It’s speculation on my part, but I suspect that the osprey perched high in a tree above the river was hoping for an assist from the two anglers down below. The bird was no freeloader, just an opportunist looking for an easy meal. Consider that this "fish hawk" had picked a spot directly above a … Continue reading An osprey awaits an easy meal
The best three-fish day of fishing ever
Fishing Journal Entry: Sept. 1, 2025, Labor Day Sometimes you just want to write things down so you don’t forget them, and that’s the case today: I just need to describe what the day was like and how it ended so that my son and I will have a record should one day memory fail … Continue reading The best three-fish day of fishing ever
Roadside assistance for a fellow angler who “ain’t from around here”
I had just come from the river when a big man in a big pickup truck pulled suddenly off the main road after spotting me in the parking lot, where I was about to take my waders off. He stopped in a cloud of dust and rolled his window down.“How’d ya do?” he asked, which … Continue reading Roadside assistance for a fellow angler who “ain’t from around here”
Afishionado: A ‘large minnow’ that builds and shares a spawning bed
It’s always the first example of an oxymoronic phrase — jumbo shrimp. Here’s a new one — large minnow. Yes, there is such a thing. It’s called a fallfish, a silvery species that swims in rivers of the U.S. Northeast and Canada. It’s a chub of the family Cyprinidae, and the largest minnow species native … Continue reading Afishionado: A ‘large minnow’ that builds and shares a spawning bed
The Susquehanna Swarm
It might seem like a freak of nature, a bizarre phenomenon set off by the latent effects of the Three Mile Island nuclear accident 50 miles (and more than 46 years) upstream. But it’s actually a natural phenomenon and a sign of environmental health. Workers at Conowingo Dam, on the Susquehanna River, were recently awed … Continue reading The Susquehanna Swarm
Afishionado: The stubborn guy with a fly rod
The fly-fishing angler who won’t fish with nymph imitations is a stubborn fool. He will stand there, 20 feet downstream of a fishy-looking pool, and hope for a rise. He will hope for a trout to nose into the surface and give away both its position and its interest in devouring a fly on the … Continue reading Afishionado: The stubborn guy with a fly rod
Bridge to a memory: Father’s Day
I don’t recall ever making a fuss about Father’s Day — except for one year when my father announced that he’d like nothing better than a trip to Powder Point.
Nothin’ wild about fishing for stocked trout
You can see from the photograph with this post that the young man in waders, my son Nick, is fly-fishing for trout in the traditional, usually productive way -- nymphing or stripping a streamer through a fairly deep run along a bank in a freestone river. He's fishing a spot that looks fishy. Such a … Continue reading Nothin’ wild about fishing for stocked trout
Waiting for the rise
Fly fishing requires a lot of patience; some anglers give it up for that reason -- they don't want to be bothered with all the fuss, with all that "match the hatch" business, the precise (and sometimes tedious) matching of artificial flies with the real bugs that trout happen to be feeding on. But, for … Continue reading Waiting for the rise
Ed Darwin: ‘You must be able to think like a fish’
Ed Darwin, who died early Sunday at age 93, was widely known in Chesapeake fishing circles as a knowledgeable and successful charter boat captain for more than 50 years. As I note in my Friday Sun column, he had an engineer’s mind and applied a kind of mystical science to the sport. My column serves … Continue reading Ed Darwin: ‘You must be able to think like a fish’
Dan Rodricks 