Susquehanna Flats Report 2013

Good news to be had from the Susquehanna Flats.  We have been catching fish for almost 2 weeks  now with some exceptional fishing the last 5 days. Water conditions are the best I have seen in recent years.  Though the temps have taken a bit to warm up, we have great visibility of up to 3+ feet. Water clarity like that is unusual on the flats and makes for great fly and light tackle fishing.

We have been targeting fish with a variety of techniques.  We have caught best on flies and on swimbaits.  Fish are present on a variety of areas around the flats.  Most of our best fishing has been shallow, from 4 to 7 feet of water.  Best flies so far have been olive and white half and halfs with gold flash in a 3/0.  No topwater bite to speak of yet, but it is not far off.  I will be out every day that fit and will keep you posted.  Hope to see you out there.  Jeff

Geared up fo Spring!

Suppossedly it is Spring, but you sure wouldn't know it with the recent weather. Regardless, most of the behind the scenes work is finished with the boat and I am geared up to fish.  Was hoping to start fishing earlier this week, but got put off by that freak snowstorm and it has blown a gale ever since.

Finally splashed the boat yesterday and gave it a try.  Water conditons are good on the Susquehanna Flats, but temps are still real cold.   41.8 degrees was the warmest water I could find yesterday, though the 25 kt wind sure didn't help. The good news is that visibility is good and the long term weather forecast looks favorable.  I will be at it every day now that is fit, and hope to be catching fish in the next few days.  Last year we had the first good fishing on March 22, so we are at least a week behind this year.  I will keep you posted.

Tie Fest 2013, National capital TU Shows

Anxiously awaiting Spring!  Spent the last few weekends working fly fishing shows.  Helped showcase G.loomis gear in Lancaster at the Fly Fishig Show the first weekend this month.  Spent last weekend at the CCA sponsored Tie Fest even in Kent Island on Saturday, and the Natinal Capital Chapter of  Trout Unlimited Angling show on Sunday.

Spoke with many folks and casted lots of rods at the recent shows.  Hope to see some of you out on the river or boat this Spring.

The Susquehanna Flats Catch and Release Striped bass season is but a week or two away.  I have been busy rigging the boat and gear and wil be otu trying it sometime next week.  I will keep you posted on the fishing.  Jeff

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.