The new year brings new hopes of  bent rods, tight lines, and big fish.  I hope to fish harder than ever this year and I can’t wait to have more stories to tell and more pictures to post.  I always like looking back over recent year’s pictures to see all of those big fish and smiling faces.  Right now I am busy stocking fly boxes and getting gear and tackle straight, but good fishing is just weeks away, and maybe just a trip away for those willing to try.

I hope to continue pursuing much of the great fishing we have in recent years in 2010, and I hope to mix it up a little and try some new stuff too.

Early season fishing on the Gunpowder River

Each year as cabin fever sets in in February and March I venture out to the Upper Gunpowder ,4 weight in hand, in hopes of coming tight with a few of it’s stream bred brown trout.  Many folks may think that the trout fishing isn’t worth the shot this time of the year,  they could not be more wrong.  Late winter can offer some great fishing on the GP especially with good water flows like we are currently experiencing.

February and March bring hatches of  both stoneflies and blackflies, the latter typically present mostly in the upper river.   Any day with good sun and air temps in the high 40″s is worth a shot.  Dark bodied stonefly dry patterns in size 14 or 16 will catch fish, create your own , they always work best.   Blackflies are best imitated on small hooks size 20 or 22 and can move good numbers of fish if you are lucky enough to stumble upon this hatch.

Be sure to stop in Backwater Angler ,our local fly shop just minutes from the river , on your way fishing.  Theaux and the fellas there are always have some great info. they are willing to share on stream conditions, fly patterns and much more.  They also have  top quality clothing , gear, and tackle. Support your local shops, having them near our favorite rivers and streams is easy to take for granted.

Susquehanna Flats Striper fishing

Every year for the past 10 or so I have spent my April and Early May running trips on the Susquehanna Flats for Striped Bass. This is a catch and release season and each year it accounts for some of the biggest stripers(rockfish)we catch on the fly all year.   Conditions during this early Spring season can be dicey as weather and water conditions are fickle.  However, for those of you who have caught it right , it becomes an annual ritual you will not miss.   We catch some truly awesome rockfish during this.  The biggest we ever landed was over 50 lbs and was 52 inches long.

This year, as in the past, I will be docked at the City Yacht Basin in Havre de Grace, boat  and gear polished, ready to take you to catch the striper of a lifetime.  The season is March 1 to May3 this year.  I fill up early so call soon to reserve your spot.  Fish typically arrive in good numbers late March/Early April

Eastern Bay Striper fishing

Last year we had some awesome Spring striper fishing on the Eastern Bay in May just after we finished up on the Susquehanna Flats.  Again, the fishing is all catch and release and was exceptional last season.  We landed several fish over 40 inches on the fly and had many days with numerous 30 inch plus fish.

This is a great time to come try some stripers on the fly if the Early April weather isn’t your style.  The best of the fishing here is the month of May.  We leave from Kent Island.

I look forward  to fishing with all of you this year who are regulars, and hope to see many new faces  along on new adventures.  You can always reach me at he phone or e-mail listed on my website to book a trip or just talk fishing.

All the Best!     Jeff

This year has been a busy one for me.  I didn’t get a chance to update near as often as I like so here are some quick looks at some the great fishing  we had throughout the year and a peek at some of the fishing yet to come. 

Looking Back to Spring-

This Spring brought us some of our best Striped Bass fishing on the fly as typical this time of year on the Chesapeake Bay.  We spend  all of April and the first week or so of May each year fishing on the Susquehanna Flats.   The season is catch and release fishing only and we catch lots of big fish as they make their annual Spring migration into the Chesapeake Bay.

This season’s fishing was a blast and we caught some great fish on both the fly rods and light tackle.  Some exciting fishing was had as we caught some 36+inch fish on fly rod poppers in skinny 3 and 4 feet of water.

 After the season ended  on the Susquehanna Flats we worked our way south on the bay towards Eastern Bay.  We fished this area of water of water south of Kent Island for Striped Bass throught the month of May.  Again all of the fishing was catch and release, and we targeted the fish on fly rods when possible.

This year brought better than average fishing for May in this area and we took full advantage of  it on both flies and light tackle. 

