link up at the crack of dawn, we hopped onto the towpath and walked quickly up to the park like area I mentioned in my earlier post. I was surprised to see a few vehicles here and assume that they were associated with the Park in some way as I am not aware of any place where you can gain access to the towpath in a vehicle unless you are on official business. Since the Park area was busy with cars and the boat that they were launching, we walked another couple hundred yards up the path and found a dim trail leading to the river's edge. As we emerged from the brush, we could look to the left and could see the sun coming up over the mountains while on the right the 340 bridge loomed in the distance above the mist that hung close to the water. This had all the makings of a great day! The structure of the river here was the same as I saw downstream; ridges of rock jutting perpendicular to the shoreline protect deep, unwadable holes on either side. Your access to the center of the river is limited to the pathway provided by these ribbons of rock. One misstep and you will find yourself in the river up over your head. This is something to consider carefully if you are wearing waders. You certainly don't want those to fill up with water and pull you under. You may want to wear a life vest when you fish this section. I waded directly out on the first perpendicular spur of rock and began to fish the drops on either side. This was problematic! They are so deep that even with a number of split shots snugged onto the end of my tippet, I do not think I was getting my streamer down to the bottom before the considerable force of the river would force it downstream. The milky consistency of the water as a result of the confluence of the Shenandoah with the Potomac just upstream was not helping matters either. In fact, after fishing this stretch for an hour, I concluded that the deep holes were better suited to attack with spin gear since you can weight your lure significantly more than you can on a fly rod. The big fish are here! As I balanced precariously on the ribbon of rock, I could see fish rising downstream. Every once in a while they would leap out of the water in pursuit of a fly and you could see the sun flash on their huge bodies. It was absolute torture to watch this and know that I could not reach them. I worked a variety of top water lures in the hopes I could draw the big guys up from the bottom. I did have one spectacular slashing strike on a black popper but that was about it. I also tried some other poppers in various colors and even used the red thing ("white legged velvet ant") that Lon had given me for the Rappahannock with no positive results. That said, we were catching fish. We caught a number of panfish and a few smaller smallies that ranged in size up to 10 inches. Most of these were picked up on streamers bumped as close to the bottom as we could get them. We continued to work towards the bridge and discovered that it is deep to the point of almost being unwadable next to the Maryland shore. There is a very skinny band of shoreline that you can cling to as you work your way up the river. A better solution is to jump back on the towpath and use it as your high speed avenue of approach to get to your next fishing destination. It looked like the water was shallower farther upstream, so I pulled my way up the steep bank, heaved myself back on the towpath and walked up to where I could see another entry point to the river. I saw grassy spit of land stretching out from the Maryland shoreline that formed a good point with the bottom visible. After dodging around some sparse underbrush, I slid down the bank and popped back into the river at that shallow broad area. This was great! Easy wading and enough water velocity to push the streamers downstream. I waded out, throwing quartering casts upstream to allow the current to push the fly. I was rewarded with my fair share of smallies and large sunfish; nothing spectacular but enough to make it good day. I looked upstream and saw a number of other guys wading and fishing nearer the bridge. It appeared that there were more rocky protrusions leading to more cuts and runs in that area. Although I did not wade upstream to check this out myself, it looked like the water was shallow enough to be able to move most of the way up to where they were wading - although it was clear that they had arrived at those spots on canoes or kayaks. Bottom Line: Another good stretch of the Potomac! Even though I could look around and see five or six other guys fishing, this river is so big and broad that it is impossible to feel pressured. In addition to the people wading, a number of kayakers and canoes drifted by flipping their lures into the fast current as well. When I come back here in the future, I will leave my fly rod at home and bring my spin gear to be able to work the deeper sections more effectively.	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. Getting There:   I hate to do this, but I support the site by selling books.  My book on the Upper Potomac - "Wade and Shoreline Fishing the Potomac River for Smallmouth Bass" is available in both ebook format (instant download) or traditional print. This book walks the 57.3 miles upstream from the Chain Bridge in DC to Harpers Ferry, WV using words, annotated maps and over 200 pictures to provide you exact references while removing any doubt about what to expect in each section of the river.  The 230+pages include detailed directions, 42 maps, 45 tables and 208 GPS coordinates - more detail than you will see in any other fishing guidebook. You can purchase the eBook version for $9.95 by clicking on the buttons below:        To purchase the traditional print version: Secrets Revealed?  No.  This is a very public location that is documented in the following places: Maryland DNR  Fishing the upper Potomac River Tell a friend about this article by clicking on this link
Upstream from the entry point	Downstream from the entry point
View of the rock ridges jutting into the river	Ben working the shoreline
View upstream from the grassy island	View downstream from the grassy island