Late Fall Fly Fishing

We fished most of the fall on the Chesapeake out of Kent Island.  Fishing was decent , but not exceptional as it can sometimes be on Eastern Bay and the surrounding waters of the Middle Chesapeake.

I am headed to Ocean MD  this week to do some fishing on the coast for striper and bluefish.  Reports have been decent from the last week, and we should be able to find some good fly and light tackle fishing.  We target the fish on near shore shoals and catch some really nice fish.  I will keep you posted as we get fishing.

Fishing on the Gunpowder river has been great, as we have had good constant water flows for the last few weeks.  Fish are taking a variety of nyph patterns well, and also chasing streamers.

 

My wife Megan and I fished one day recently between Bunker Hill and Masemore Rds. and had some decent browns fishing dropper nymph  rigs with phesant tails. The fishing should continue to be good through December, especially if the weather stays mild.

Gunpowder River Fall Fishing

This week finally brought some decent water flows to the Gunpowder.  Recent rains prompted the City to bump up flows to keep up with spillover, and we saw flows as high as 365 cfs.  It has since moderated and we have been fishing around 150cfs.

Higher flows almost always improve the fishing. Streamer fishing improves on the lower river, and some nice browns can be caught fishing undercut banks and logjams. Nymphing also improves  streamwide.  On recent trips we have had some good fishing in pocket water sections of the river above Falls Rd. Dropper nymph rigs fished deep with an attractor on top and a small nymph behind have taken alot of fish.  Our best patterns have been green weenies, san juan worms and other bright attractors. Behind them I like a size 18 or 20 phesant tail, which usually ends up catching the fish. Caddis pupa imitations in size 18 or 20 have also been effective.

There has also been some good fishing with dries, especially midges.  In slower water glides and back eddies fish can be seen rising to small midges most days.  An occasional caddis or trico will also draw a rise.  For fishermen looking to fish dries, griffith's gnats, tricos, and other midge and olive patterns in size 20 or 22 will take fish.  We did catch a few fish on beetles to this week, and a caddis with midge dropper is also a good bet.  Hopefully we will keep good flows for the rest of the fall and fishing will remain consistent.

Ocean City Flounder Fishing

We ended up doing a bunch of flounder fishing this Summer out of Ocean City.  Fishing was great in both the back bays and ocean so we took advantage of the consistent fishing.  Had lots of folks in town on vacation with families and this made for some good fun for them. We fished all types of techniques for the flatties from jigs to live bait.  We caught some nice ones with a few of our biggest fish over 7 lbs.

 

 

The fishing has continued to be good, so I am going to keep the boat there through mid - month.  If you are in the area and want to try it just give me a shout.

 

 

 

  Striper fishing on the Chesapeake had improved a bit, and I will be fishing out of Kent Island for most of the fall. As usual we will be targeting fish with fly rods and light tackle there through mid November. Hopefully we will see lots of breaking fish and some good shallow and topwater fishing.  I will keep you posted.

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                   



 

 



 

 

 

Summertime on the Gunpowder River

Fished the Gunpowder the last few days above Falls Rd.  Stream flows up to 75 cfs, a nice change from the 30 cfs or so we have had the last week or two.  Fishing has beendecent but not easy.  For whatever reason, our late Summer hatch of Tricos has not got rolling yet, and there has not been a ton of bug life otherwise.  Each day we see a few scattered caddis, tricos, and an olive or two, but nothing consistent.

Terrestrials have been a great bet, beetles, ants, and hoppers will all take fish.  We still have had a bunch of success on small nymphs fished short under an indicator.  Stremaer flies fished tight on the banks will catch fish too. We have had good luck on olive rabbit strip zonkers.  Hoping we will start to see some tricos in the morning and get some good dry fly fishing going.

Backwater Angler finds new home base

Our friends at the Backwater Angler Fly shop in Monkton, MD have moved to a new location. The new shop is up and running in the yellow building right next door to the previous location on York Rd.

Theaux and the guys have been busy getting the new shop ship shape all week.  Be sure to stop in for any of your fly fishing needs and stream info. You can find them online at www.backwaterangler.com

Ocean City Flounder Fishing, Gunpowder Trout

Find myself fishing for flounder alot in the coastal bays this Summer.  The last week has been decent fishing,  best as always on periods of clean water.   We have had great success fishing in the ocean when we can get there, but have been fishing more regularly in the bays the last week mostly due to wind on the days we have booked.

