Blue Catfish The largest of the North American catfish, blue catfish can easily exceed 100 pounds. They are generally slate blue on the back to silvery/white on the underside and have a deeply forked tail. The native range of blue catfish extends from Minnesota and Ohio southward into Mexico. However, due to extensive introductions, their current range incorporates several Atlantic drainage systems as well. As an introduced species, blue catfish have become very successful in[...]
FishTalk Magazine Feature As part of this road series, Lenny Rudow and FishTalk covered the trip with a featured article. Read a snippet of it below with a link to the full feature. "I'll be the first to admit it: I'm utterly incompetent with a fly rod in my hands. I tried fly fishing back in my 20's and quickly came to admire the artistic side of this endeavor, but eventually concluded that it wouldn't[...]
With bluegill, crappie, chain pickerel, largemouth bass, northern pike, smallmouth bass, white perch, yellow perch and carp on the menu, there is someone for every fly fisher at the Loch Raven Reservoir in Baltimore County. In addition to shoreline fishing and access to a pier, the Loch Raven Fishing Center provides boat launch access to the entire 1,600-acre reservoir. Given the amount of shoreline just waiting to be fished, you could return each season of[...]
Located in Garrett County, the Youghiogheny River (“The Yock,” as it is popularly known), is wide, ranging in width from 80 to 180 feet. Even when other anglers are on the water, there is a sense of being alone on the river. Flowing South to North, the four and a half mile special regulation section offers quality dry fly fishing. The river has been referred to as a hybrid tailwater, given it receives its waters[...]
Even being surrounded by the City of Salisbury on all sides, Johnsons Pond has a well deserved reputation as a productive fishery. With much of the pond’s shoreline lined with trees, casting your fly towards these shallow-waters, particularly where there are lily pads, brush or other structure in the water, will lead to some strikes by hungry fish. You can also cast to tree falls, points of land, and submerged cedar trees especially along the[...]
Imagine: a long and winding tidal creek, filled with long “S” curves, often surrounded on both sides by wetlands along mostly undeveloped shorelines in the upper reaches; and along the south shore, a widely recognized highly productive tidal largemouth fishery all fed by clean waters from a largely undisturbed watershed. Welcome to Mattawoman Creek in Charles County. Your fly fishing adventure will start at Mattingly Park where after launching your kayak, canoe, standup paddle board[...]
Flowing through Cecil County and into the Susquehanna River just downstream of the Conowingo Dam, Octoraro Creek is uniquely situated to provide fly fishers with both a range of fly fishing experiences—shoreline, wading and via boat—and opportunities to catch over a dozen different fish species. At this one Trail site, you can catch largemouth bass, striped bass, smallmouth bass, bluegill, crappie, channel catfish, yellow perch, white perch, walleye, trout, American shad, hickory shad, northern snakehead[...]
Imagine a fish which is sleek, silver and strong that strikes lures with sledgehammer force and then gyrates in spectacular leaps propelling itself well above the surface. The runs and mad dashes are long and powerful, testing light tackle to the max. Now, envision that this fish has just traveled hundreds of miles and still has incredible strength for a fish that averages 16 inches long and weighs in at a two-pound average. Yes, we[...]
Fishing for Trout Brook trout are native to eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, extending as far west as eastern Minnesota. Their original range also included the Appalachian Mountains, where they are still found in many high elevation streams as far south as Georgia. They have been widely introduced into several western states. Brook trout are the only trout native to Maryland waters. Rainbow trout were transplanted to Maryland from the west coast of[...]