Outing Report: East Branch of the Antietam Creek

Many thanks to Phil Cleven for organizing and leading an outing to the East Branch of the Antietam Creek on May 4, 2023. Phil reports that:

Andy Mekelburg, Paul Bemder, and Paul Dobson joined Phil to spend a cool, cloudy day fishing the East Branch of the Antietam Creek near Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. Due to heavy rains, the creek had been running high all week but had cleared some by the day of the outing. 

Antietam Creek is a freestone stream  that originates high on South Mountain a half dozen miles before entering the mile-long, Fly Fishing Only section in Renfrew Park. This section had been stocked only several days before the outing, but the cool conditions seemed to have affected the trout and their desire to eat. 

Paul was the top angler with a catch of seven browns and rainbows. He admitted that he hit a “honey hole” not long before he quit for the day, and that hole accounted for five of his seven trout, all on a pheasant tail nymph. 

Phil was able to account for four browns, one of which was a wild trout. He was using a Mekelmop style fly targeting the newly introduced stocked browns and rainbows. Frank spent a good part of the day trying to attract two golden trout that were lying together in a pool. While Frank and Andy didn’t land any fish, everyone seemed to have a good time. All three anglers indicated that they were impressed by the stream and would go back to fish it in the future.

— By Mike Holland