We continue to get alot of our better size fish on live spot.  Mullet and bunker have also brought some good fish. Fishing the deeper channels has proved best for us, but chasing cleaner cooler water always seems to be the way to the fish.  We have not tried much fly fishing for the flounder this year, though we have caught a few. 

More flounder fishing on hand for this week, so I will keep you posted on the fishing.

The fly fishing on the Gunpowder River has been decent.  We have caught some nice fish nymphing the last few trips, targeting the pocket water areas of the river.  Stream flows have dropped to near 30 cfs this week, so the fishing may get a little tougher. 

Still waiting on the Trico mayflies to show up in any kind of consistent numbers.Usually by now we have a decent morning hatch of the tiny bugs and the trout love them.  This year we have not seen much mostly due to the cooler than average water temps, low 50's  the last month or so.  Hoping the lower flows will warm the water enough to get the bugs going. 

For the meantime, small dark colored nymphs will take fish when fished below an indicator with proper weight.  Tungsten putty is a good choice on low flows as you can use the smallest amount of weight to get your nymphs where they need to be.

Terrestrials are not a bad bet either.  We took some nice fish the last trip out on beetle and ant patterns fished along logs and stream banks. Try early mornings and weekdays to avoid fishing pressure.

Ocean City Bay/Inshore Fishing Report, Update

Fishing has been decent here in Ocean City despite the big heat wave last week.  Good flounder fishing has eeen the highlight of the last week.  We have been targeting the flatties with a variety of techniques.  We have had good success fishing jigs around structure and in the bay back channels. A half ounce head and a 4inch Gulp grub has been tough to beat.  Fishing always best on clean water and slower tides.

Some of our best fish have come while fishing deeper channels with live baits on fish finder rigs.  Spot and Mullet have been choice baits.  Hoping that the good floundering continues through the rest of the Summer.

Striper fishing has been a bit tougher the last week.  I don't think the warm water and high heat helped that cause.  We have managed some fish though, while fishing flies and swimming plugs.  Also had some decent fish to 26 inches the other day while live lining spot.



Gunpowder River Fly Fishing Report, Pictures

Fly Fishing on the Gunpowder River has remained good throught the first of the Summer heat waves.  Stream flows are decent in the mid 70's and water temps cool int he low 50's.  The Sulfur mayfly hatch has thinned and is nearing it's end, though hungry trout will still rise anxiously to a well presented dun.  We are seeing the fierst of the Trico mayflies in the morning hours, and hope this hatch will continue to strenghten and take hold.  Tricos have offerd us some exceptional morning  dry fly fishing from July to October in the past several years.  Terrestrial pattern will work well also through the Summer when fished tight to the banks and deadfalls.

Here are some pics form some of our recent trips. Caught alot of good fish as usual on small nymphs fished on a high stick.

Ocean City Fishing Report

Summer has shown it's true face in the last week here in Ocean City , MD.  This week we had daytime temps in the 90's + each day.  Spending the day on the water offered a bit of relief, but no doubt Summer is here to stay now with more hot weather forecast for the week to come.

Inshore fishing has offered much of the same over the last week or so.  We have coninued to target rockfish on flies and light tackle during when conditions allow.  Much of the action as you might imagine is at dawn or dusk. We have caught some rockfish in the heat of the day on a good tide drifting live spot.  Most fish have been short of legal, but good fun.  Many 18 to 26 inchers.

 Good news is that the flounder bite has picked up in the back bays.  We had several tides this week which brought in some really clean water. Clean water typically translates to good flounder fishing, and we had some good keeper fish on several trips this week.  We had a couple of nice 20 + inch fish on live spot while drifting deep water, and also some decent fish while fishing jigs and Gulp grubs. 
Somehow did not get many pics of our flounder this week.  Did get some good help on the fish cleaning end of things.  My daughter Ella always needs to be part of the action, and my friend Leslie from 94th st. had fun learning to fillet her first flounder.

Ocean City Fishing Report Week of June 18

Inshore fishing in Ocean City the last few days has been a mixed bag.  We have been targeting fish with a variety of techniques from fly fishing to live bait, and everything in between. 

