Beaver Creek
As a teenager living in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., I had to drive about two hours to reach a high quality limestone stream. I made the trip at least once a week to get my tough trout fix. I fished Falling Springs Branch the most, and became personally acquainted with a few of the 20+ inch brown trout. Future Maryland spring creek addicts might not have to drive so far, thanks to the Mid-Atlantic Council of TU and the Beaver Creek Watershed Association (BCWA).

The few limestone streams in Maryland are on private property and most of them are hammered by cattle, agriculture, and development. Beaver Creek is no exception, but restoration work has made a world of difference. The BCWA, lead by Doug Hutzell, has done a great job securing access with landowners, re-vegetating the banks, and constructing habitat improvement structures, mainly U-shaped rock weirs that pushed out sediment, creating pools. TU members have provided invaluable volunteer hours and financial support towards this project.

I spent a few hours with Guy Turenne, the chair of the Mid-Atlantic Council, on Beaver Creek. A mere two years ago, the first round of habitat improvements were constructed and catch and release regulations were implemented. Guy hopes that this is will be a big first step towards making Beaver a wild trout fishery. There is some natural reproduction in the creek, in addition fingerlings and brood stock trout are deposited by the state. The chalky water and aquatic weed beds give Beaver that distinctive limestone creek flavor. Scuds, cressbugs, and leeches coat every rock, providing ample forage.

Thanks to the hard work of the BCWA and local TU chapters, I think Beaver Creek has the potential to be Maryland’s Falling Springs in the future. While the trout here are not pushovers, they are more forgiving than their brethren to the north. Novice spring creek anglers will find Beaver to be a great classroom where they can prepare for fly fishing graduate school in south-central Pennsylvania.

Falling Springs Branch
First time visitors are always surprised by Falling Springs Branch's diminutive size. While the channel is narrow, thick cress beds, large woody debris, and deep undercuts create 3-dimensional habitat. Large brown trout, including a few that seem to be as long as the channel is wide, lurk in the undercuts and weeds. Smaller browns and rainbows lie near the cress beds, waiting for sowbugs, baetis nymphs, and terrestrials to pass by. As it gets dark in May and June, the fish may start rising regularly to sulfurs.

In hope of the evening rise, I met two active Falling Springs Chapter TUers, Rod Cross and Terry Ward for supper and a quick tour of the recent TU work before we donned our waders. Rod just passed the torch as chapter president and he has done a ton for the chapter during the last decade. Terry is a longtime southern PA angler who helped found both the Falling Springs chapter and the Cumberland Valley Chapter (which counts the Yellow Breeches and the LeTort as home waters). Both men live a stone’s throw from Falling Springs and fish it regularly.

In the six years since I last fished this stream, the chapter has done a lot of work on the lower end of the “fly fishing only” water. Half a decade ago, this stretch offered homogenous habitat with little cover and a lot of silt. The chapter used funding through the state’s Growing Greener Fund, to hire Ecotone, an environmental contractor, to implement miles of habitat improvements.

Falling Springs has been subject to many disturbances over the years including dairy cows, agricultural runoff, and suburban development. During the stream’s rural past, the banks were trampled, and sedimentation filled the channel, resulting in flat, straight, and shallow “dead” water. By digging meanders, constructing lunker structures (man-made wooden undercuts), and adding some well-placed rock weirs, Ecotone has made miles of the creek look more fishy. Hopefully the trout will respond positively to the new habitat.

During my visit, the same contractor was finishing work on three reaches, throughout the course of the creek. It was interesting to see how fast these guys work. With a well trained crew and heavy machinery, they are in-and-out in a couple days (see the photos HERE).

While this restoration work is a great way to mitigate the disturbances of the past, future threats still need to be addressed. Falling Springs Branch is becoming a residential stream. Homes already line the creek and the development of additional residences poses a threat to the stream. Fertilizer and pesticides from lawns are probably responsible for the loss of big hatches on Falling Springs. While the angler will still see the sulfurs, olives, and tricos that Marinaro wrote about, the hatches have become sparse and sporadic.

Although the bluegrass isn’t the best for the fishing, the streamside residents are great to anglers, allowing access to their land and even maintaining parking places on their property. The Guilford township is also quite progressive, ensuring public access to the riparian corridor through the town’s planning laws. The township also gave Falling Springs TU an office in a restored 19th century farm home, free of charge!

Rod and I strung our rods at the top of the Greenway section, the original TU project on the creek. The Greenway is a restored riparian corridor that offers classic spring creek water and highly technical fish. It also symbolizes what Falling Springs TU is all about. Hopefully, the current projects on the creek will turn out as well as this one did.
While the sulfurs never really got going, Rod and I caught a wild brown a piece on dry flies before it got too dark to see. One fish on Falling Springs is all it takes to log it as a great day in my book.

Spring Creek
The following afternoon, I visited Spring Creek with Bob Pennell, the 2nd Vice-President of the Pennsylvania Council and the former president of the Doc Fritchey Chapter. There are a lot of streams named “Spring Creek” in Pennsylvania, so I need to tell you that this one flows through downtown Harrisburg. When the state first electroshocked this urban creek, they were “shocked” themselves to find some large wild brown trout.

After the trout were discovered, the Pennsylvania Council and the Fritchey chapter received a grant from the Growing Greener Fund to implement stream improvements, including rock weirs similar in design to those in Beaver Creek (see the photos HERE). The hope is to turn this fishery into a fine urban resource.

Bob and I fished between a Subaru dealership and the local prison. The large browns weren’t in feeding mode under the hot afternoon sun, but I was able to do a little free-lance work for Chubs Unlimited. Spring Creek has strong chubs, so the browns must be well fed!

The well-known and the unknown spring creeks in this part of the country are great coldwater resources. I was glad to see a few of the many projects Maryland and Pennsylvania TUers have implemented to protect these streams.

Click HERE for the photos, if you haven't already.