The Most Recent Fishing Adventures...Trips 2, 3, and 4

So I have been pretty busy lately and keep telling myself to post about the adventures I've taken recently. With the MD DNR now well into their stocking schedule, I have done everything but trout fishing in Maryland since the first stockings on March 6th. I explored Allen's Pond in Bowie, MD only to go without a fish and get odd looks from the locals because I was using a fly rod. I went on a nice day hike with the wife at Patapsco State Park and had the opportunity to fish some of the beautiful streams that run through it. I also fished in Bethany Beach, DE with my cousin on his big bass pond as well as a new pond never fished by us and possibly get onto his new website Backwoods Productions which will be full of many adventures from fishing to hunting to surfing (will be going live shortly and the link will be provided).

I'll start with Allen's Pond...a nice little pond tucked right into the middle of Bowie, MD. This pond is stocked by the Maryland State DNR and holds a variety of species from Brown and Rainbow Trout to Largemouth Bass and Catfish. It is generally pretty busy because it is also a State Park and holds a lot of potential for fisherman trying to fill the pan. I went on a rather nice day during the pre-stocking and came up empty but had to opportunity to talk to one of the locals who was on his 5th fish and claimed he saw a man "catch 10 quick, send them back into the pond, and head out." Crazy to these guys apparently because they primarily catch to keep. I had 2 rises from trout on a midge pattern (only due to the fact that it was a nice 70 degree day and thats all that was hatching). Heres some pictures:

The next place, Patapsco State Park is possibly the most beautiful park I've been to in Maryland. The Upper Patapsco River is absolutely stunning. With its rapids, small waterfalls, little beaches, and ideal runs/eddies, it has so much potential. Again, on this trip I only had 1 rise and a few looks on terrestrial (unseasonal) flies only because of the fact I tried everything else. Its easy to sight fish here and there are more places that hold fish than the Yellow Breeches I was used to. I plan on returning soon, especially since the Spring will be in full bloom soon enough and the stocking has started up there. Its a Catch-and-Release area, which I love, and isn't too bad of a trip for me. Heres some pictures:

And finally, the most successful and best of my latest adventures...the trip for an unofficial Spring Break with the wife to my parents beach house. Bethany Beach, DE is amazing, I've grown up spending a lot of weekends down there with the family. I have a good amount of family members that live down there, one of which loves fishing as much as I do. My cousin, Colin Herlihy, co-founder of Backwoods Productions, lives on a 2.5 acre bass pond that holds some of Bethany's finest and largest. Some of the species it holds are Largemouth Bass, Mud Catfish, Eels, White Perch, Spot, Herrring, and thats just a few. The saltwater/brackish species have made their way through tax ditches to his pond. We always have a blast on it and if your lucky enough, and have a good day, you can get yourself on his Wall of Fame. I think I have one or two pics on there. We fished the shoreline and went out in his dingy and got quite a few bass. I ended the weekend with 6 bass total, one on the fly (which is also the first caught in the pond on the fly). Colin put me to shame with something like 20 fish in one day. We went and explored through a few corn fields and found a nice new spot neither of us had fished and pulled quite a few bass out and one White Perch. Colin pulled the largest which was somewhere around 2.5 lbs. Back at the main pond, Colin's buddy Critter pulled a nice fat bass looking like it had already started the pre-spawn. It was probably somewhere around 2.5-3 lbs as well. The best part about Bethany and the surrouding areas is there are plenty of bait and tackle shops that have fresh and saltwater tackle and many if not all have fly fishing gear/flies/tackle...awesome. I'm sure plenty more stories will be posted about the adventures on the pond so keep your eyes on the blog. Heres some pics form this weekend and a few form the past:

I'll do my best to keep everyone updated and stop procrastinating and I'll fill everyone in when Backwoods Productions goes live...get out and catch some fish, send some pics and I'll post them for you!

Tight Lines...Morgan