A Quick Evening Fishing the Potomac River for Stripers
The weather these first few days of October have been more late summer than fall. The warm weather felt of fishing. Fall fishing is one of those past times I wish I had more time for, however, my typical October calendar is normally filled with whitetails and ducks.
The Potomac River lies outside my front door. Stripers are known to swim the Potomac in the fall. Three hours of daylight remained after I left the office in the afternoon. The tide charts showed an incoming tide beginning at 3:50 PM. The final straw was when a friend told of a few stripers he had caught over the weekend. The perfect fishing equation equals Augie going fishing on a Tuesday afternoon.
I won’t go into the parking situation and the temptation to jump the curb and park in a closed National Park because of the government budget games. Knowing how my luck goes, I found a legal place to park. Or at least I did not get a ticket. With one fishing rod and just a few simple soft plastic baits, I crossed the road, slid down the bank and began fishing.
The day behind the desk left my shoulders a little more with each cast. The river was silky smooth with trees mirroring on the surface. The tide gained speed entering the rock lined creek. The sun slowly sank behind the western trees. The only sounds were the slight hum of commuters making their way home and the crickets hiding in the bushes.
In the tight, rock lined, creek mouth, the current ran the strongest. The bait fish would bust to the surface attempting to escape the feeders below. I made my cast close to the activity. The stripers were not large, in the twelve to sixteen inch range, but fun to catch.
An hour or so passed. I caught several of the Potomac River fall stripers. It was the perfect Tuesday evening. It may be fall and the season for the hunter, but there is always time for a quick evening of fishing, especially when stripers are involved.
Oh and I caught a setting sun on Fort Washington driving home
