A Day on Virginia's Maury River (Blog 244)

Friday, I went fishing on the Maury River with visiting friends from the Potomac River Smallmouth Club (www.prsc.org) Jamie Gold and Bill Amshey.  Before going, I told Jamie and Bill that the water would likely be clear and low and that topwater patterns would likely be the key.  I also suggested that they forget about hard plastic minnow baits and bottom bumping worms, that topwater poppers or soft plastic jerkbaits would likely be the patterns.

We struggled to catch quality size smallmouths all day and by the end of our trip, no one had caught a bass of 12 or more inches.  The general consensus was that the bigger smallies had just not been biting.  That opinion was put to rest when a man and a woman arrived at the take-out just after we did.  The gentleman regaled us with stories of his wife's three 19-inch smallmouths caught on hard plastic minnow jerkbaits and plastic worms.  What a pattern he exclaimed - once again proving how wrong I can be while afield either fishing or hunting. One thing was true as is always the case (and as these pictures show) the Maury is a beautiful river.