suggestions for inshore/onshore saltwater fly fishing within 3 hours from DC?

[eric]

Hi Folks,

I've been in the area for a few years now, but haven't really had a chance to do any saltwater fishing.  I've been itching to sample the on-shore/near-shore saltwater options in the area lately, but I have very little idea where to start.

I would be equally interested in the ocean or the bay.  I prefer wading and beach casting, but I also have a kayak if that's what it will take to access some decent water.  I'm not looking for any secret spots - just places where I can hope to find a firm bottom, fishy conditions, and room to cast. 

Time and fuel are at a premium, so I'll be focusing within 3 (or better yet, 2) hours of the DC area.  I'm not real particular about the target fish, but I would prefer that they are more than 10" long..

Would anybody be willing to point me in the right direction?  My under-informed guesses would be 1) the calvert cliffs area, 2) the Lewes/Rehoboth beach area (what about the Great Marsh area, just N of Lewes?), 3) Wye island area?  Something closer?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions,

Eric




 

[Lane Smith]

I did some tidal casting in and around Lewes over labor day weekend and during the week while vacationing in dewey. The problem with beach fishing with fly gear is the really heavy wind and choppy surf pretty much year round. Up near Lewes in the bays is some great tidal casting areas. I didn't catch anything but I wasn't able to hook into the local fly fishing knowledge. There is also apparently good bay fishing south of dewey beach in the rivers and inlets. Getting there is somewhat time consuming from dewey though so I didn't have the opportunity. There is a great bait and tackle shop on route one south of dewey. If you are looking into a trip, I'd Google them and give them a ring.
Incidentally I've heard amazing things about fly fishing inland in Delaware around Milton. Pond fishing and streams with all kinds of great warm water fishing. can't wait to check it out next year.

Lane

[Dan Davala - Founder/President]

Eric,

 

Fishing in the Bay can be AWESOME, but shoreline/wade access can be hard to come by.  Your Kayak will open up many great opportunities though.  Trent Jones and I just fished Kent Narrows from our Kayaks early yesterday morning and absolutely crushed it.  We had to be in Annapolis by noon to teach casting at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's annual BAYFEST event so of course, we turned it into a fishing trip. 

 

The fish (schoolie Stripers) were not huge, but they were certainly plentiful, and it was a fish on every cast some of the time.  We put in at the public Kent Narrows Landing and paddled across to fish the channel and the docks/seawall on the other side.  You should definitely put this one on your list since it is less than 1 hour from Arlington if you leave in the early AM.

 

VERY IMPORTANT - you will need a ramp pass to launch there, even if it is just a kayak.  The only place I know of that sells them over the counter is Anglers Hunting and Fishing shop in Annapolis just before crossing the Bay Bridge.  They do open at 5AM though.  A day pass will run you only $15, but they have annual passes for sale too.

 

Let us know how you do if you head up there!

 

Dan Davala

[Timothy Murphy]

There is a parking lot on the south side of the 50 bridge on kent island with a really bright parking lot light that hangs over the water.   You can fish from the parking lot. The strippers have been coming in late at night and feeding under the light.  The weekend before last I caught between 25 and 30 fish in a two hour window.  You get to it by taking the piney knoll exit and then crossing under the bridge that crosses kent narrows.

Another location I have had alot of luck catching fish is near the dog beach beside the Chesapeake bay beach club house which beside the fishing pear at the first exit from fifty on kent island after you cross the bay bridge.

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[Joshua Delmonico]

Dan,

Thanks for the info. Were you guys fishing north of Kent Narrows by Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge? Were you fishing the tide or just when you were able to go? I am assuming sinking line with something like a clouser minnow?

Thanks again.

Josh

From: Dan Davala - Founder/President <daniel...@gmail.com>
To: tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2012 1:36 PM
Subject: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: suggestions for inshore/onshore saltwater fly fishing within 3 hours from DC?

[Charlie Church]

Another one to add to the list if you can stomach the drive...

The VB area is outstanding. The next 3 to 4 months are excellent down there. That being said, you need winter gear for it.

November and December at either the HRBT(launch from the boat ramp on the VB side) or the CBBT (surf launch) present world class opportunities for rockfish on fly.

The fish aren't necessarily the 30 - 40 inch fish you see coming from the High Rise but are very plentiful. Any night of the week at HRBT should see kayakers going out there so dont expect to be out there alone.

[Joshua Delmonico]

Tim,

Thanks for the information. Is it the parking lot by the big owl tiki bar?

