On Sunday, July 18th, I finally caught my first fish at Beaver Creek, a nice limestone, spring-fed water in Washington County, Maryland. I was with club president Andy Mekelburg and we were fishing a portion of the creek that is accessible to the public from Beaver Creek Church Road. On that note, a quick note of gratitude to the farmer who graciously allows the public to park on his property and walk through a corn field to get to the creek.
This area of the creek is not far from the Beaver Creek Fly Shop, which is about a tenth of a mile from route 70 at Exit 35 for Boonsboro, off of Mapleville Road (State Route 66). From the fly shop, one would travel west on State Route 66 and take a right onto Beaver Creek Road, followed by a right onto the Beaver Creek Church Road. Once on that road, the entrance to the parking area is on the left — look for a break in the tree line framing
a corn field.
When Andy and I arrived around 8 am, there was already another angler on the creek. He told us he had been there for about an hour and had some success with midges. After we had been fishing for an hour or so, two more anglers arrived. We sorted out where we were going to fish and proceeded.
I was pleased to catch a rainbow on a purple zebra midge, probably in a size 10. I also enjoyed seeing and hearing fish somewhat regularly rising along the banks downriver from me. As an eager to learn novice dry fisherman, I worked to recall lessons from various books and videos and to offer a broad menu of dry flies but was not successful. Clearly, there is more work and practice in my future. Andy decided to fish upstream and caught a nice brown trout in a large pool. He offered one of his famous “Mekelmops” and it proved to be irresistible. In fact, the trout came from a shaded area near the bank to take Andy’s offering. Shortly thereafter, around noon and as the temperatures were well on their way to the 90s, we decided to call it a day and go home to our endless lists of to do items.
This section of Beaver Creek is quite beautiful and has nice shade cover. It offers pools, riffles, and runs and a range of water depths, including a good stretch of slower, deeper water. I encourage you find the time to grab a friend or a mentor/mentee and go enjoy some challenging fly fishing.
We have one outing on the docket for October: a multi-day camping/fishing trip to Savage River. Head to our website for more details and to sign up.
SAVAGE RIVER, MD
Dates: October 1-3, 2021
Location: Savage River
Time: Join us for one or all days
Species: Trout
Outing Leaders: Troy Kitch and Dave Keane
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