Looking Back to Summer fishing on the Gunpowder River

Though water  flows were low for much of the Spring and Summer  fishing was all in all pretty good.  We had good fishing during all of our usual  hatches.  Sulfur mayflies were offered good evening fishing in June and July and were often mixed with caddis.   We had Trico mayflies appear in August and last clean into Ocotber offering good dry fly fishing to those anglers up for the challenge in the mornings.

Water flows have increased over the last month or two and held steady due to more than average rainfall and spillover at the Prettyboy Reservoir dam.  Fishing continues to be very good, and anglers are reporting catches of some sizeable fish on streamers and nymphs.  Expect good fishing through December as browns become aggresive as they ready to spawn. 

Fall Fishing on the Bay and Fishing to come-

We spent October and November fisihing the waters of the middle Chesapeake Bay.  Striper fishing was great and we had many days in recent weeks where we landed dozens of fish on the fly.  The stripers were hunting schools of Menhaden, and when we crossed paths with them fishing was great.    The fish were fiesty and ranged from 18 to 26 inches.  Great fun on the fly.

I am headed South to Virginia’s Eastern Shore to fish the CBBT for the first few weeks of December.  We may also do some fishing off the coast of Ocean City, Md depending where the fishing is best.  Striped Bass and Blues will be our target, and migrating schools should offer plenty of them.

I still have a few dates open if anyone is up for giving it a shot.  I hope to keep up to speed on postingn some reeports and pictures of the action. 

Hope you all have an awesome Thanksgiving!       Jeff

Well we have been giving it our all the past week on the Susquehanna Flats.  As with every year, each day has been an adventure.  Amazingly enough, we have been blessed this year with good water conditions througout early April.  Even with recent rains, water clarity and temperature have remained excellent and in the perfect range for catching striped bass.

Water clarity was 4 feet plus in many areas of the flats this week, and temps range from 50 to as much as 58 degrees in some locations.  Fishing has been fay to day, and truly unpredictable.   We had a good bunch of  schoolie size stripers around much of the last two weeks ranging from 15 inches to 10 lbs or so.  A couple days we saw plenty of teenagers  in the 12to 20 lb range , and of course there are some real hawgs around in the mix too if you can get lucky enough to catch one.

While some days we have struggled to cartch, the days the bite is on the fishing has been quite good.  Fish have been readily taking  flies on deep lines, our favorite of course as you see me post constantly is the chartreuse and white half and half.  We have not seen much of a topwater bite yet, but I do not imagine it will be long.  Soft bodied jigs like BKD”s have worked good in 7 and 10 inch on conventional tackle.  Chartreuse and Purple glitter have been good colors.    Suspending  swimming plugs also have taken their share of good fish.

This week should bring some good fishing after the rain and wind get out of here.  I don’t believe we have seen the best of it yet.

Ok, after a really, really long winter I’m back.  Web blog kinks have been worked out , the farm house I am fixing might actually pass inspection, and the boat is in the water ready for fishing. From here on out it is full focus fishing. 

The winter was actually quite productive , though I didn’t get in as much fishng as I typically do.  Any free time I had I tried to get out and fish.  I discovered some great Walleye fishing onthe Susquehanna in mid-February.  The fishing was good on the river near Conowingo during low to moderate flows and weather warm enough that you could still feel your fingers. They liked to take small 1/16 ounce jigs.

The fishing on the Gunpowder was difficult through most of the winter, though each trip we would at least manage a few fish.  The Prettyboy Reservoir is at capacity and we have had a spillover of water for the past few months.   This causes the water temps to remain a bit colder then we are used to seeing through Februauy and March, and it took a while for things to warm up and get some bugs stirring.

Andrew and Dan Altman came fishing last week and Dan caught the brown trout above while fishing with a zebra midge on the upper river.   We saw very few bugs for the day but managed a couple of fish on small nymphs.   Steve Elkins is pictured below with a brown he caught on a samll pheasant tail a week prior while also fishing small nymphs upstream of Falls Rd.