Josh

From: Timothy Murphy <murphyt...@gmail.com>
To: tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com

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[TomG]

I have also fished the rte 50 bridge at Kent Island at night and done really well on stripers however I fished from an "anchored" 21' boat.  I strongly do not recommend anyone try this on a kayak.  The tidal flows under the bridge are very strong and there is no way to hold station unless you are anchored which would be very dangerous in a kayak. 

If you do go, and fish from a boat, try to go during a moonless night and anchor upstream of the bridge.  Quarter cast downstream and allow the current to drift your fly to the shadow line created by the overhead bridge lights.  The stripers will be just behind the shadow line ready to ambush your fly as soon as it crosses the line.  On a good night you can expect a strike 3 out of every 5 casts.  I have fished there from 10pm to 3am and only quit because I was too tired from casting and reeling in fish.

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[Timothy Murphy]

I believe so. It was dark when I went

[Timothy Murphy]

If your near st micheals stop by keepers.   Its a great source for fly fishing info for the entire bay.  He also post several fishing reports a week on the web which I have found to be really spot on.

[Mr. Bill]

I just saw a recent article about flyfishing Cape Henlopen by Lewes, DE in what I think was the August issue of On The Water (NY/NJ).  It had lots of great things to say, including the ability to wade out rather far, depending on the tide, and a lack of other beach goers in certain areas.

On Sunday, September 9, 2012 1:33:04 PM UTC-4, eric wrote:

[eric]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone.  I am aware of kent narrows as a potential hotspot, but haven't been there yet.  I will definitely check it out one of these nights.. although it sounds like access may be a bit of a production.  Dan, were you able to find safe areas out of the main current to anchor your kayaks, or did you just drift/paddle/repeat? 

I guess more specifically, I'm really interested in finding a place to do some beach casting - where it doesn't have to be at night, under the lights.. I know this means dealing with wind and waves, but I have two hand rods, shooting heads, and a stripping basket, so I can handle moderately adverse conditions .. at least once I work the rust off :) 

Murf - how was access at the Chesapeake bay beach club house (parking, fees, hours,etc)?  I've heard that the Terrapin Beach Park, just N of there can be decent for surf fishing, but it is a long walk to the beach from the parking lot (so dragging the boat down is not an option).    

I've fished Sandy Point State Park before.  Paying for parking was sort of tricky and it didn't seem very fishy for how many anglers there were .. but maybe it was an off night.  I would go back, but I'm hoping to find a better option. 

The henalopin/rehoboth area still sounds promising to me too.  As does the St. Micheals area.. Keep the ideas coming!

Thanks - Eric

On Sunday, September 9, 2012 1:33:04 PM UTC-4, eric wrote:

[Richard Lin]

Dan,

 

How is the water current between sides (north and south of bridge)? Is it too strong for kayak or canoe?

I looked up the Google map and there are  a lot of boats and slips in the area. Boats traffic can cause several waves.

I just want to check before we go there…;-)

 

Richard

--

[Trent Jones]

Dan and I did not have any anchoring systems with us on this outing, so the trip was the paddle up, fish as you drift, and paddle up again type. In general I am the first person to get annoyed my constantly having to re-adjust my kayak so I can get the fly where I want it to go…I just rather be fishing than paddling. That being said it was not difficult to orient our boats so we could present our flies…I seemed to be getting about 8 good fly presentations per drift before I would "motor" up again.

I was very surprised how little boat traffic was on the water, especially on a Sunday morning. Some very large boats passed us while we were fishing and I expected some pretty bad wake…but I think the current is so strong it mitigates most of the waves put off by boat traffic. I never felt uncomfortable in the kayak but I personally would not take a canoe in that water. The main current is strong but manageable…I imagine on an extreme tide you might want to avoid it. Per usual, exercise caution and sound judgment while on the water and you should be good.

I am certainly inspired to do some more exploring in the bay after this trip!

-Trent

On Sunday, September 9, 2012 1:33:04 PM UTC-4, eric wrote:

[Joshua Delmonico]

Hi Trent,

Does it matter if the tide is incoming or outgoing or would you just fish when you get there? Also, did you fish sinking line? Clousers etc?

Thanks for the info.

Josh

From: Trent Jones <tjon...@hotmail.com>
To: tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2012 10:51 AM
Subject: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: suggestions for inshore/onshore saltwater fly fishing within 3 hours from DC?

