Maryland Trout Trips

[Johnsfolly]

1 hour ago, Ham said:

I think I tried to borrow a fly rod from you to fish the Creek of Goodness to add some stuff on fly, but I was rebuffed. Maybe it was just too hard to get to your gear considering the minimal time between the request and your departure to meet me at the fishing hole.

Sorry buddy but I don't recall. Was this when we fished Tuckahoe?

[FishnDave]

[Johnsfolly]

Allen Pond - 28Jan23

Allen pond is a city park pond that is stocked with rainbow trout in the winter/spring similar to the urban trout program in Missouri. This park is about 75 miles from our house and close to DC. Livie and I fished a different location earlier in the day and we got  to the pond with ca. 80 mins to sunset. When we arrived, a couple of folks were fishing or packing up their fishing gear and one young women that we talked to had lost a rainbow just as she was trying to land it. 

Not knowing the lake at all, we found a spot away from the other fisherman. It was a beautiful night. 

We fished three rods and used different baits on each rod, a pink/purple Powerbait dough around a #18 treble hook, a red worm, and a #20 treble with three bubblegum colored Power eggs. Placed a 1/8 oz split shot about 8 to 10 inches above the hook. With the floating baits, I felt that would have the bait just above any leaves, weeds, etc. on the bottom. Cast out and let them soak. 

Just as it was starting to get dark, the rod with the Powereggs got a hit and I was able to land our first trout of the night.

Quick photos and back in the water. We got the rod rebaited and back out. Unfortunately that was the only fish that we caught 😒. Still it was a great night. We did have a few ducks that seemed intent to mob us, but stopped about 6 feet from me. Looked over at us and didn't come closer since we didn't make any motion that we were going to feed them. Nicknamed them the Mallard Mafia. Where's Marty when you need protection😁

Saw a bat flying over the lake just as we headed back to the car.

 

[Johnsfolly]

Unicorn Branch - 01Feb23

This was not a trip to a new trout site, but just a recent trip to one of the stocked creeks near us. Last year I fished this creek within a week of the stocking and found a pattern using a Trout magnet minijig with an orange body drifted in the current seams both upstream and downstream (creek photos from that trip) and landed 10 trout in ca. 90 mins.

Water flow was much less on this trip, but I tried using that float and microjig technique. NOTHING😒! I put on a piece of redworm and caught only a couple of bluegill and this BGL x pumpkinseed hybrid. So I wasn't going to be skunked, but still no trout.

I tried some other microjigs with and without the float and still no trout. As it was getting dark I moved to the other side and used the same Powerbait bubblegum egg with an orange trout nibble bait on the small treble and split shot. Cast to a spot between two seams. Didn't take too long to get a solid bite and I landed my first trout of the evening 😁. Light was fading fast. Made a couple more longer casts to another seam and landed another hybrid sunfish. My last cast was back into the spot where I caught the first trout and landed my last fish of the night - another rainbow trout.

Definitely not the action that I was hoping for on this trip, but had fun, had my license checked, and caught fish.

[Johnsfolly]

Beaverdam Creek - 05Feb23

We live on the Eastern shore of Maryland which is the Delmarva penisula (Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia). The Delmarva penisula is an ancient delta formed between the Susquehanna and Delaware rivers. The temperatures are buffered by the Chesapeake bay and the Atlantic ocean. We actually have warmer year round temperatures because of this effect than the western parts of VA and MD. Our soils are mostly sand. The creeks are low gradient creeks with low flow rates and tend to be more swampy. The waters have high tannins from the pines and oaks. Several species of trees are evergreens, like magnolias, american holly, etc. I am only aware of four spots on the Eastern shore that are stocked with trout. I had fished three of them, Tuckahoe creek, Unicorn Branch and Shad landing pond, previously.

I saw that they stocked the Beaverdam creek, the fourth location, on the second of Feb and I headed down on a nice day to try for trout. Party cloudy skies and mid to high 50's. I focused on the section of the creek below the pond spillway. I targeted that spot figuring that the water would likley be deeper, highly oxygenated and hold more trout. I found a man and his grandson fishing a pool on the creek not far below the spillway. (most of the green shrubs and trees are holly)

His grandson had just lost a decent stocker that had broken his line. The pool was split by a fallen tree.

There were a couple of guys fishing just below the spillway. I ended up fishing the upstream side of that fallen tree. I started by drifing microjigs below a float in the run above the pool. Nothing. Tried without the float in the pool, but again nothing. Losing time, I switched to the treble hook with the Bublegum Power eggs and the orange nibble. I cast to the eddy side of the flow above the tree and the bait would drift below the tree. I got a slight bite, then nothing, then I picked up the rod and it bit again. I landed my first trout of the day.

