Monocacy River Report

Type: Nontidal
Region: Central
Location: Monocacy River

Since my last foray to the Monocacy (northeast of Frederick) in the blazing afternoon heat yielded meager results, I tried morning this time. I was a bit apprehensive when I woke up to the early morning temps in the upper 50's. I brought my chest waders in the car, but once I reached the parking area I took a chance that the day would heat up as the forecasters told us and went wet-wading. I was in the water by 9:00, and it was cool, but not cold like in April/May. It was easy enough to get used to and feel comfortable. Towards the end of the trip I was glad for the cool water, as the air temp was up in the higher 80's.

The water level was very low. Probably down in the lowest 10th percentile. It was also very, very clear. Although at first glance of a photo you see brown, that's the bottom showing. In the attached photo, look at how far out you can see the rock slabs under the surface. The common depth was ankles to knees. We only came upon a short section with really waist deep water (and no fish there!)

Some areas had rocks and silt only. Others had just a little moss on the rocks (but not the gooey hairy moss we hate), and some sections had tougher / rougher plants growing on and firmly attached to the rocks. Around those areas there were also some black mussels (smaller than a pinky fingernail). In a rarer few areas there were small patches of taller wavy weeds (elodia?) that I think I've seen in the Potomac.

There were plenty of tiny baitfish schools visible in the very shallowest areas closest to shore, 2-3 inch slim baitfish when you reached shin-deep, and you could see 3-4 inch bluegills among the rocks as you walked. There were also plenty of 3-5 inch smallmouth bass visible. The bigger, older ones were of course wiser, and darted away soonest as we approached. Didn't see any crayfish this trip.

My buddy Joe and I fished from 9:00 until around 2:00. He was plucking bluegills (16?) with a tiny popper fly on top, and a few smallies (4?), and 2 rock bass (red eyes, body middle was taller than a smallie). I used tubes and a small crayfish plastic, all on the bottom or hopping through and caught 9 smallies, 1 rock bass, and 2 larger sunfish with brilliant yellow bellies, and 1 sunfish with most of its body having a golden sheen (instead of grey-green). We enjoy catching any fish, and numbers are fun, but we were disappointed to find only younger and smaller fish. Two of my catches were about 10-11 inches, and the others were around 7-8 inches. The largest had some brown spot and stripe markings, while all the rest were mostly green colored. All appeared healthy and strong, with no visible skin troubles.

It was interesting that the smallies' bodies seemed somewhat slim. With so many baitfish around they could be eating more. The smallies that I can find (fewer in numbers overall) in the much smaller Middle Patuxent, where there's so much more silt, very few weeds, and far fewer baitfish, seem thicker and deeper bodied. Perhaps the faster flow of the Monocacy gives the bass more exercise all the time, instead of just during rains.

There was one other fisherman wading, and a family in 4 canoes came by, too. As we chatted they conveyed similar findings of no large fish caught today, but one around 14 inches (estimated only) was observed.

Since we did see a range of bass from very young fingerlings to the 10-11 inchers, it seems we have multiple years of successful spawning. There were a fair number of older gravel nests as we walked some areas, but I can't tell for sure they were smallmouth. They were larger diameter than I'm used to seeing sunfish nests in ponds, but I didn't see any of those smaller nests in the Monocacy.

That's all for this trip.