After the disaster at Little Hunting Creek I decided to check out the upper portions of Owens Creek.
I was sidetracked last week by some large trout I found finning in a pool and didn't get much scouting done. Never leave fish to find fish. But today I decided to drive up and down Owens Creek and check out the numerous pull-offs scattered along Sabillasville Road. This is another Maryland stream that stocks hatchery fish over a wild brown population. According to a local angler I met on the water, the state stocking goes like this--truck pulls up to a bridge and 50 or more trout are tossed over the side. The truck will pull up to the nearest pull-off and dump some trout tonnage into the first pool the worker sees. There is no attempt made to scatter the trout up or down stream.
There is nice water around most of the angler parking areas and you don't have to go very far from your car to find it. I spotted a few of what are probably holdover fish from the last stocking plus some smaller fish that might be the wild brown population but no luck hooking any of them. The weather was warming quickly and bugs, especially the black stoneflies, were coming out in force. Since another angler was working the deep pool I fished on the previous trip I decided to head for Big Hunting Creek to try my luck at a spot I knew held fish.
EQUIPMENT: I used a 3-weight rod and floating line. I used midges from size 20-28 on 7X tippet.
DIRECTIONS: From Virginia take Route 15 north to Thurmont then exit onto Route 550 Sabillasville Road. This road follows Owens Creek. Look for posted trout fishing signs.
