After fishing upstream near the Harpers Ferry bridge, I dropped down to the Brunswick public launch point with the intent of scouting upstream. I had seen on the map that there was a set of rapids about 1 mile up the C&O towpath from the boat launch and that was my goal. After rolling into the parking lot and rearranging my gear for a quick hike up the river, I headed out down the towpath; walking fast enough to leapfrog a mom and a couple of kids who were biking and stopping to look at the various aspects of nature. I could tell that a couple of the kids would rather be fishing than biking and regretted that I could not do anything to help. As I walked up the towpath, I kept an eye out for a beaten path that would take me to the set of rapids. After all, it had to be a target of fishermen significant enough to create a well-worn path over to the river. I diverted on a couple paths that looked likely based on the distance I had penetrated, but none of those opened up on anything that approximated a set of rapids. As I looked in my GPS and gauged the distance from the boat launch, I finally decided that if I was going get to this spot I would have to bushwhack. That didn't last very long! The picture below shows the challenge you face the instant you leave the path. The vegetation between the towpath in the river is thick, oppressive, and constant. In fact, after beating my way 30 or 40 yards into the dense thickets, I became disoriented and was glad I had my GPS to get me back to the towpath on the quickest possible route. Recognizing that I had to be more precise to find these rapids, I put off investigation of them to my next trip when I could set a waypoint at the exact place I would need to leave the towpath to fight my way through the thickets to get to the river. In addition, on that expedition, I will take my small pair of pruning shears with me to chop my way through. On one of the many paths that I followed in my desperate attempt to locate the rapids, I discovered one that opened up on the river about a half mile up from the boat launch. The water looked good here with minimal sand and the maximum amount of small rocks and intermittent rock shelves stretching out from the shoreline. My adrenaline got a bump as I saw swirls out in front of me of larger fish chasing smaller fish into the shallow areas near the shoreline. You could see the dark shapes of the big smallmouth (or maybe catfish) cruising and turning with their fins cutting the top of the water as they entered a feeding frenzy. Since it was late in the day, I decided to fish my way downstream back to the launch point instead of trying to follow the shoreline up to the rapids. The standard bass gear works fine here. I was picking up decent sized smallies and a large number of sunfish floating size 6 blue and green poppers next the shoreline as well as targeting any outcrops and boulders I could see out in the main channel. On my next trip here, I'll wade farther out into the mainstem of the river as it looks like there was plenty of fish action with fish rising and jumping as they pursued the damselflies that were thick on the water. The river between where I broke out of the woods and the launch point is easy to wade as the river creates a gentle shelf moving from its center to the shoreline. Except for the few deeper holes that I encountered, I was never more than waist deep in the water. The deeper holes held the most smallmouth bass and I took the time to work them thoroughly with streamers that I could bump along the bottom. In this section of the river, there was minimal vegetation in late August when I fished here. By itself, that makes this a good return destination. Bottom line: I like the entire Brunswick area. The river has that calm character to it that makes fishing here a serene and passive experience. Date Fished.... maybe two summers ago?  Sorry - been fishing this weekend on the Dan River	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 and Shoreline Fishing the Potomac River for Smallmouth Bass (more info) Trout and Smallmouth Fishing on the North Branch of the Potomac (more info)          Secrets Revealed?  No.  This is a very public location that is documented in the following places: Virginia VDGIF 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
Thick, impenetrable vegetation	Bottom is rocky... no sand