Taking smallmouth bass with popping bugs is some of the most exciting fishing available. The strike is explosive and there is the added benefit that poppers take some of the largest bass. The Potomac River in Washington County provides exactly these types of prime smallmouth bass fly fishing opportunities given its wide, shallow nature with lots of rock ledges running across the river leading to riffles and long pools. Walking the footpath alongside the C&O[...]

As you head down the hill towards the shoreline and launch ramps along Piney Run Reservoir, you will automatically be wondering “where do I want to start fishing?” Piney Run Park and the Reservoir gives you a lot of choices in terms of where to fish and what to fish for. First, where to fish. You can fly fish from the shoreline in the immediate area around the boat launch ramps as well as from[...]

Protected by the Patapsco Valley State Park, the Patapsco River offers a great fly fishing experience for those just starting to pick up the fly rod as well as those who have been fly fishing for decades. The State Park provides multiple points to access the river, each with parking, and the river itself is easy to fish from shore or by wading in the gentle currents. In the spring, you can cast for the[...]

Located adjacent to the famous lighthouse, Thomas Point Park provides unique access to fly fishing Chesapeake Bay without the need for a boat. You can fly fish from much of the shoreline around this peninsula, casting into Fishing Creek, Chesapeake Bay and the South River in search of striped bass, white perch, blue catfish and channel catfish. You may launch a kayak on the south side beach as well as wade fish. In addition to[...]

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[...]

The Hagerstown Valley sits atop miles of underground limestone caverns which support Maryland’s largest spring creek, Beaver Creek, which rises up with cool water just below South Mountain in Washington County. The Catch and Release stretch begins below the Albert Powell Fish Hatchery and Interstate 70. This section down to Route 40 has a healthy naturally reproducing stream population of brown trout. Beaver Creek provides fly fishers with this unique, sometimes challenging opportunity to cast[...]

The lower Eastern Shore is blessed with a number of tidal rivers reaching out to the Chesapeake Bay. The Upper Wicomico River provides an excellent waterway to experience tidal fly fishing in waters which offer a truly incredible array of fish species which can be caught on a fly. These includine bluegill, crappie, channel catfish, largemouth bass, striped bass, white catfish, white perch, yellow perch, chain pickerel, northern snakehead and blue catfish. You will access[...]

This Trail sites provides shoreline as well as boat-based fly fishing opportunities on the mid-Eastern Shore of Talbot County. The Black Walnut Point Fishing Area and Parking provides a place to cast and fish riprap on the Chesapeake Bay side of the point. Launching your boat in Dogwood Harbor immediately puts you in Harris Creek with direct access to the many other tidal creeks connecting into the lower Choptank River. With your sights set on[...]

It has been written that in a mountain stream pool, a 10-inch brook trout is every bit the predator that an 80-pound tarpon is in its own mangrove environment. If that appeals to you, then this is the Trail site for you. With 120 miles of interconnected wild trout streams, the upper Savage River may be the finest brook trout habitat in the eastern United States, south of Maine. Situated at the mouth of the[...]