Maryland’s Eastern Shore is well known for its beaches, goose hunting and white marlin , but it’s also a hotspot for white-tailed deer and a haven for the elusive Sika deer . With deer season in full swing, here are the Eastern Shore’s top public lands for deer hunting. The Chesapeake Forest With more than 30 different tracts of land scattered over the lower Eastern Shore, the Chesapeake Forest offers an abundance of deer hunting[...]

You have a campsite or a cabin on an island, boat launch ramps and place to tie up your boat, miles and miles of marked water trails, tidal creeks bisecting beautiful salt marshes, and access to miles of beaches on Chesapeake Bay– you just described a perfect weekday or weekend stay at Janes Island State Park in Somerset County on the lower Eastern Shore. And when you add that you can catch speckled trout, redfish[...]

Local lore around here holds that the waterfowl migration begins on the first north wind after the full moon in October. The beginning of November is the peak of the waterfowl migration in our area. Ducks such as Pintails, Blue and Green-winged Teal, Gadwall, Mallards, Black Ducks, Shovelers, Wood Ducks and Widgeon, as well as Canada Geese, find their way back here to the farm each year. We don’t hunt the early seasons in September[...]

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[...]

Including the Chesapeake Bay’s largest underwater grass bed, extending over thousands of acres, the shallow waters of the Susquehanna Flats is an important habitat for numerous fish species and, therefore, a literal playground for fly fishers in Harford County. Accessing the Susquehanna Flats starts with launching at Millard Tydings Memorial Park in Havre de Grace. Next, you are faced with the decision of which fish species to target out on the water. Choices include largemouth[...]

Maryland has long been a favorite to many sportsmen across the nation. The woods, waterways and heavens bring a smorgasbord of game to the table, year in and year out. Maryland’s deer season runs the first week of September to the last week of January. It is hard to resist by any savvy woodsman. The January late gun season in Maryland is a second to last chance to put some meat in the freezer. It[...]

As a child growing up near Middle River on the upper Chesapeake Bay, my father would take us down to the marina docks and we would use our sturdy cane poles to catch a variety of panfish. Nothing was big, and seldom did we bring home enough for a legitimate meal. But it was the beginning of a life-long journey and love for fish and fishing. And for a father-and-child fishing expedition in Maryland waters[...]

Located at the mouth of the Patuxent River in Calvert County, Solomons Island is a fly fishers entrance pass into a wide array of tidal water fly fishing experiences. Although a boat is needed to access most of the opportunities for fly fishing, there is a fishing pier available at this Trail site. Right adjacent to the boat launch, you have Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge and, therefore, lots of structure for fish like striped bass[...]

If you are looking for a place to fly fish with family members, somewhere to fish during the middle of the winter, or a spot to fly cast from an ADA accessible fishing platform, then you definitely need to head to Unicorn Lake in upper Queen Anne’s County on the Eastern Shore. You can fly fish from an extensive section of shoreline as well as in the spillway and stream below the dam. If you[...]