Submit your own Adventure of the Week or your latest Fresh Catch here and keep an eye out for your adventure to be featured in one of our next Weekly Outdoor Adventure Guides!
Weather (Click Here)
Before you hit the trails or set up camp, make sure to take a second glance at the weather for this weekend!
Today's Moon Phase according to NASA (Click Here)
Waning Crescent: "The Moon appears to be partly but less than one-half illuminated by direct sunlight. The fraction of the Moon's disk that is illuminated is decreasing."
Hiking (Click Here)
Merkle Natural Resource Management Area and Visitor Center, PG County
There are four hiking trails at Merkle that explore the upland forests and marshes of the Patuxent River. Our trails are open to hikers only. Bikers and equestrians may only use the Critical Area Driving Tour. For more opportunities, visit nearby Rosaryville State Park or Cedarville State Forest. All trail distances are round-trip and measured from the Visitor Center (except Lookout Creek Trail).
Paw Paw Trail
This is a flat, family friendly trail that weaves past streams and ponds and through forests and fields. Look out for paw paw trees along the trail that grow green, oval shaped fruits. Paw paws are the largest fruit native to Maryland and were a favorite dessert of President George Washington. This trail is 1.2 miles long and is rated easy. The trail is blazed yellow.
Popular Springs Trail
This is a relatively flat trail that connects the forested areas on either side of the main entrance road of Merkle. Named for the native poplar tree, this trail passes Merkle’s champion yellow poplar which measures 116 feet tall and nearly 17 feet in circumference. Poplar Springs is 3.0 miles long and is rated easy/moderate. The trail is blazed red.
Mounds Trail
This is a hilly trail that follows along the top of a ravine and offers views of Lookout Creek. Its most unique features are the large, man made mounds of dirt known as “ha-has” that give the trail its name. While their exact purpose is unknown, they are believed to be either early boundary markers or defenses built by soldiers during the War of 1812. This trail is 2.3 miles long and rated moderate. The Mounds Trail is blazed blue.
Lookout Creek Trail
Named for Lookout Creek which feeds into the Patuxent River, this flat, figure-eight shaped trail winds through forests and wetlands. Hikers will enjoy a beautiful view of the water and encounter various species of waterfowl and wetland vegetation. This trail is .72 miles and can only be accessed from the Critical Area Driving Tour (CADT). Lookout Creek Trail is blazed white.
Maryland Fishing Report - June 4th, Composed by Lyndsie Pratt (Click Here)
Rockfish: There are a lot of fish being caught out there and some nice sized ones too! The bite north of the bridge has picked up, with Love Point and Podickory Point being hot spots, but they’re actually catching fish all the way up to Tolchester already! The bite around the bridge has been good too. Jigging is the most popular method to catch fish right now, and you’ll still want to use those larger 7-8 inch baits! Live lining spot is also very productive in these same areas though! We have spot available, and they are already extremely easy to catch around structure! Additionally we’ve heard several reports of people catching nice rockfish chumming. Previously chumming had really only been producing catfish, but now you are likely to catch some catfish and some nice rockfish too!
Perch: White perch are plentiful in the rivers! Spinner baits like Perch Pounders are working well, along with our favorite Chespaeake Sabiki Rigs from Hayabusa! We now have two new Chespeake Sabiki Rigs, the Grass Shrimp Edition and the White Perch Edition, designed exclusively for Anglers by Hayabusa. While spinners work well in shallow water and around structure, Sabiki Rigs work great in 10-20 feet of water over hard bottom. You can tip them with grass shrimp or fish bites, but they also catch fish without any bait at all!
Speckled Trout: The rain and colder weather this week seems to have pushed trout back down the bay a little bit. They are still biting down in Tangier, but the bite around the mouth of the Choptank and the mouth of Potomac seems to have turned off. So for now heading down to the Islands is your best bet, but more warm weather is in forecast, so look for it to pick up in the middle bay area again soon. Look for them in about 4-6 feet of water around points, flats and grass beds, and use 3/16 or 1/4 oz jig heads with 3-4 inch paddletails.
Red Drum: We are already starting to get reports of puppy drum being caught in places like the Patuxent and South Rivers, usually as a by catch while perch or trout fishing. It’s a promising sign that it might be another great summer for them! Meanwhile down in Virginia waters they are catching big Bull Reds! We’ll let you know as soon as hear reports of them in Maryland waters!
Crabbing: Crabbing is really picking up in any of the rivers south of the bridge! Rivers north of the bridge, such as the Magothy, is picking up as well but a bit more slowly. You’ll need to weed through a lot of small crabs to catch a couple of dozen. In the rivers south of the bridge though, people are catching nice sized, full crabs!
This Weekend's Tide Predictions (Click Here)
Keep an eye on this weekend’s tide schedule. These are the predicted tides for the Western Shore of the Chesapeake from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Wednesday 6/9:
Low tide starting at 12:40 p.m. and again at 10:28 p.m.
High tide starting at 5:31 a.m. and again at 5:33 p.m.
Sunrise: 5:40 a.m.
Sunset: 8:31 p.m.
Thursday 6/10:
Low tide starting at 1:19 p.m. and again at 11:25 p.m.
High tide starting at 6:04 a.m. and again at 6:18 p.m.
Sunrise: 5:40 a.m.
Sunset: 8:31 p.m.
Friday 6/11:
Low tide starting at 1:56 p.m.
High tide starting at 6:37 a.m. and again at 7:02 p.m.
Sunrise: 5:40 a.m.
Sunset: 8:32 p.m.
Saturday 6/12:
Low tide starting at 12:06 a.m. and again at 2:31 p.m.
High tide starting at 7:11 a.m. and again at 7:45 p.m.
Sunrise: 5:40 a.m.
Sunset: 8:32 p.m.
Sunday 6/13:
Low tide starting at 12:49 a.m. and again at 3:07 p.m.
High tide at 7:48 a.m. and again at 8:29 p.m.
Sunrise: 5:40 a.m.
Sunset: 8:33 p.m.
Animal Cams (Click Here)
This week tune in to watch the Sea Lion Beach at OrcaLab in British Columbia, Canada.
Beach Cam
In the winter months we all long for the beach. Take a look at whats going on at your favorite East Coast beaches right now.
