Fall Dry Fly Fishing on the Gunpowder River

The last few weeks have been excellent fishing on the Gunpowder.  Morning blue winged olive and caddis hatches have offered anglers some great dry fly fishing opportunities. The middle stretches of the catch and release area have offered some of the best action.  Long leaders and 7x tippets have been the norm.  Fish have liked patterns like parachute olives in a size 20 and small x caddis or henryville specials size 18.

Fishing should hold up through the fall as long as temps stay moderate and  weather holds.  Flows have been good, around 70 cfs and have been excelent for fishing dry flies.

We have been fishing for rockfish out of the Kent Island in our normal fall haunts.  The morning topwater fishing has been great and there are alot of breaking fish to chase through the mid day.
We have had a few nice bluefish mixed in, and some of the rockfish have been nice up to 26".

I expect fishing to be good through mid November, again weather dependent.

Fly Fishing low flows on the Gunpowder River

Stream flows on the Gunpowder river have been low the last couple of weeks averaging about 39 cfs. Low flows make already wary trout even spookier and make for challenging fishing.  Despite the stream flows, we have been catching a bunch of fish.  We are seeing the last of our trico mayflies in the mornings and have scattered action on caddis through the day. There are lots of rising trout and we are having success on dries with a cautious approach. Best fly patterns have been cdc tricos in size 22 and size 18 or 20 henryville specials.

Small nymphs have been working well in the pocket water.  We have been fishing dropper nymph rigs under an indicator with added weight when needed.  Small seems to be the bet lately and our best flies have been size 20 and 22 zebra midges and other pupa patterns.  Small pheasant tails have been working well too.

Gunpowder River late Summer Fly Fishing Report

Spending alot of time fishing this Summer on the Gunpowder River. Summer river conditions have been great with average flows aorund 80 or so cfs and though water temps have been cold, fishing has been pretty good.  In recent weeks we have seen a good trico mayfly hatch in the mornings on certain stretches of the river.  If you can catch up with the tricos, you can find some great dry fly fishing mid to late morning hours.  Fishing on the lower reaches of the catch and release area  has also been good as water temps are a few degrees warmer.  Nymphs and a variety of terrestrials have been working well on these areas of the creek.

  

Ocean City bay/Inshore fishing report

Having fun fishing out of Ocean City, MD the last few weeks. We have been having good fun fly fishing catching lots of rockfish around the bridges and jetties. Most of the fly rod action has been very early in the morning or late in the evening.  Lots of schoolie size fish around and a few big ones.  Catching some bluefish and shad in the mix too.

Spending some of the mid day wreck fishing and fishing for flounders and we have had good success with them too.  Fishing has been pretty good overall, and hoping it stays so as temps heat up for the Summer.

Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, Tangier Sound Speckled Trout, Redfish

I moved the boat down to Crisfield, MD last week to fish the surrounding areas for speckled trout and redfish. Last year in June we had exceptional fly fishing for large speckled trout and slot sized redfish in the shallows.  We also had good shallow water fly fishing for keeper sized rockfish.  This year has not proved to be as productive.

I fished the area all of last week and this weekend with several groups of capable anglers.  We caught mostly small rockfish and bluefish up to 2 or 3 lbs.  The speckled trout and redfish have not shown their faces, short of reports from local fisherman catching some at night on bait.  I am hoping we will see some trout and puppy drum move in later this month and will keep you posted.  Until then I will be fishing out of Ocean City where we have had some larger rockfish, bluefish, and some really nice flounder.  A few good weakfish have also been caught this week.    

Ocean City Bay, inshore fishing report

I brought the boat down to the coast this week and fished a few trips in Ocean City , MD.  The inshore fishing was good for stripers, bluefish, and flounder.  We had some great striper fishing around the jetties while fishing light tackle with a variety of lures.  Most of the fish we caught were in the 25 to 28 inch range, making for some fun fishing.  There are a lot of 2 to 4 lb bluefish around the jetties too, and through the back bays. 

Flounders were taking in clean water on both tides too and we had some nice fish up to 4 lbs.  We caught most of the flounder on 1/2 ounce jigs.  We had a ton of short flounder too. Hoping for some more good fishing from OC throughout the Summer.