Early morning incoming tides earlier in the week made for some decent fly fishing for stripers around the jetties.  We caught fish on deep lines and on poppers, most 18 to 26 inches.  Some larger fish were being caught by anglers targeting them using live spot.  The fishing slowed quickly on the outgoing tide, and as the high sun and warm temps took hold.  We have limited most of our striper fishing to very early or late.

Flounder fishing in the back bays has been tough, though we had some great fishing last week in and around the inlet.  Some of our better spots in the back bays have failed to produce fish consistently.  Anglers fishing deeper water on the drift with live spot are managing a few keeper size fish here and there.

We had some decent tautog fishing this week in around the jetties whaich helped fill the flounder void.  We have been catching alot of fish with a few keepers each day to 18 inch.  also caught our first sheepshead for the year, about a 6 lber.  Most of our fish caught on sand fleas.

Ocean City Fishing Week of June 11

Ran into some great flounder fishing in Ocean City, MD over the weekend.  On trips Saturday and Sunday we landed several good numbers of flounder while fishing jigs around the OC Inlet.  We had several fish in the 4 to 5 lb range that were 24 inches long.  Alot of good fish 18 to 20 inches too.  The fishing was best on the incoming tide and in areas of clean water.

 Water temps were 70 to 72 degrees in some areas of the back bays, and it seems like better numbers of flounder have begun to move into the bays also.  Some nice fish were caught on live spot while drifting the deeper channels and  thorofares.

There were stilll decnt numbers of rockfish around the jetties and bridges. The tide waas not in our favor the last few mornings, but we managed to ctach some fish while throwing topwater plugs and  other hard baits.  Conditions  made any fly rodding tough this week, hard breeze and swell  made getting where we needed difficult.

                                         

Gunpowder River Fishing June 9

Fished the Gunnpowder through mid afternoon Monday and had some prettty good fishing.  Saw the first of the Trico mayflies for the year, swarming over a riffle above Falls Rd.  This is a good sign, and hopefully the tiny mayflies will greet us with some good fishing on Summer mornings through July and August.

There were not many trout rising in the late morning on the stream, so we targeted them with some small pheasant tail nympha, and sulfur emerger patterns.  We had good successs almost immediately in the pocket water and landed a handful of foot long browns






We started to see the first of the Sulfur Mayflies  hatch around 1pm and has some fishing for rising trout in selected areas.  There was not a strong hatch stream wide, but  in areas whwere there were decent numbers of bugs, trout rose well.  We caught some fish and had a number of takes  on our dry flies using a variety of sulfur dun patterns.  Hopefully the Sulfurs will hold on for a few more weeks.

                                                                                                                                              

Gunpowder River Fishing June 6

Fished the GP for the second time this week. Have tried to fish the afternoon, evening hours in hopes of catching what remains of the sulfur hatch.  Weekend flows on the river were over 900 cfs for Saturday due to rains and spillover at the Prettyboy Reservoir Dam.  Spillover is not a good thing this time of year as stream water temps increase drastically.  Temps on Saturday went form 52 degrees to almost 70 degrees, before starting to falll again Sunday.   The trout were obviously shaken by the abrupt change, and our fishing success on Monday was poor.  We landed one brown about a foot long, but had very few actively rising or feeding fish.  Flows were about 200.

Yesterday afternoon was a big change thankfully.  We began fishing at 1 pm and upon arriving on the stream saw numerous risers and some sulfur mayflies hatching. Though not a blanket hatch by any means, there were plenty of bugs to get the fish moving. 

We took several browns on a dry CDC sulfur pattern in size 14 , and missed a bunch more.  Most of the fish we saw rising would at least give our fly a look. We also had some takes on a loop winged  CDC emerger.  Water temps were back in the low 50s and it looks like things might get back to normal.  Trying the evening tonight with hopes of catching the spinner fall.

Had some company on stream today as some blue herons stealthily hunted the riffles.  They were obviously not practicing catch and release.  Watched one pick off a trout in a foot deep portion of creek with little effort.

