I was on my way to pick Jin up in Philadelphia before heading up to Pulaski, NY, to fish the Salmon River at the Douglaston Salmon Run. However I had time to kill and since I left Virginia early to beat the Beltway traffic I decided to stop and fish at the Gunpowder River above Falls Road for a few hours. This would also allow the morning rush hour traffic to clear around Baltimore and the I-95 corridor heading into Delaware and Pennsylvania.
It was foggy. Really foggy. You could only see a few feet in front of the car as I slowly crossed the bridge at Masemore and Falls Road. Using a headlamp I walked down the trail to the fishing hole and began casting a size 18 parachute to a few rising fish.
The water flow was 300 cfs and fish were sipping very small bugs off the surface. I got a few hits on the parachute but decided to switch to subsurface fishing using small size 20 caddis. The hot color was green with a black head. Most of the fish I caught were wild browns. Very small but full of fight. After three hours of fishing it was time to hit the road for Philly.
EQUIPMENT: I was using a 5 weight rod--overkill for the size of fish I was catching but my intent was to try for large rainbows that live in the fast water further downstream. However the fishing was so good in the shallow runs I never got around to swinging heavy nymphs around those rocks.
DIRECTIONS: Take I-95 towards Baltimore then left onto I-695 to Towson. Take Exit 24 and merge onto I-83 Timonium/York, PA. Take Exit 27 Mt. Carmel Rd/MD-137 toward Hereford. Turn left onto 137 (Mt. Carmel Road). Turn right at Mazemore. Cross the bridge and follow the road until it hits Bunker Hill road. Turn left and follow until it hits Falls Road.
Turn left onto falls Road and follow until it crosses Falls Road bridge. There are several parking areas along Falls Road.