fishing

Orvis Days, Care For Kids and a big Thank You!

Micahdammeyer Big Gunpowder Falls, fishing, Fly Tying, Mayflies, Spring, Trout, Uncategorized, Winter , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0 Comment

On October 8th, I was lucky enough to be invited to speak at the Orvis Store in Bethesda, MD during their “Orvis Days” event. I was flattered to have a great crowd of folks turn out to hear me talk about the Big Gunpowder Falls and show off some of my photography with a presentation following the seasons on the river.

Also presenting during the event was Trent Jones, who schooled us on fishing in DC on the Tidal Potomac River, all while we were entertained for most of the day by jazz guitarist Bart Stringham. Joe from the shop brouth in Sandwiches from PotBelly and other snacks and refreshments. Except for being on the water, what else could a fly-fisher want?

I couldn’t have asked for a better reception and I’m grateful for all the kind feedback I’ve received. Thank you to everyone who turned out and to Orvis for having me at the shop!

If you missed you missed the Orvis Days promotions last weekend there’s a chance to save at the store coming up the week of October 21st through Oct. 30th with a Care For Kids Card from the folks at the Children’s National Medical Center. The cards are $50 and get you 20% discounts on regularly priced merchandise. It’s perfect if you’ve had your eye on new boots and waders or a new rod for under the tree not to mention the long list of first class merchants who’re participating! I’ll even be working at the store Sunday the 23rd if you want to come and say hello.

Cooler Air and Warmer Water

Micahdammeyer Big Gunpowder Falls, fishing, Fly Tying, Trout, Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , 0 Comment

With the water dropping all over the East Coast the fishing is heating up. A few trips in the last week have been a great chance to check out Mother Nature’s handy work. Seeing the piles of trees 10 feet high are a reminder of just how powerful water is. There’s lots of new structure in streams like the Gunpowder and the river bottom has new contours to explore. I found a few gravel bars in the last few days that were still settling and shifting. Nothing keeps you on your toes like quicksand!

 The fishing has been great and trout are hungry and aggressive with warm water temps getting them feeding. Big streamers are the ticket to lots of strikes. Fishing with 4x tippet makes casting heavy flies a breeze and the high, off-color, water helps hide the thicker line.

I shrunk a few photos down and put them in a slideshow below. 

[Show picture list]

Nothing says fall like getting out those waders that you’ve been going without all summer. Give us a call today and talk about scheduling an outing for fall!

 

An Outgoing Tide

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The sun is shining and we’re drying out. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity over at Knee Deep Headquarters. I was lucky enough to have my brother Mark and my father Eric come help me out with a great fly fishing school over at Discovery Communications. Both of them are first rate fishermen and I was proud to have them at my side wrangling fly lines. The folks at Discovery were eager to learn and their laughs and smiles made me wish we had all afternoon to spend together perfecting their loops. I can’t wait to see them on the water in the future.

Thanks Mark and Rick!

The day of that school was the calm before the storm and as sailors, my parents crashed at my house for the weekend. We watched a LOT of weather channel but I was happy to have them and know that they were safe and off their boat. I’ll miss them when they take off next week for warmer parts of the world! I hope to see lots of great posts from their blog HERE!

After all the earthquakes and hurricanes and plagues it’s exciting to hit the water and see all the changes that come with record high water. Getting out and doing some hiking on your local stream is a great way to find new structure and holding areas for fish. It’s great to get out and fish those downed trees before the paddlers and chainsaw happy do-gooders get busy “fixing” things. Streams like the Patuxant and The Big Gunpowder had lots of wood before the storm and with the water dropping it’s a great chance to see how they’ve been floated around.  I like big zonkers and wooly buggers fished slow in seams around structure like downed trees and scoured out rocks to imitate baitfish weakened from fighting fast water for days. I am looking forward to getting out for the tail end of this week and checking out the changes on many local streams. Don’t ferget to check the USGS gauges before you head out.

See you on the water!

Cool Fog On The Gunpowder

Micahdammeyer Big Gunpowder Falls, fishing , , , , , 0 Comment
July Fog On The Gunpowder

With better flows in the last few days I headed up to the Gunpowder Falls after teaching a fun “Fly Fishing 101” class at the Bethesda Orvis store. The drive was HOT but it was great to soak my feet in that icy cold water. My thermometer read 52 and the flow was around 75cfs. There wasn’t a ton of activity but hoppers and caddis proved to be the ticket. I swung emergers through the riffles that were dry a few days ago and had dozen strikes with 6 fish getting off the hook. Frustrating but when you’re letting them go anyway it’s OK knowing you fooled them. After working through a run I’d cast back up into it with a dry caddis or hopper and was rewarded with a few splashy strikes. 