Susquehanna Flats Light Tackle Fishing

I kept the boat in Havre de Grace this year longer than I have before.  The state opened up fishing on the flats on May 16 again with a one fish slot limit. I was hoping to get another week in of fishing since water temps remained in the mid 60's, but was limited to just 3 more trips due to the heavy rain Friday.  The Conowingo dam opened 9 flood gates and put a quick end to what was some great light tackle fishing over the weekend.

We caught a bunch of nice fish Friday and Saturday fishing poppers and swimming plugs on light spinning tackle. I was really hoping to get a few more days of fishing in as there were plenty of fish around. I am taking the boat south tomorrow to fish a few trips on eastern bay, before heading to Crisfield, MD for a few weeks of fishing for speckled trout, redfish, and rockfish.  I will have the boat in the Ocean City area all Summer long fishing inshore trips if you are up for fishing.  Jeff

Gunpowder River Fly Fishing Report, Spring mayfly hatches under way

Fishing on the Gunpowder has been interesting all Spring.  The weather has put a damper on things several times this Spring as heavy rains have pushed stream flows to extremely high levels. Average stream flows are typically 70 to 90 cfs throughout the year,  yet recent weeks have seen flows jump to as high as 1700cfs.  Luckily flows have receded in the last week and we are now fishing about 200 cfs.  This flow is still high but very fishable.

This week brought the first of a good sulfur Mayfly hatch, maybe a week or so ahead of usual. The hatch was limited to different areas of the river, the riffle water fishing best with swung wet flies and well fished dries.  Partridge and orange wets in size 16 were a sure bet fished as a dropper pair with light weight.  CDC duns with lightly dubbed or quill bodies in size 14 or 16 took fish on top.  The bugs start hatching around 2:30, action last through the evening though the spinner falls have been after dark.  Keep you posted. Jeff

Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, Susqehanna Flats

Well, as many of you know this Spring's catch and release season on the Susquehanna Flats never developed into much.  The conditions were poor most of April due to high turbid water flows and relentless wind.  This did not allow for fishing much of the month.

There were a few highlights from the month as we had a gap of about 5 days or so when we had some clean water and could get some fishing in.  We did land some nice fish to just shy of 40" while casting mostly light spinning tackle.  The fish we landed took a variety of lures form jigs to jerkbaits and a few on spoons.  The action was short lived as heavy rains washed out the upper bay and local stream early this week.  And that was pretty much that.

There may be a chance at some fishing on the flats after the May 16 opener for catch and keep fishing. Water temps are still much lower than an average Spring, and there may be some decent fish that stick around.

I am going to keep the boat in the Havre de Grace area through mid-May to see how the fishing progresses.  I will then begin my annual trip south on the Bay and on to the Maryland coast.  We will be fishing for stripers ot of Kent Island, Speckled trout and Redfish out of Crisfield, MD and will fish most of the summer form Ocean City, MD.

New Year, New Gear, Ready for Spring!

Winter is for real this year!  I can honestly say that I did not fish much through the winter this year.  I took on several projects outside of fishing for the winter months, and they have taken up most all of my time.  The cold weather we have dealt with this year is unlike any winter weather I can remember.  Water temps on the Gunpowder River were 36 degrees the last I checked, making the trout fishing extremely difficult.  Hoping an end to the cold is in sight, I have been busy readying gear for the Spring and looking forward to fishing.

Got some new shirts and hats to sport on the water in 2014. I hope to fish many of the same areas of the Chesapeake and Maryland's coastal waters as usual, and look to chase down good fishing this year wherever it turns up.  I will begin Spring fishing on the Susquehanna Flats in late March as I do every year, and the boat will be there through May 3.  I will start fishing on the Gunpowder as soon as we get some kind of break in this weather and the fish become a bit more active.

Been spending my evenings tying flies to get boxes stocked.  Some of the first flies we will see for the season will be our winter stoneflies.  Hopefully we get some good sunny days with temps in the 50s to get them going.  April days and early dark mayflies like quill gordons and hendricksons  are just around the corner.  Prettyboy Reservoir is at capacity, so we should see good stream flows through Spring if the city and state fisheries can get on the same page with flow management.

I will keep you posted as we get fishing. If you want to get a date for a trip on the book just give me a call.  Jeff