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[Daniel Davala]

Josh,

 

We fished directly across from the landing, basically between Harris Crab House and the bridges.  I would have liked to explore a bit more, but as the saying goes, "you don't leave fish to find fish".  As far as timing - on this trip we just fished when we could, so neither of us even checked the tides before we went.  Turns out, we were mostly fishing the incoming tide.  We had figured that regardless of tide stage, we would be fishing for several hours so we'd hit part of a moving tide regardless.  We were right, and as a bonus, the incoming tide was opposite the wind direction, so like Trent said, holding the boat in position and getting a lot of casts off before having to paddle again was pretty easy.  Looking forward to a return trip.

 

Dan Davala

[Daniel Davala]

Oh yeah, and you are correct.  A fast sinking line, 2'-3' of 20# fluoro, and a #2 Clouser are all that is necessary.  Trent fished a Clouser for the whole morning and I fished one of Tommy Mattioli's epoxy minnows in the tan/white flavor since he sent me a few as a gift a while back.  Great flies tied by a true veteran of the bay.  Not sure if the fish preferred either - if it looked like a minnow and was in front of feeding fish, they would eat it!  My only regret is that I didn't think to fish a 2 or 3 fly rig.  Well, next time anyway.

Dan Davala

[John Bilotta]

dan,

how far off the beach were you? 

john

[Vic Velasco]

Anybody thinking about setting up a kayak (fly)fishing outting?  I have a kayak, but don't have fishing partners (who have kayaks).

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[Daniel Davala]

No beeches in sight where we were fishing John.  Just docks, bridges, and seawalls.  Oh yeah, and one shallow cove lined with abandoned engine parts and a few Chevy small blocks.  Attached is a picture of Trent with the bridges in the background.  I should have taken a few fishy shots, but the times we were drifting through a good bite it was all I could do to unhook a fish and get cast back into the zone asap.  Super fun time! 

 

Dan Davala

[eric]

Reporting back -

I decided to not try for the actual beach just yet and kept it a little closer to home.  On Saturday I did a (long) one day trip that started with catching an hour of the outgoing tide at Kent Narrows in the morning, then a (slow) drive down to Taylor/Hooper Island area for some kayak fishing, then back home again with another stop at the Narrows.

I had never been to Kent Narrrows before.. and I have to say I'm not sure if I'll be back, at least not to fish from shore.  It is a heavily used area, and looks it.  There are not many places where fly casting from the bank is safe or feasible.  Or maybe casting would be feasible, but landing any decent fish would be a scary proposition.  I did not take the time to put my kayak in here as in the morning both the tide and the substantial wind were going in the same direction (I think I would have been doing a lot more paddling than fishing) and I didn't have a light setup for my kayak on the return trip (after dark).  I will say this about the Narrows - there are lots of fish.  In the morning, after I decided the West side of the channel was not going to work for fly fishing, I stood on the seawall on the East side and watched about a hundred schoolie stripers attack my fly on every cast.  I caught and released a few 10 inchers on a normal sized fly, then put on the biggest fly I had (maybe 6" streamer on a 1/0 hook) and caught and released a few more 10 inchers.  It was fun, but one can only appreciate so much of that kind of fun.  I packed it in and drove south.

After getting held up in some terrible traffic I eventually made my way down to the Hoopers Island area.  I chose to target this area after some half cooked research led me to conclude that I'd have a decent chance of adding speckled trout and/or red drum to my list of fly-caught-in-MD fish.  I probably did have a decent chance, but I'll have to convince myself of that some other time.  It was a beautiful drive through the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge to my first stop at the Golden Hill boat Launch (neither Talbot nor Dorchester counties require a paid permit to launch a car top boat).  My plan was to put in at this "back bay/river" launch site to fish the top of the tide cycle, in hopes that I'd find some fish feeding.  And that is what I did, with the exception of finding the fish.  I had a few honest follows and a few more imagined ones, but I didn't see much action.  I loaded the boat back up and headed down to Tylers Cove/Fishing Creek/Honga Bridge (depending what map you look at) launch site.  There was not any shore access here either so I put in the kayak and fished the outgoing tide.  It was pretty slow, but pretty.  I fished for a solid four hours before the fish started to turn on around dusk.  Incidentally this is also when the wind died down and the no-see-ums started to bite the crap out of me.  Things were looking good.  A nearby boat was steadily hooking some small to medium fish, there were scattered swirls around me, I had a few follows, missed strikes, and just as it was starting to get genuinely dark, I finally hooked up to a... 10 inch striped bass. 

I was ready, so I packed up and headed for home.  I stopped at the Narrows again on the way.  That place is quite the scene on a weekend night.   I did not attempt to fish. 

It was a great trip.  Hope to do it, or something like it, again soon.

Eric