On earlier forays on the Potomac at Seneca Breaks, I fished the part of the river closer to the Maryland bank.  On this trip, I worked my way over to what I thought was the Virginia shore in an attempt to move away from the heavily fished shoreline. This was late summer/early fall of 2007 and the water was low.  While there were still plenty of good runs and cuts, most of the breaks was fairly shallow.  While this made for easy wading, I was unsure of how many smallies or my buddies, the bluegills, would still be scooting around in the low water.  With that in mind, I decided to work my way over to the large islands.  Earlier experience demonstrated that the islands usually sheltered deeper water where the larger smallies might hold. Loaded with poppers and terrestrial patterns, I fished my way to the island.  This section of the breaks is tough wading.  The rocks are slick and sharp.  You must exercise caution or you will end up with skinned shins; a wading staff is a must here.  While there are some deep parts, it's easy to find the shallow riffles that form your bridge from spot to spot.  The current through some of the chutes is much stronger that you might assume, so exercise caution. There was a large flat area on the northern side that sheltered a decent spot - maybe 4 - 5 feet in places.  When it failed to produce much action, I continued to hike towards Virginia.  Rough walking!  The water was very, very low, rocks poking skyward, scummy looking stagnant pools; just a nasty mess.  Once I confirmed that there was nothing worth fishing here, I turned west. It's obvious, but I had not seen the connection.  The Potomac in this section dams up at the head of Seneca Breaks.  This backs up the water to form a large lake.  In fact, I folks use power boats and water ski on this section.  The attractive aspect I discovered was that the dam created a section of deep water that quickly moved from wadeable to swimable.  I fished back to Maryland along the dam line and picked up a couple of nice greenies and bluegill until I heard some yelling. I looked around and saw a guy standing up on the dam line waving at me.  Turns out he had a duck blind going right there.  It was fully camouflaged and I had not noticed it as I slowly fished my way towards him.  He yelled over that the rule was that I needed to be farther away - no problem - I immediately moved back east and gave his blind a wide berth.  I know he was a bit mad that I worked the dam line up to him, but I was totally unaware he was there - good blind. Once I was away  from the danger zone, I worked the breaks again.  I would deaddrift woolly buggers or float dries down the strong runs, trying to stay in the seams that marked the transition from strong to gentle flow.  Nothing.  It was getting late, so I moved back up to the dam line closer to shore and started to work it again.  It continued to be productive and I picked up a few small bass.  The bait guys were out and when I chatted with them, most of their action had been very close to shore - they had some nice bluegills in a bucket.  Amazing how big those things can get. Bottom Line: Seneca Breaks is just like the rest of this section of the Potomac.  Do not expect to be by yourself here.  There are so few access points that the pressure gets focused right around the parking lots.  However, most of those folks are bait guys who are content to sit on the near shore and not get wet wading out into the current.  So, move away from the shore.  Another idea is to bring a bike and use it to run up and down the C&O canal to put distance between yourself and the parking lot.  Every 1/4 mile you go, the pressure drops dramatically. On review of this trip, I failed to fish the "pillow" area in front of the major rock formations.  The calm water created by the pillow will hold the big guys - something I will check on my next visit. The area above the breaks looks great for canoes.  On this day, there were a number of them on the water scurrying back and forth - probably to duck blinds.  I would love to get out on the lake part with a depthfinder to see what the underlying structure is.	Pressure Trout Size N/A Physical Fitness Bass Size Access Regulations Hard to Find Stocking N/A 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.  Penrod covers this area in his book and there are throngs of people here every day.
Looking towards Virginia.  Plenty of rocks, but mostly shallows	The wide spot over by the island.
I thought that tree line was Virginia given the low water - but the map confirmed I was not even close.	Nice greenie from the "dam" line
Pretty sunset!