By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor
FLW Tour pro Bryan Schmitt is a resident of Deale, Md. and an eight-time winner in lower-level FLW competition on the Potomac River and Upper Chesapeake Bay. It's his belief that those fisheries will recover just fine on their own without the drastic measures that have been implemented recently by his state's Department of Natural Resources.
"This whole thing is just a mess," he said. "The (Potomac) is coming back and the Chesapeake has been phenomenal. It all really stinks, and the stinger is that it's not necessary."
He points to the results of last weekend's Ram Trucks Open Series event (formerly the Bassmaster Weekend Series), in which a 19 1/2-pound bag took top honors and six other stringers weighed at least 17 1/2 in a field of 98 boats on the Potomac.
"Those were actually the worst conditions of the week – a lot of guys were catching them better than that in practice. I've been out a few days this year and it's fishing very well.
"The grass got thicker last year. It's coming back and the fish are coming back with it."
Not Much Consensus
The storied Potomac fishery has been the topic of much heated debate recently due to its decline over the past half-decade. Bass weighing 3 pounds or more have been scarce, and there are several theories as to why that's occurred.
Many locals point to the dramatic reduction of aquatic grass as the primary reason, along with some major construction projects along the banks of the river. However, there are also those who believe that pressure from tournament angling is at least partly to blame.
The DNR's recent actions, aimed at protecting adult fish on the Potomac and in the Chesapeake, have mostly focused on tournaments. In a memorandum issued 2 weeks ago, the agency announced that a stipulation would be added to each new tournament permit that would limit competitors in events taking place from mid-June through the end of October to possession of no more than one bass measuring 15 inches or longer.
A second option for tournament directors, which allows events to operate under the statewide regulations of a five-fish creel with a 12-inch minimum length and no prohibition on multiple fish over 15 inches so long as comprehensive fish-care practices are utilized, was created late last week. If that option had not been offered, B.A.S.S. would not have held its scheduled Bassmaster Elite Series event on the river in August.
In addition, the DNR has proposed "catch and return" areas on both the Potomac and Upper Chesapeake where no possession of bass would be allowed, and those could be in force come summer. The three areas on the Potomac include the ever-popular Mattawoman Creek, which might be out of play for the Elite derby.
The Protagonist
Local tournament enthusiasts say the source of all the recent hullabaloo is longtime Potomac guide Ken Penrod, who has frequently railed against competitive practices in posts on the Internet and social media. Penrod, who lays claim to 35 years of experience on the river and six national conservation awards, says he's not anti-tournament, but simply pro-river.
Unlike Schmitt, he believes that severe steps need to be taken by the DNR to prevent the fishery from collapse and says he would go so far as to support a total fishing ban in some areas during the spawn.
Clark Wendlandt, the winner of last year's FLW Tour event at the Potomac, loves both the ever-changing nature of the fishery and the history of the surrounding region.
"I'm not against tournaments – I've made a lot of money off of tournament people," he said. "What I'm against is losing the population of a fishery that I've worked my (butt) off to protect. It's a simple fact that there's not nearly the fish in that river that there once was and every stakeholder, and I don't give a damn whether we're talking about commercial fishermen, tournament fishermen or guides, has a duty to do their part to change that.
"If we can bring back the stock, then I've got no issues."
He says the hefty stringers currently being caught in local tournaments are simply a matter of circumstance and the phenomenon will have passed by the start of summer.
"What's happening is we're having an unusual March and the fish are up in the shallow water where everybody wants to go. It'll be great in March, April and May because 90 percent of the fish are in 10 percent of the places. But call me back in July, August or September and it'll be a lot different. Based on the last 5 years, it's real hard to get a limit when the water (temperature) gets into the 70s and 80s."
It's Always Different
FLW Tour veteran Clark Wendlandt, who's visited the Potomac numerous times over the past two decades, averaged 15 pounds per day en route to winning last year's event on the river in late June.
"In practice everybody made it out to be the toughest fishery in the world, but I thought it ended up fishing pretty well," he said. "Some places weren't as good as they were in the past, but there was a pretty good bit of grass, I thought, and it seemed like it was making somewhat of a rebound."
He dreads the thought of never competing in another event in the vicinity of the nation's capital.
"I will say this, if they make it so a tournament can't go there, it'll be one of the biggest shames there's ever been in fishing. It's a great destination and everybody enjoys fishing there. There's so much history to that place – you've got Quantico on one side, a big ship graveyard, George Washington's house is on one shore and when you get near D.C. you can see the national monuments – it's really where our country started.
"And the fishery itself is always different. It doesn't matter where a tournament was won last time, it's going to be somewhere different this time. It's just so dynamic."
Notable
> To see a list of the special conditions that will apply to tournaments operating under Option 2 (no slot limit), click here.
> To read the DNR's response to comments submitted regarding the new possession limit restrictions, click here.
