Antietam, 07/09/25

Like many the early spring with the high water, Randy and I finally got back on the water. We both knew going in, it would be iffy with water and how long you can last in the sun, heat and humidity. Nothing was hatching, but terrestrials made for some rising trout. We had great water flow at 2.5 feet and was 64 warmed to 67. That was time to hit Red Run, but lasting till 1:30PM was more then we should have pushed it. Randy fell in love with the water right off the bat. He was a very good fly fisherman. We fished mostly Euro nymphs on his cool collapsible 13’ fly rod. Never seen that, but man did it work. Plus we tried dries on my rod. The dries made for three takes, but the poor small browns hardly could get a #12 foam hopper in their little mouths. Trout were in net, release and given the weather, he had a great time. It was not a banner day, but given that he landed a fat 15 inch trout, missed a good sized one and as he said, lost a trout of a lifetime was well enough. He did say, “we have the best most beautiful wild trout water imaginable and can’t wait to walk it’s banks again.” Mid-September into October is filling up, plus with a deal in the making it may fill up faster.