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