July Evening Trout at 75cfs

I didn’t fish long but was glad I made the drive despite all the tubers floating down the river. I hadn’t fished the weekend in a while and have gotten spoiled on the weekdays. If you’re headed out avoid the weekends if you can. Early and late will help you beat the crowds. Be sure and check USGS.gov and check the flows before leaving the house. It’s worth the time with all the thunderstorms we’ve had recently.

More Fracking in the News

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The Roanoake Times reports on some proposed changes to regulations related to fracking in the GW and Jefferson National Forests. It sounds like there may be some holes in there that open up some prime logging country but it sounds like it’s not broad. The plan apparently allows for vertical drilling but not hydrolic fracturing. This would help protect some valuable groud-water and trout streams.

I spent a few years living in near the Jefferson forest and It’s a GREAT place. While you can see the scars of some past logging, there are stands of very old trees and a lot of history. I chased brook trout in the forest a few days a week for a long time and hope the people in power keep their eye on what matters. For me it was a wonderful escape from the “every-day” and there are still places where you can get lost following small streams and run into bears and porcupines and old mountain foks hunting Ginseng…

It’s a story to keep an eye on. The article listed above lists some folks you can send a quick e-mail to and give them your thoughts. I think it’s worth a few minutes.

In The News…and my 2 cents

Micahdammeyer fishing, News, Trout, Uncategorized , , , , , 0 Comment

After Maryland’s big push to get anglers to buy new boots and ditch their felt soles (link here!)  in the name of preventing the spread of “Rock Snot” It seems they’ve not done their homework when it comes to their fish suppliers. From the Maryland DNR’s own site, they report on the issue briefly and discuss plans to expand their own hatchery operations. Article here.

All of this brings up the idea that they could save a few headaches and money, something all government agencies are worried about lately, by creating more catch and release water in the state. As a teenager in NJ I got to see, first hand, as a large section of a local stream was converted to catch and release. Attention from caring anglers and other wildlife lovers increased and efforts to sure-up streambanks and trash clean-ups were instituted. The river today still has it’s problems but less trash and more fish still has me dreaming of the town I left almost 10 years ago. Simply, it was a beautiful stream filled with wild fish!

 I’m sure I’ll make some enemies by saying that I support conservation efforts that lean towards catch and release streams as our region becomes more heavily populated and pressure on our resources increases.  This isn’t news to people who know me. I spent my weekend at my part-time gig teaching the “Fly Fishing 101” class at my local Orvis store and the idea of “catching fish to eat” inevitably came up. It’s a common thought with anglers new to fly fishing and I find myself defending catch and release regularly. To my excellent student I said “if we all kept them, there wouldn’t be any fish left” and the discussion seemed to end at a pleasant stalemate.I hear a lot of anglers say “I went fishing a few times but I didn’t catch anything…” when asked about their previous experiences. Some of that may have to do with the trout out-smarting the fishermen but I have to think that in some circumstances a healthier population of fish could have helped. With all the streams in the immediate metro area and beyond, I can’t help but imagine rivers where the focus is on total-stream-health and not putting fish on someones plate. I understand that it takes generations to change a population’s mode of thinking but at some point we all need to change. Introducing problems like Dydimo and Whirling Disease happens by many different means. It’s not JUST felt soles of fishermen. As we can see, even the agencies that are supposed to be looking out for us can screw up and transport these sort of aquatic illnesses.

Have you ever eaten one of those Purina fed stocked trout? They taste horrible!

The Weather’s Here…

Micahdammeyer Big Gunpowder Falls, fishing, Spring, Trout, Uncategorized , , , , , 0 Comment

I didn’t think Spring would ever hit Maryland’s streams. While the great heat-island of DC has been green and flowering for weeks, it seems that the banks of the local streams have been slow to catch on. Last week’s trips to The Big Gunpowder gave me a chance to see the skunk cabbage really filling in and May apples in bloom. 