In recent days, ther warm weather has really kick started the bug hatches on the river and hatches of stoneflies, blackflies and blue winged olive mayflies have been present on the stream.  Bugs mean feeding fish and this means some good fishing is at hand.  Hatches and fishing will continue to improve on the stream as Spring sets in and warmer weather arrives.

And  yes, we have already begun our Spring Striper season on the Susquehanna Flats.   I put the boat in the water last week, and was catching fish soon after.  A good push of 6-8 pound fish has been present  and we landed several up to 15 lbs.  Water conditions have been incredibly good for this early and it seems the early season fishing will be great. I still have some open dates, but catch up with me soon if you want to fish or just to talk fishing. 

I’ll be back with a flats update and pics.           Thanks for continuing to check into my site.  Hope to see you all out fishing.   Jeff

I’m in the process of upgrading my blogging software. I sincerely apologize for any delay in postings.

For those checking in often, sorry that I have not posted updates for the last month.  Even us fishing guides get consumed with life on occasion, and I have been in the process of renovating a 150 year old farm house into my home.  It has consumed nearly all of my free time outside of fishing.  Feel free to shoot mean a call or e-mail anytime you want to talk fishing.

Of course, we have been fishing many trips over the course of the fall on the Chesapeake Bay and Gunpowder River.  I have beeen making efforts all this month to get in some striper fishing in the ocean, hoping for some more of the great success we had last year.  The weather, however has not been helping our cause. I am sitting in Ocean City , MD now in 30 kt winds and torrential rain which is managing to wipe out several more fishing days here on the Maryland coast.

The  rain has been good for the fishing and water flows on the Gunpowder River.  With Prettyboy Reservoir full, we can figure on good constant water flows on the Gunpowder. This always makes for more consistent fishing.  Favorite winter techniques are nymphing with dropper rigs and small nymphs, as well as keeping an eye out for any of our winter hatches.  Midges, blackfies, and winter stoneflies can all be found hatching on the river in the next few months. 

We have been graced with good water flows and a full reservoir for the last few months on the Gunpowder.  Adding to this we have had the best Trico mayfly hatch the river has ever seen which lasted through August has continued through September. The hatch is present throughout the river and fish canbe found rising to the tiny mayflies in the early morning hours nearly every day. The fishing is challenging, but skilled and patient anglers can really catch some fish if they put the time and effort in.

 Tricos are small, black or grey bodied mayflies and are easily recognized as they swarm in large bunches above the stream and fly with an erratic motion.  The wings look like tiny mirrors on the water surface as flies who have just hatched float downstream struggling to escape into the air.  Of course, the trout take full advantage of the easy meal.   The tough part is imitating such a small bug and landing a fish on the necessary 7 or 8 x tippets. 

Many fish can be fooled on dry flies. I like patterns in size 20 to 22 with black or gray sparsely tied bodies and light grey hackles or cdc for a wing. I do well on a simple reversed hackle pattern with black dubbing and and a light dun hackle.  I also like simple cluster patterns like a griffith’s gnat.  Midge pupa patterns in black or grey also work well during the hatch if fished under a short indicator.

Remember folks, we’re fishing on the Gunpowder, not every trout is a 18 to 20″ fish.  The Gunpowder is unique on the east coast for it’s large numbers of streambred brown trout.  The average trout you will catch on the stream is 8 to 12″.  There are , however, many more 15+ ” trout in the river than most realize.  Good anglers learn that catching larger fish comes with altering techniques, being persistent,  and targeting big fish lies consistently.  I landed a 21″ brown this Spring, my best in a few years, while fishing nothing more than a pair of bead head pheasant tails.  We had a fish on one trip this week which would have went 20+, but broke him off.  Anyway, don’t be discouraged if you don’t hang a big fish every trip out.  We are lucky to have such an exceptional tailwater fishery to fish year round.

The fishing should only get better as fall arrives and the browns take on their brilliant spawning colors.  I hope to see you out fishing on the stream soon.  Jeff

Heres the skinny from the coast.  We’ve been fishing our usual haunts in the bays and inshore waters around Ocean City this month. Fishing has been pretty typical of summer fishing in Marylands coastal waters.  Fish species like summer flounder and hardheads are in the bays in good numbers, stripers are a regular catch near the bridges and jetties and in the inlets.  Snapper bluefish can be seen chasing bait on strong tides and we’ve even seen a few sea trout in the mix the last few weeks. 

