Room to cast at Dickerson?

[Paul Kalajainen]

Rumor is I'm getting a new fly rod for Christmas, so I'll have my 5 wt and something bigger - so I'm super pumped about that.  Yesterday my wife asked if I would teach her to fly fish the weekend after Christmas since I'll have two rods now and we can go together - even more pumped.  I'm looking into various warm water discharges since we're into colder weather now.  She'd like to get away from the city, and I could use that too, so I'll save 4MR for a later trip.  The other caveat is that she doesn't have waders, so we're shore-bound for now.

I was looking through old posts about Dickerson in MD and it looks like a great spot, though I couldn't tell how much room there is to cast from shore there.  I'd like her to have space to learn a regular back cast without a wall of trees directly behind.  Anyone know what I'll be getting into up there?  Can I pull this off or have I set up an impossible situation for myself? 

Any advice (about Dickerson or anywhere else you think I should go instead) is greatly appreciated!

-Paul

[namfos]

Water in C&O Canal at Widewater (between Anglers Inn and Great Falls Park on MD side) is still very low.  IF the level was near normal, I'd suggest there, you just have to be on the alert for bikers, walkers and joggers on your backcast.

[Paul Kalajainen]

Is it a safe bet that the water is low pretty much everywhere?

[Jonathan Strong]

There is pretty much no room for a backcast from the shore at Dickerson. The shore is densely wooded and the banks are somewhat steep in places. In places you can access the water, the bottom is quite muddy and sticky for the first few feet, but once you get out into the river the bottom turns hard and sandy.