I nicked its gills and offered the fish to the man and his grandson, but they didn't want it. I sacrificed him and decided to catch a couple more for dinner. At this location you are allowed to keep five. I caught two more above the tree. At that time the man and boy left. I then caught two more below the tree from where they were fishing. The last trout from that pool was the largest of the day (12.75 inches and fairly thick; all ranged from 10 to 12.75 inches). It wrapped itself into the line from my other rod. As I landed it I got my other line out the mix and the fish was still wrapped in line. Turns out that I caught the fish that the boy lost earlier. I confirmed that when I cleaned the fish and found their hook with the white Powereggs that the man said they were using for bait. I fished a little bit longer in that pool then tried a couple other spots downstream, but didn't catch another fish.

I headed home with enough fish for dinner and a sucessful trip at a new trout spot.😁

 

 

[Quillback]

Does it get fished pretty hard?  Curious as to what it is like pressure wise.  Is it a one time stocking, or do they stock it periodically?

[Johnsfolly]

4 minutes ago, Quillback said:

Does it get fished pretty hard?  Curious as to what it is like pressure wise.  Is it a one time stocking, or do they stock it periodically?

The stocked portion is about 1/2 mile long. Saw about 15 fishermen from that spots I could see. I think that they may stock twice or three times until end of March.

[Johnsfolly]

11Feb23 - Fountain Rock Park Pond / Stansbury Pond

If you did not know, I am also a birder. Not as active as I used to be when I first got to Missouri, but picked it up over the last year or so. My birding life-list is currently at 388 species and I want to get to and over 400 by the end of 2023. So I have been looking over rare bird alerts for Delaware and Maryland. On the 11th I had identified three birding targets, Ross's goose, Brewer's blackbird, and orange-crowned warbler. Not to waste opportunities, I also included a couple of trout stocked ponds on this trip 😉.

It took a bit to locate the Ross' goose, but I was succesful (#388).

Also saw a lone female bufflehead duck and a group of hooded mergansers (a favorite of mine) on that same lake. I also saw coots, common mergansers, buffleheads, and ring-necked ducks on an adjoining lake.

 

I drove from the goose sighting up to a small (an I mean small) pond (Fountain Rock Park Pond) that was stocked recently with golden and regular rainbows. The bottom and water was full of the green snot algae (Spirogyra sp. most likely). The two guys next to me caught a couple while I was there as well as the other guy in the photo (photo shows about 3/8 of the total pond). Only four fish that I saw caught in about an hour of fishing. I only got to frequently clean my line and baits. I did see a couple of the golden rainbows, but they were just swimming around and not actively feeding.

I had given myself about an hour to get it done before I had to head to the next spot to try and find the Brewer's blackbird. We had tried to find this bird a week or so before. We could not confirm if we were seeing it amongst the redwing blackbirds in the area where folks were seeing it. This time the land owner was letting his dog run around in the horse field and no birds were seen. Pretty inconsiderate if you ask me to use your own land when folks are stopping next to your house to see a rare bird 😂.

Running out of daylight I ran to Stansbury pond to try and find the warbler. It has been seen repeatedly around a couple of "Keep off the Beach Grass" signs. I looked in that area and only could confirm white-throated sparrows, cardinals, carolina wrens, and juncos. Might have seen the warbler, but difficult in the low light. I set up and fished the pond just in front of the signs. 

I put on the same Poweregg and trout nibble combo that I have used elsewhere. I didn't have to wait too long before I got a good bite and a solid hook set. Landed a 12 inch stocker. This was the third trout from a new fishing spot in MD. Just have seven more to go 😉.

I lost another and then darkness set in. Never saw the warbler. My wife gave me a hard time that someone from the other side of the "keep off the beach grass" sign took a photo with me standing in the background watching my lines 😆. Such a supportive family.

Just before it was too dark, I did see another favorite of mine, a pied-billed grebe, fishing for dinner.

[Quillback]

I would've called that Ross Goose somebodies pet duck that escaped from the farm.  Shows how good I am at waterfowl ID.

[Johnsfolly]

1 hour ago, Quillback said:

I would've called that Ross Goose somebodies pet duck that escaped from the farm.  Shows how good I am at waterfowl ID.

A lot easier to spot in a small group of Canada geese than a flock of snow geese 😉