Fishing the Potomac River

Fishing the Potomac River. The National Colonial Farm. , In 1759, George Washington wrote that the Potomac River was “…well-stocked with various kinds of fish at all seasons of the year, and in the spring with shad, herrings, bass, carp, perch, sturgeon, etc. in great abundance.” Fisherman tossed their nets into the river and pulled their catch ashore by hand or by mule., The Potomac River was once the most profitable fishing river on the East Coast until over-fishing, pollution, and sedimentation devastated the fish population. By the early twentieth century, the once plentiful sturgeon disappeared from the Potomac, and shad and herring were rare., Fortunately, catch limits, clean water laws and conservation actions are cleaning up the Potomac. Government agencies and private citizens are working to replenish the shad and herring population and to reintroduce sturgeon to the Potomac River. In time these troubled species may again be “in great abundance.”, You might need a bigger pole… , Atlantic sturgeon like this can reach up to 15 feet in length and weight up to 800 pounds. With reintroduction efforts under way, some day it may again be possible to catch a sturgeon in the Potomac.