Pacemaker Fishing Forum

I've been in an ongoing discussion with folks on another forum for sometime regarding the noticable decline of the quality of the Potomac fishery this year. Many of these people have several things to blame for this occurring - lack of aquatic vegetation, snakeheads, excessive tournament pressure, weather. Here's my take on the situation. I would enjoy hearing your opinions as well.

There's no doubt about it, the river is not fishing as well this year, especially for the more mature fish. However, I believe there is much more to it then that.

Tidal estuaries like the Potomac River are some of the most complex ecological systems on our planet, and they are constantly in a state of change. Lack of SAV, snakeheads, tournament/commercial fishing pressure and LMBV all probably play an important role in this change. However, there are many other aspects of the river that may have contributed to this change as well that most don't realize.

Weather patterns create large impacts on the hydrodynamics of the river in ways that are not well understood. It alters things like nutrient transport, sedimentation, salinity and dissolved oxygen levels, which affect not only the sport fish we target, but also the phytoplankton and benthic processes of which the entire ecosystem and its food chain is built around. What this adds up to is a vastly complex system that even the best minds in biology have trouble understanding completely.

As fragile as this system may be, it can be just as resilient. Tidal river systems, and all bodies of water for that matter, go through cycles of decline and prosperity. That is nature's way, and is the case for most every aspect of this planet. As humans, we live fast-paced, self-centric lives and often have narrow perspectives which don't allow us to see the whole cycle for what it really is. Perhaps the ecology of the river is in decline, but that doesn't mean it won't come back.

That being said, there are relatively few things we as anglers can control. Probably the most impactful thing we can do is change the way we use the resource. I personally enjoy fishing tournaments and do so throughout most of the year. However, I believe protecting the quality of the resource for my and my children's use far outweighs my need to compete against others and win some money for it (which, in my case at least, is not very much). I would not hesitate to support measures that would help protect these fish, whether it be a slot limit, or a seasonal or even complete ban on large bass tournaments. Other states around us do it, and because we don't, anglers from these places flock to our river and exacerbate the problem even more.

We think we are not harming these fish with catch and release tournaments, but some studies have shown up to a 30% post-release mortality rate for bass caught in tournaments. And that doesn't even include the ones that don't make it to the scales alive. I fished in one of these major tournaments last week, and in the 10 minutes I spent in line waiting for a weigh bag I saw at least a dozen dead fish pulled out of the release tanks and tossed into a waste basket. Almost all of them appeared to be 3 pounds or larger. And guess who was the one doing the tossing? The local state DNR rep. I'm sure he didn't enjoy this task one bit, but the smile on his face told me this was simply business as usual.

This rant has gotten pretty long and I do apologize, but the bottom line is this: The Potomac River is an extremely complex system, and a lot of what happens to it is far beyond our control. But maybe we do need to focus a bit more on changing the things we can control. If we can do that, and also score a bit of luck from our unpredictable friend Mother Nature, perhaps in a few years the River will get right back to where we want it to be.