I fish on the Potomac River (DC/VA area). I was wondering where rockfish generally like to stay. Do they like to stay in a higher current, or off current?

Hey,

I live on the potomac when I'm not on the cape. There are still some schoolies around but most of the big bass have moved out. fishing the channel edges on the bottom is your best bet for the big ones. Smaller stripers will be on the move around areas with current and/or structure. What part of the river do you usually fish?

I lived on the Potomac River, Tall Timbers MD, for 7 years and never had much luck with bigger "Stripers", just schoolies. Others did and wouldn't share their secrets.

By the way, Where did this term "Rockfish" come from? Stripers like structure but are not Rockfish. I always found Rockfish, not Stripers, on the bottom in deep water. All my time in Maryland I heard Stripers called Rockfish but nobody could tell me why????

All my time in MD they were Rockfish or simply Rocks. 20 years ago I was fishing with a friend in Lewis Harbor, he caught a bass and we argued for 10 minutes on rock -v- striper :whackin:

I could tell you that well north of you bouncing bucktails on the Chesapeke Bay Bridge worked wonders for schoolies.