The river shook off its postspawn funk and began to really hum this past week. Even into the rainy weather fish began to bite with regularity in all areas in the regular summertime pattern. John Hayes' trip produced modest numbers, though an improvement over the previous weeks, but with several notable experiences. Not the least was a hookup with an enormous smallmouth in. . The fish took a large crankbait in deep water, jumped by the side of the boat, looked the anglers over, found them wanting, and ptui'd the hook.
Conditions are likely to deteriorate for a few days at least, as our famine has become a feast.
Though numbers at the raingauge at Shepherdstown aren't hateful yet, we've had a lot of rain down here and more predicted. I just hope some rain is saved for July. Shepherdstown has jumped up to May means and it's raining now, and Paw Paw is steady at around 7, which could go either way down here. In any event the long-term forecast for river fishing is good to excellent, so keep your eyes on the gauge and get cracking. Later trips had similar success, gradually improving through the end of the week.