I got to take out an old friend that I’d met in VA a few years back when I lived down in the mountains there. We used to fish for smallmouths on the New River and chase brookies on tiny creeks in moonshine and ginseng country. We used to get into all sorts of trouble with locals and one particular warden that had it in for us because we used fly rods and had fancy waders. He’d moved to DC and had dug out an old Sage RPL 5wt and has been chomping at the bit. We’d met up after he’d been released from a conference in Baltimore. After getting him into some fresh wading boots he was in the water before I had all of my crap together. 

After a few false casts into the trees he was into fish. It felt pretty great to see someone hook into fish after saying “I don’t know if I remember how to cast!” ten minutes earlier. We caught quite a hatch of sulphurs, hendricksons and then caddis before calling it a night in favor of some greasy grub on the road home.  It was a great day of fishing. 

A Mouthful

Micahdammeyer Big Gunpowder Falls, fishing, Spring , , , , , , 0 Comment

The Big April Mayflies are a meal for the trout on the Big Gunpowder Falls. I was lucky enough to get out last Wednesday when the weather was in the 80’s and the sun was shining; I have no excuse for not posting a report sooner.  

The official report: PERFECT!  

The water temps are jumping up with every rainstorm and the bugs are active. This has the trout feeling pretty bold. While my fish were great in number I didn’t hook into any submarines. They’re still in there however and after running into Theaux from the Backwater Angler up in Monkton, he and his pal had proof on their camera phone at the end of the night and bragging rights. See the short story here. Swing by his shop and pick up a few flies and fresh leaders and keep his lights on if you’re headed up this way. 

 

Monday looks like a repeat of last week’s situation – storms followed by warm weather – and with a little luck the gas prices will stay low.  Here’s a couple pics, below, from my outing. I’m off to hit the bench to crank out a dozen fresh flies.  

I was pretty happy when I saw $4.23 high-test!
Nice Brown
An average fish for the day. I could catch these for days.

 

Jsut look at that bottom!
High but clear.

 

The Bats are out. The warmer weather can't be far behind.
The bats are out. The warmer weather can't be far behind.

 

  

March comes back with cold and snow?

Micahdammeyer Big Gunpowder Falls, fishing, Uncategorized, Winter , , , , 0 Comment

As is fitting with most of my outings this Spring, the good days seem to happen when I’m busy with indoor activities and the cold days land on my days marked “FISH!” on the daytimer. I was not discouraged and after some fun stops in the AM I was on my way to the water with my dog Shay. Once we’d settled in and remembered what it was like to be outdoors we got into a good groove.    

"My new 'scent' "

   

While there were some tiny bugs here and there and I even saw one small fish bust the surface, I was throwing weight at the log jams. This little guy took a few tries to hook but he came out of his hiding place 3 times before chewing up my fly.
 
March Brown Jr.

   

The fishing got better as the sun fell and the eagles stopped flying around above me and a few fly changes later I had a good formula going. It was great to get out and unwind for a while. I eventually had to throw in the towel in favor of dry socks food and a good brushing for the dog…not before a few better fish were duped by some more creative streamer fishing.   

March Brown ...that's better!

   

I spent half an hour or so picking grass out of my dog’s coat and packing up my laundry and wet leaky (fairly new) waders and then headed down towards Baltimore for some dinner. A while back the guys over at Backwater Angler clued me into Andy Nelson’s BBQ and it was just what the dog and I needed after a day eating squashed sandwiches. As always it was great and hit the spot after working hard chasing after trout with a stick!    

BBQ Dinner

   

All-in-all it was a great day and with over 150 hard-won miles put on my new transmission I made it home safe and sound. That “satisfied but tired” feeling that only comes after a day on the water was good to feel again after a long winter and I’d almost forgotten about those 2 fish days spent with frozen guides and hands. I’m looking forward to the warmer days ahead.    

In The News…DC’s show!

Micahdammeyer fishing, Fly Tying, links, News, Shows/Expos , , , , 0 Comment

This weekend is the 36th Anual Angling Show assembled by NCC-TU.  It’s a neat show with a good handful of folks presenting on topics like small stream trout, bass/smallies and the like. It’s only $10 to get in and, like any of the shows, it’s a good chance to catch up with old friends and familiar faces.

Get yourself signed up for a casting clinic and maybe bring your kids by the tying tables and get them tying flies for you and for their own boxes. I’m on the list to help out for a few hours so it will surely be fun!