A report from Jin
I arrived at the Masemore
parking lot around 5pm, got my gear together, and walked
upstream to fish the elbow pool before it got dark. Air
temperature was in the mid 50's and water temperature was
43 degrees. The water was low and slightly stained.
I could see sporadic rises as I made my way upstream but
judging from the soft rings they formed on the water it
appeared the fish were feeding just beneath the surface.
Tiny tan midges were everywhere as I worked my way below
the first major riffle and spotted small browns leaping out
of the water eating midges. I managed to hook four browns
with a Para-Nymph and CDC midge pattern. LDR (long distance
release) on all of those fish. I finally tied on a size
18 Serendipity with wings (beaded nymph with
pheasant tail body and wing casing). The first drift
through the same pool I had been fishing landed my only
trout of the day.
It started getting dark so I worked back down to the
Masemore parking lot and worked over couple of the sippers
in the flat water. No luck.
I found the fish to be selective but not terribly skittish.
You need to use long leaders (14 feet plus) and tie on 7X
tippet.
EQUIPMENT: Use anything from a 3 to 6
weight rod depending on the size of fish you are after.
Leaders 9 to14 feet long at 4x or 5x are good for general
use but lighter tippet up to 7x and longer might be needed
earlier or later in the year. Check the Backwater Angler fly shop for more
details.
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) and
follow for 1/4 mile. Turn left onto Masemore Road and
slowly follow the narrow road downhill and
past the old stone house on the corner. Fly fishing parking
is just before the Masemore Road Bridge.