Articles

Port Tobacco River

-by Andy Andrzejewski

This is one in a series in which we review the fishing opportunities the Tidal Potomac River has to offer. Along the way we will reveal some excellent fishing spots along with GPS coordinates, when appropriate. Some spots will be old favorites and some will be new but all will provide good fishing. We will start south on the river in a tributary known as the Port Tobacco River.

Although it is called a river this short, shallow, tributary hardly lives up to its name. Averaging only about three feet in depth, this six mile long, broad waterway is best know for its water skiing opportunities more than the fishing. Launching places are very limited. A very fine ramp located at the Port Tobacco Camp grounds was closed last year and, as of this writing, I dont know if it will be available to the public in 1999. The last word I had was that the owners wanted to sell it to either the State of Maryland or to Charles County. This would be beneficial to the public if they did. The Port Tobacco Marina has a ramp but they are not user friendly and restrict the use to boatel and slip renters. The only good ramp open to the public is the Goose bay Marina located toward the mouth of the river at its confluence with the Potomac. This is a triple wide ramp with sufficient water to launch bass boats, in fact the Redman tournament circuit held several tournament here in 1998. This facility is accessed by traveling west on route 6 from the Town of LaPlata. Turn left on Blossom Point road and turn left again at the Goose Bay Marine sign and follow the directions to the ramp. Now on to the fishing.

Most of the better bass fishing is to be found in the man made canals around the marina and homes located at the head waters in the town of Port Tobacco. You can get to these by following the channel markers from the main river. Start on the pilings around the marina restaurant and boat slips and then work your way under the foot bridge between the restaurant and marina to the canal behind the restaurant. Back in the early 1970s this little canal used to be a prime spawning area and bass could be seen on their beds. Bass still spawn here but not in the numbers of years past. Submersed aquatic vegetation has improved the fishing in recent years but space is limited and two boats is a crowd. The canals continue back toward the camp ground and beyond and they provide good fishing choices, fish them all. The river itself turns right after you pass the campground and then turns left. The water is shallow and boats are limited to a very short distance. As you turn right past the campground you will see a channel that goes straight. This man made channel, all that remains of a developers plan for waterfront homes, will loop around and come out directly across from the campground launch ramps. This channel is very shallow in most places but is accessible at high tide and has wooded and grass cover as well as cuts and streams that enter it. At times it provides excellent fishing.
As you leave the canals and the marina area, the river opens into a wide bay. In the summer, this bay develops a good amount of grasses which hold bass. The bay is very shallow and on an abnormally low tide can create problems for boaters.

Farther toward the main river, at channel marker number four, is a point conveniently called fourth point. This is a good gravel point that runs from the shore to the channel marker with a good drop on the upstream side. This point will provide both bass and stripers with stripers becoming the most predominate species toward the fall of the year.

The next two points on the same side as Fourth point, Deep Point and Chapel Point, are probably the only other two places worth mentioning on this side of the river. Chapel Point has a row of pilings on it, the remnants of a pier used by cruise boats to bring patrons to the skating rink which once existed on the shore. They occasionally hold bass, although you are more likely to catch stripers.

Other than the canals , the best bass fishing probably exist in Goose bay, the bay located just inside Windmill Point on the West side of the Port Tobacco River. This bay has developed an abundance of submersed aquatic vegetation in recent years and the grasses are occupied by good numbers of bass. The area directly across from the marina has been especially good. Fish this area thoroughly and dont ignore Goose Creek. This shallow creek enters at the left rear of the bay and although it doesnt look like much, it can be accessed at high tide and provides some good fishing opportunities. This is one of those places where that the aluminum boat angler has the advantage over the heavier bass boats.

The salt content of the Port Tobacco River is fairly high, high enough to be home to salt water species such as Bluefish and croakers, and the bass fishing can be affected by drought or heavy rains but more than one bass tournament was won here in 1998. It certainly is worth a look.

Thats it for this segment, next well start up river and show you some spots along the way...