{Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: 2016 Recap: How did everyone do?

2016 was a good fishing year for me! I fished with old friends and new friends, catching many new species as well as the old favorites. 

Winter: 

I focused on hiking first and fishing second to mitigate frustration...and it worked! I hiked beautiful brook trout streams (with a fly rod of course) and found some beautiful trout. 

Spring: 

After a couple days dedicated to the mandatory shad smack down, I shifted my focus to smallmouth and trout. I did a couple float trips in western MD for trout (sadly no big ones) and a few float trips on the Potomac and Shenandoah for smallmouth, catching some nice fish. I also explored some new brookie streams in late spring that I plan to fish again!

Summer:

A non-fishing trip up to CT where I fished (no stripers, but a few menhaden actually ate my fly which was interesting). I did some more brook trout trips and smallmouth trips when flows looked good. In August I caught a nice Savage River brown trout on a hopper, which was awesome and probably my favorite freshwater fish of the year because I worked so hard for it! 

Fall:

Mid September, I made my first ever trip to Alaska (Tsiu River) with some folks I met through TPFR. The coho salmon fishing was ridiculously good, and I still have probably 15lbs of salmon in my freezer! Richard from TPFR brought some gyotaku materials, and helped me make a salmon print...super cool!! In October, I made a few trips down to VA Beach to visit Charlie (who started this thread) and to try and catch my first redfish (which has eluded me for over two years). I caught a puppy drum on bait during my first visit. My second visit produced my most memorable fish of the year, a bull red... and then a few more bull reds! (also caught on bait). 

It was a good year. Game on 2017!

Parker

On Wednesday, December 28, 2016 at 11:37:40 AM UTC-5, Charlie Church wrote:

Earlier today I decided to take a look at the 2016 resolutions thread from last year. It made me think it would be cool to see if everyone accomplished their goals. 

As for me, I got one of mine done. I had mentioned I was dying to get a bull drum (even on bait). Parker, Kyle (VB Local) and I had a pretty epic day this fall on them. We ended up with 10 big ones. 

I log all of my trips which makes providing a recap pretty easy. See below:

Winter:

I did not get out a ton this winter since I was in the process of getting ready to move to Virginia Beach in the spring. The times I did get out went well though and resulted in some early season dry fly for brookies. I also was able to get out and float the potomac once and got a decent smallmouth. I will take it in the winter. 

Spring

Before moving to VB, I was able to go on a pretty big 'going away' binge. It included 2 floats up in Western MD, a couple smallie floats, a shad trip, and a few trips to local spring creeks. In one week I was able to get a brown, rainbow, brookie, hickory shad, american shad, striper and smallmouth. I spent a couple days looking for big drum on the eastern shore to no avail. It seemed like every chance I had to get out on the shore was met with wind / dirty water. 

I also spent a ton of time looking for smaller reds, trout and flounder and did quite poorly. The flounder bite for me never materialized all year and the reds/trout took until fall. Looking through my logs, I had 11 trips that resulted in skunks. The dues were paid heavily. 

Summer

I got out a lot this summer. Highlights included 2 offshore trips, a couple cobia trips, a trip up to Alaska to visit one of my best friends who now guides at the lodge I used to work at and overall a ton of exploring. The alaska trip (goodnews river lodge) was ridiculous. My wife and I got all 5 species of salmon, rainbows, dollies, tons of grayling and a lake trout with a good amount coming on mouse patterns. Locally, I struck out on cobes but was able to get a few big trout, consistent stripers under lights, a few alberts offshore, some dolphin and a good amount of smaller reds later in the year.

Fall
Fall was easily the best time for me. Reds and trout showed up in huge numbers which made finding new wading spots a lot easier. I was able to find a few spots that I could hit after work and get into a decent amount of fish. It definitely made me not miss 495. This fall also included that awesome drum trip mentioned above. The trout bite was strong all the way up to December with more than a few memorable trips. 

Some of my favorite photos from the year are attached. Hopefully next includes a lot of time on the water, some exploration and maybe some dues paid along the eastern shore hunting the silver king.

How did everyone else do?

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