According to the Washington Post, the Potomac River is now the healthiest that it has been since the 1950′s.

“The comeback has been closely tied to the Blue Plains treatment plant, which handles waste from the District and parts of Montgomery, Prince George’s, Fairfax, Loudoun and Arlington counties. Its outflow is a river in itself: about 300 million gallons a day of treated sewage, enough to fill RFK Stadium.”

“In the past decade, responding to mandates from federal regulators, the plant has added $1 billion in new efforts that allow bacteria to consume the algae-feeding pollutant nitrogen in sewage.”

Read the full article at the Washington Post

I would be remiss if I did not mention the “Bull Shark in the Potomac River” frenzy that blew up on Facebook and the mainstream media while I was away. I tracked down the original reports and it wasn’t just one bull shark, it was two.

One was caught of Cornfield Harbor in extreme southern St. Mary’s county, MD. The NBC Washington website, which broke the “story” has a gruesome slideshow. The second was caught a bit farther north, near Tall Timbers, MD.

Both of these sharks were caught at the very, very edge of the Potomac River Watershed. So far south that one shark was actually caught by scientists collecting stingrays. This map shows where the bull sharks were caught:

The catches were very far away from Occoquan, almost 100 nautical miles south. Even down there, at the very edge of the Chesapeake Bay “you very, very rarely see them”, according to the Washington Post. Ok, no more bull shark jokes.

Anybody interested in fishing in Northern Virginia should definitely check out Charlie Taylor’s fishing report column in the News & Messenger. To whet your appetite, here is Taylor’s fishing report for the Occoquan River from April 8, 2010:

Spring fishing at it’s finest. Herring have invaded the river, bringing with them the white perch, hickory shad, and stripers. These, combined with the resident channel catfish, crappie and largemouth bass, are providing good action for anglers in the river. White perch anglers are filling coolers on bloodworms and nightcrawlers. Bass are taking plastic worms, jigs and crankbaits and crappie are being caught on small minnows and jigs. Catfish still like cut herring.

Hard to believe but each year biologists with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries shock the hell out of our lakes and rivers to determine where the best fishing is to be had.

The sampling with the powerful probes was conducted during day hours. The biologists targeted largemouth bass, primarily those of 15 inches or more since those are the kind of bass most anglers prefer.

The 2,100-acre Occoquan Reservoir has the most largemouth bass. It had the highest CPE-P (catch per effort of preferred fish) and the highest relative stock density. In other words, check it out. This lake is very good for fishing.

On a final note, the largemouth bass pictured above (16lbs. 4oz.) is the largest ever caught in the commonwealth of Virginia. It was hooked by Richard Tate on May 20, 1985 at Connor Lake. Click here to see all record fish caught in Virginia.