To get away from the crowds in Mattawoman Creek and avoid fishing in the wind, Todd and Chris went north and fished Swan Creek, a small Maryland tributary closer to Washington, DC.  They arrived at a high outgoing tide and found 49 degree water at the mouth of the creek, with 55 degrees farther back.  The water was stained from recent rains, so they used slower moving bottom baits most of the time; primarily jigs and Texas-rigged plastics.  The majority of the fish were on points with hard cover and deeper water nearby.  Most of their fish were caught in 2'-6' of water along the drops.  The key baits were small 1/4 oz jigs in green pumpkin and black/chartreuse or black/blue.  When they left Swan Creek, Chris had a limit of five bass and Todd had three keepers. 

They returned to Mattawoman Creek  with nearly an hour left before weigh-in and the two proceeded to work a few shallow flats with emerging lily pads, eventually moving to an area where the flats merged into a steep channel bank with a hard bottom.  Chris caught his sixth keeper there with a jig, which allowed him to cull a smaller fish.  Todd managed to catch two jig-hungry keepers off the same spot, the last of which was the winning fish, taking largest for the tournament at 3 lbs 4 oz and completing his limit which weighed 12 lbs 9 oz.  Chris finished in second place with 11 lbs 14 oz.

Other photos from the 1st club tournament on Potomac courtesy of James Kim Photography