Antietam, 04/16/25

I had a great time with Roger today. We set off at 8AM and finished at 3PM so he could travel back home. It was a sunny day. It also got into the high 80’s. The water was stained, 2.6’ and 58 degrees. Tons and tons of black caddis along the banks, with tan caddis and craneflies hatching. We did get some heavy rain last night, but stream is a steady at 2.4’. Perfect fishing! Roger is a very good fly fisherman, but was away from it for 2 years. I just worked on some of his line mends to make better drifts. Again, it was a nymphing day. It was a “Welcome to Antietam” day. Roger nailed them today, it was just noticing the indicator “twitched” and do not hesitate to “Set”. I have the same issue if I have not been out much. You have a split second to set on these wild trout. We had a great time together. Where else do you have a chance at browns over 20 inches in just about every hole? Roger had 2 browns, 1 rainbow over 20 inches come off, lost 6 or so more and we still put 5 nice trout 15 to 18 inches in the net.