Fly Fishing Destinations: Virginia and Maryland

While living in Northern Virginia (1994 to 2005), I fished year-round for wild trout, and I also fished during the delayed harvest season on some stocked trout streams. In addition to my home waters in Virginia and Maryland, I also enjoyed fishing the rivers out in Western Maryland, especially the Savage River. During the summer months, I mostly fly fished for smallmouth in the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers.

In Northern Virginia, I didn't have a lot of choices when it came to fishing for wild trout...at least not the type of fishing I enjoy the most. There are lots of small streams in the Shenandoah National Park and surrounding area, but these are mostly small mountain streams which hold native brook trout. So if you like to hike and climb, and fish for those beautiful wild brookies, the park is a great place to fish. But many of the park streams are 2 to 3 hours from where I lived, and I am not much of a brook trout fisherman anyway. I prefer bigger water, and fishing for wild browns and rainbows as much as possible. I mostly fished Big Hunting Creek and the Gunpowder River up in Maryland, and Passage Creek, Mossy Creek, and some private spring creeks in Virginia.

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