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, flounder and striped bass all in the same day while fly fishing around and within the island, you have definitely found tidal fly fishing nirvana. Given the low-lying nature of the salt marshes, you will need to be aware of the wind and weather conditions to guide where you will be fly fishing and time your casting based on the local tidal cycles. So come on down to the lower shore for fly fishing and a lot more!

Fees

There are no permits or fees to access the park but there is a fee to access the boat ramp.

Site Location

Janes Island is located on the lower Eastern Shore in Somerset County. The Trail site is accessed via Janes Island State Park, which is less than two miles from Crisfield, Maryland.

Address

Janes Island State Park 26280 Alfred J. Lawson Drive, Crisfield MD 21817

How to Get There 

Janes Island State Park is in Somerset County, just north of Crisfield. Take Route 50 over to the Eastern Shore to Route 13 in Salisbury, and may be reached by MD Route 413 towards Westover; RT 413, approximately 11 miles to Plantation Road (right turn), followed by a right turn onto Alfred J. Lawson Drive which takes you into the park.

Parking & Launching

Parking is located adjacent to the boat launch on a paved lot. You can launch your boat at the Janes Island State Park Ramp at 26280 Alfred J. Lawson Drive, Crisfield MD 21817.

Boat Rentals

At Janes Island State Park, kayak and canoe rentals are available at Marina Boat House on weekends.

Where to Fish

You will need a boat to fly fish as fishing from the shoreline is very limited. Cast toward the sod banks and saltmarsh grass beds in canals and creeks around and through Janes Island, looking for and casting into moving waters occurring during the changes of the tides.

What to Catch

  • Spring: Striped bass and redfish
  • Summer and Fall: Striped bass, bluefish, speckled trout, flounder and redfish
  • Winter: Striped bass

What to Fish & How 

Recommend using 5 to 8 weight fly rods with no. 4 or no. 6 Clousers minnows or shrimp fly patterns with 10'–12’ fluorocarbon leader on floating line or shorter leader with an intermediate or sinking line.