After the Storms

Big one blew through Sunday afternoon. National Weather Service said later that they saw evidence of wind gusts that exceeded 90 mph. Hundreds of thousands lost power including us for 22 hours. No damage to house, but we may have lost two trees, one a 30 foot spruce.

Mild storm today. Winds not too strong, nice rain, air temperatures dropped 10 degrees, and no power loss. Walked over to the pond later and caught one bass on the B & B fly.

Patapsco River up from Daniels

Hadn't been to this spot for a few years, and it's worth the 45 minute paddle from the parking lot. Caught only one smallmouth, but it was the best one of the season so far. Caught it on the first or second cast of the day using the Black & Bluegill which is becoming the go-to fly this summer. Kept the fly on and caught a bazillion bluegills. Better make that two bazillion because I caught about twice as many as I did last week on the Monocacy.

Air temp about 90 in the early afternoon when I left. Water level 1.54 at Hollofield.

The Pond: 8 AM

Many runners and other people exercising here early before the temps get up in the 90's.

For me, one bass and two small bluegills on B & B, and one large bluegill on surface slider.

Two new arrivals at our house

Ten weeks old. No names yet.

The Lower Monocacy River

Monocacy is an American Indian word meaning "river with many blends", and like many Indian place names it flows musically off the tongue when said. Near Frederick Maryland a Civil War battle was fought along its banks, and where the Monocacy empties into the Potomac a C & O Canal aqueduct constructed mostly of granite stone quarried at nearby Sugarloaf Mountain was completed in 1833.

It was near the aqueduct that I put in my kayak and paddled upriver yesterday. When the current picked up and the river bottom became rocky, I entered the water to wade and fish. I caught only two smallmouth bass but about a bazillion bluegills, almost all the fish while using the Black and Bluegill fly described below on June 15.

A pleasant day, not as hot as it's been. Water level 1.74 at Bridgeport on the Monocacy and 1.11 at Point of Rocks on the Potomac.

AFI Silver Spring

One great benefit of living where I do is my proximity to the American Film Institute Silver Spring theater. It is an art deco styled building in the downtown area that holds smaller theaters in addition to the grand and restored original theater.
This summer the AFI is featuring films by Truffaut and Kurosawa, and last night we saw Francois Truffaut's Day for Night. Going to movies there seems like a good way to spend what is becoming a very hot summer.

Upper Potomac Smallmouth Bass

This is about the time I usually start fishing this area because the water's warm enough to wade wet. I beached the kayak on a gravel bar on the Maryland side of the big island at Noland's Ferry, just into Frederick County. No luck on the surface, so I tied on a black and olive wooly bugger and started catching 10-12" smallies. Although small, each jumped when hooked and fought well on the six weight fly rod.

Action was pretty much over by afternoon, but it was such a beautiful day I stayed on the river anyway. In most places when you've waded out to mid-river and look upstream or down you see no sign of human creation, and the water, woods, and hills look much as they must have when Europeans first came. Today I saw great blue herons as usual, and I think I also saw an eagle. A beaver smacked water to warn me off his territory and groundhogs scurried near the bloat ramp.

Water levels low (2.82 at Little Falls and 1.05 at Point of Rocks), and air temps in the low 80's by afternoon.

Visiting Farmer John

Visited John Van Brunt on his farm in Carroll County today. A number of years ago and well before he retired as a psychology professor at the University of Maryland, John bought about 30 acres with a pond and an old farm house and raised sheep.

We visited John often when our children were small, and the farm was an excellent place for suburban kids to learn about rural living. John doesn't venture out to the city often these days, and we got out of the habit of going up there. Lately, though, I've been re-establishing the friendship and have been glad I have because he's a person of many interests and an all round good guy. A few years ago, he converted the farm for use by a group that acquires mistreated horses.
I brought a rifle because John would like to see a thinning of the local groundhog population, but they laid low and I didn't get a shot. We took turns shooting his new shotgun in one of the back pastures. I'm looking forward to visiting him frequently.