Ask at Fletcher's Boathouse for information about fishing the river nearby. April weekends find anglers lined on the river near Chain Bridge to catch, often by the buckets full, herring and shad fighting their way upriver in the annual spring spawning run. Alewife, blueback herring, hickory shad, and American shad spawn in freshwater at the head of tidal sections of many East Coast rivers. So do white perch and striped bass. Little Falls, mile post 6, constitutes an obstacle that concentrates them in a narrow channel convenient for fishing.
Anglers go after smallmouth bass as the premier game fish.
September and October are the best months for smallmouth, although they can be caught throughout the warmer months. Bass haunt riffles and rapids, feeding on aquatic insects. Bass fishing is at its finest on the Potomac between the Monocacy River and Hancock, mile posts 42-125. Most popular is the stretch between Brunswick and Knoxville, mile posts 55-57. However, President Herbert H. Hoover preferred to do his bass fishing below Little Orleans, mile post 140.