Fly fisherman have a good shot at all of these fish species when fishing the coastal bays.  Clean water and good tides help your chances of course, and when you pair these with the low light and traffic around dusk and dawn your chances at catching fish are pretty good. 

Most of the stripers we have caught in recent weeks have been in the 20 to 26 inch range. We have been fishing our staple deep sinking lines with a variety of flies.  We have seen some decent flounder, like the 19 incher below that fell for a clouser minnow fished in 9 feet of water.

We look forward to fall as we start catching some of the stripers migrating south from their summer home on the New England Coast.  We had great striper fishing last fall with the best of the fishing being in November and early December.

Gunpowder River Summer Trout Fishing

When not fishing the coastal bays I spend much of my summer guiding trips for trout on the Gunpowder River.  The Gunpowder has gotten some great press recently, listed as one of the top tailwater trout streams in the nation in several fly fishing periodicals.  Though a little bias, I couldn’t agree more.   Very few other streams in the mid-Atlantic area offer the unique fishing for streambred trout that the Gunpowder offers.

 Summer on the Gunpowder makes for some great fishing.  We have great caddis hatches inthe mornings along many stretches of the stream, and fish are eager to take a well presented dry.  This past week on several trips we have landed many good fish on various caddis patterns fished in the riffles.  Tiny Trico mayflies have also become a summer staple on the river, and fisherman will often find trout sipping them from the surface in the long glassy glides along the stream. 

If you fall short fishing caddis and tricos, give some big buggy terrestrials a try.  A foam beetle or hopper fished near the bank is often a sure bet .  Don’t be afraid to cast into some of the ”deep rough” as I call it an tuck your fly right up against a fallen tree or logpile.  You can bet there is a trout nearby on the Gunpowder.

We have been doing lots of flounder fishing lately in the bays and inshore waters around Ocean City, MD.  Flounder are always a crowd pleaser and lots of folks like to get out fishing for them while on vacation in the area.  We target flounder in with using variety of fishing techniques throughout the summer.  One of the  most popular ways to fish for them is drift fishing with a fishfinder style rig and live bait. This incorporates a weight on a slide above a barrel swivel with about 18 inches of 30 lb leader. We use a variety of live baits from minnows to spot, bunker, mullet  and others.   The bait of choice varies by the time of year.

This week we have been doing alot of old school flounder fishing.  That is drifting with minnows during good periods of tide  in clean water.  The fishing been quite good, though legal fish are tough to catch consistently in good numbers with the new size limits set at 17 1/2 inches.

Ben and Joe Ault caught these nice flounder this morning while fishing in Sinepuxent Bay with bunker and minnows.  The trick to the flounder fishing of late has been to find the cleanest water possible.  The best bite seems to be on the start of the outgoing tide, but we have been catching fish on both tides.

Will probablly be doing more of the same for the next week or so on the boat. I’ll keep you posted.

Gunpowder River Quick Update

I did fish several trips over the past weekend on the Gunpowder River.   Stream flows are good, around 75cfs and stream temps are cold, in the high 50’s.  There was a pretty steady morning caddis hatch on Friday, and fish in the riffles fell easily for a size 16 x-caddis in olive.  Fish were also moving great for a variety of terrestrial patterns fished near the banks and around logs and structure.  One of the best patterns we fished was a foam hopper in olive and tan , and a foam beetle worked good too in black with green legs.  

Here’s a shot of a local guide’s well stocked terrestrial box. Good Fishing!

This week we have seen some great fishing in the Assawoman and Sinepuxent Bays.  Clean water and great weather conditions have sparked the flounder bite in the bays.  The flounder fishing has been great in many locations using a variety of techniques.  There has been a decent striper bite on the jetties also, especially in the late evenings and early mornings on good tides.  Live bait has been a good bet when targeting the stripers, but lures and flies have taken fish too in recent trips.  The wreck fishing continues to be pretty good with some nice tautog and sea bass showing up regularly.

I hope to get some more photos posted soon and keep you up to date on the fishing.  Jeff