Steelhead Fly Fishing Video on the Salmon River, New York

When the indicator paused and I came tight on a fish, it was unlike any feeling I’ve had chasing fish with a fly rod in a freshwater river. These fish surprised me with the raw power they had when they made the reel sing and knocked your knuckles on blistering run after run. When a fish was first hooked the violent surface eruptions and head shaking was heart stopping. The thought “fish!” hits you when the line comes tight then a combination fear, uncertainty and quick reaction take over. The speed and strength of the fish in the river made everything happen so quickly. The …

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Fall Fly Fishing on The North Branch of The Potomac River 2007

November through December are exciting times to fly fish for trout in Maryland. The possibility of catching a really big trout is very good on the North Branch of the Potomac tailwater fishery. This Fall the rainbows made up the bulk of what was being caught by many anglers. Small midge pupaes were producing fat, chunky rainbows up to four pounds. These fish looked good, fought hard and some appeared to be second year or older stockies. A few of the shorter, “fatties” were freshly stocked but fought hard in the river’s flows. The extremely low flows made accessing the river very easy, but may …

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Gunpowder Trout By The Bucketful

The shocking survey on the Gunpowder River is pretty incredible to witness. On September 24th a team of Maryland Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Biologists shocked the Falls Rd area on Gunpowder River. A line of wader clad, net wielding biologists and volunteers pushed upstream behind biologists wearing electro-fishing backpacks. The shocking prod stunned anything within a five to six foot range with a low volt charge. The stunned trout floated to the surface where they were gently netted and placed in buckets. Trout and the occasional big sucker floated up from every little hole. The contents of the buckets were placed into tubs with …

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High Flows and Big Gunpowder Brown Trout

This video post features two large Gunpowder brown trout caught in the last week of September 2007. Angler Matt Devlin landed his seventeen inch brown on a tiny nymph in higher water and Gunpowder Guide Jeff Lewatowski landed a solid twenty inch brown on a small nymph during a lower flow. The flow level at 300 Cfs can be tough wading for anglers not used to battling waist high water. Many anglers are foregoing fishing due to the belief the water is too high, but recent guide trips have accounted for first time anglers landing ten to fifteen trout. Dry fly enthusiasts may be disappointed, …

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Fly Fishing the North Branch of the Ausable River, Michigan

The anglers who watched the Canoe Hatch video of the Ausable River got a wrong first impression of Michigan’s trout rivers. I got phone calls and emails at the shop about how amazed people were that we not only kept our cool, but caught fish. One reason I didn’t mind the insanity, was that we rarely saw anyone else all week long. Except for the “Holy Water” and “Big Water” we never saw another angler fishing on any of the branches of the Ausable. Michigan has so much good water, that I didn’t want to show only that day, which was the exception for the …

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Tricos and a Great Blue Heron Along the Gunpowder River

This video, my first on the site, (thanks Jason) was shot mid-morning in late August and indicates that more folks should be fly fishing late in the season on the Gunpowder river with long leaders, tiny flies and a stealthy approach.