Ran across this water snake on the bank too.  Looked like he was fat from a recent meal , maybe a trout.  I sometimes see these snakes tumbling downstream during summer months with trout in their mouths.  Always amazed that they can somehow catch them. Keep you posted on the fishing.  Jeff

Ocean City Fly Fishing, Eastern Bay Fishing

Fished Thursday afternoon inshore OC around the jetties and bay back channels with the fly rod.  Tried mid day to catch some flounders on the fly in a couple different locations but did not have much success.  We fished several different color clousers and half and half flies on deep lines, but the fish were not cooperating short of a few mystery bites.  The flounder fishing has been a little sloe to take off, but should continue to improve as water emps warm up.

We switched to targeting some stripers around the jetties and had some good success.  We caught fish on red and white and olive and white half and half  flies on the incoming tide. The highlight of the evening's fishing were a few fish on our fly rod poppers. 

We also caught some fish on poppers cast on conventional gear and a few fish on soft bodied jigs too.  Had a few shad and a couple short strikes on bluefish too. 

Trailered up to Kent Island yesterday to fly fish Eastern Bay. Capt. gary Neitzey of "Fish Hawk" guide service helped me out for the day  Had a group in from all around the country, and they were able to catch some of their first stripers on the fly.  We caught alot of fish but had a tough time catching big ones.  We had alot of wind to contend with, so were limited in our efforts but still had a great time.  Most of the fish were concentrated in a few areas of submerged structure.

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Yup, you can keep up with me and the fishing now on Facebook too. I will keep you informed with fishing reports and photos of recent trips and destinations to come.

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Ocean City Fishing Report

We fished the inshore waters out of Ocean City, MD this week.  I hoped to target some rockfish on the fly rod, along with schools of bluefish and shad that are typically present this time of year in the back bays.

Fishing proved good around the OC inlet and south jetty, as well as around the Rt. 50 bridge.  we landed alot of decent rockfish on flies and lures along the jetty.   Had good numbers of  22 to 26 inch fish and a couple in the 30 " range on Thursday evening.  The stripers bit good on both the incoming and outgoing tides.  They liked an olive and white half and half fished on a deep line on our 8 weight fly rods.

The hickory shad bit  a small, heavy, chartreuse and white clouser minnow along the east channel and rt. 50 bridge.  There were good numbers of them throughout the day, and they were good fun to catch.  Schools of small blues were mixed in, especially in early morning and evening.

During periods of slack tide and mid day we switched our efforts to catching some flounder and tautog.  We fished 1/2 ounce jigs and gulp grubs for the floundrr with good success.  Chartreuse again seemed a favorite color of the fish.  The Tautog liked sand fleas and we managed a few nice fish for the Bay up to about 18 inches.

I will be fishing trips in  Ocean City for most  the Summer months, taking advantage of the variety of inshore fishing opportunites. Give me a call if you are headed that way , or are up for a day trip. 

Gunpowder River Fishing Report

Fly Fishing action remains hot this Spring on the Gunpowder.  Stream flows continue to be excellent with average flows the last few days around 125 or so.  Constant flows in the 100 cfs range always seem to help with the fishing.  The trout have alot more stream to use and seem more likely to come out of their typical tight hiding spots.

Adding to the good fly fishing is a consistent Sulfur mayfly hatch. The bugs have been hatching through the afternoon in good numbers.  Anglers have been taking advantage of good fishing with dries as the bugs hatch, and have had good success with nymphs and soft hackled wets in the morning hours.

On days we are lucky enough to have the bugs hatch early, we have seen an awesome spinner fall at dusk.  This is not the time of year to leave the stream early.  Sometimes you can catch as many fish in the last half hour as have taken all day.  Tell your significant others that they are on their own for dinner tonight, you have a date with the trout!

Some of my favorite sulfur patterns are very simple.  I like a CDC winged dun in size 14 or 16 as an all purpose dry.  It will take fish any time of day, including the spinnerfall.  I also like a loop winged emerger for tough fish, as it rides in the film.  Sometimes I add a little orange to the butt of the fly to imitate an egg sac.  This will often work on a finicky fish too.

Besides the Sulfurs, streamer fishing continues to be decent on the lower stretches of the C&R area.  Buggers and Zonkers work well fished hard on the banks and in the log jams. Midging fish can also be seen rising in the flat water throughout the stream , and pose a good challenge if you are up for it.