Called the "Stream of the Presidents" because of its proximity to Camp David, Hunting Creek is the most accessible trout stream in Maryland with natural trout populations as fly fishers can use the many pull-out parking areas located along Route 77 which parallels the creek as both wind down the mountain. Located within Cunningham Falls State Park above Thurmont in Frederick County, the minimum guaranteed stream flows from Cunningham Falls Lake together with long standing[...]

The Assawoman Bay Trail site is the ideal spot to fly fish in Maryland’s expansive coastal bays. Launching on the bay side of Worcester County’s Ocean City at the 64th Street Boat Ramp, you will find yourself trying to decide—do I go north into Assawoman Bay or head south into Isle of Wight? You can’t make the wrong decision here as you are literally surrounded by acres and acres of shallow-water habitat ready made for[...]

Located within commuting distance of much of Maryland, you will find a beautiful trout stream and a great place to experience fly fishing on Gunpowder Falls. Naturally breeding brown trout populations, combined with continual cold water reservoir releases, yields year round fly fishing opportunities. This unique tailwater, located in Baltimore County, provides miles of trout fishing including the 7.2 miles of catch and release fishing only area which is the focus of this Trail site[...]

Results of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources 2017 young-of-year striped bass survey in the Chesapeake Bay shows the fish is reproducing in strong numbers. The annual survey’s index is 13.2, above the 64-year average of 11.7. Striped bass, popularly known as rockfish, is Maryland’s state fish. The fish spawns in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries each spring. The survey is conducted annually to track the reproductive success of this important species and help[...]

If you tell someone you are headed to a muskrat-centric weekend, they might look at you a little funny. That is, unless they are from the Eastern Shore. In that case, they’ll tell you that you are in for a treat. First things first—what’s the deal with these muskrats, sometimes marketed in the restaurants of yesteryear as “marsh rabbits?” Most folks get them a bit mixed up with beaver, otter, and the like. They are[...]

If you tell someone you are headed to a muskrat-centric weekend, they might look at you a little funny. That is unless they are from the Eastern Shore. In that case, they’ll tell you that you are in for a treat. First things first—what’s the deal with these muskrats, sometimes marketed in the restaurants of yesteryear as “marsh rabbits?” Most folks get them a bit mixed up with beaver, otter, and the like. They are[...]

Early morning on the 21 st April as the first rays of sunlight peer over the low-lying Eastern Shore of Maryland, excited anglers from all corners will be dropping lures into the main branch of the Chesapeake Bay. It’s finally opening day of rockfish season! The flats of the Chesapeake Bay and the rivers that feed it are the breeding grounds for the striped bass population, known locally as rockfish, the East Coast’s most popular[...]

Maryland is home to the nation’s first state-wide Fly Fishing Trail. I’ve had experiences at many of its 48 sites. In fact last spring in late May I was hiking near a trail site along the Upper Savage River at Big Run State Park. I had been hiking for just under an hour - about two miles upstream from the road - in search of the elusive Green Drake mayfly and brook trout, Salvelinus Fontinalis[...]

It’s hard to imagine somewhere more quintessentially Maryland than the lower Eastern Shore. Deeply connected to both its past and a sense of place, it’s the source of most of our iconic blue crabs, the home of our remaining skipjacks and the center of some of the region’s last working maritime communities. It’s also a place where the land and water are so intertwined, it’s hard to know where one starts and the other begins[...]