Excursion to Antietam Creek 7/31/2010

Type: Nontidal
Region: Western
Location: Antietam Creek

I took an excursion to Antietam Creek on Saturday afternoon. The sights, sounds, feel, and catching of fish were all very pleasant!

I found the Devils Backbone county park area on Md-68 very easily. It's developed, and had plenty of picnic-ing families. And a bathroom. I waded from the bridge there downstream, and had the water to myself.

The water was refreshingly cool, generally low, but I found plenty of areas shins to hips deep. Clarity was very good. I didn't see algae clumps or other debris suspended in the water. I consider Antietam Creek to actually be a small river. It's about midway between the Middle Patuxent and Monocacy in size. An experienced caster might reach all the way across the Antietam (where I was), but many folks won't. The area I waded had excellent bottom rocks and pebbles, with very little extra-fine sediment. Few weeds growing in the river itself. Lots of ridges, both along and across the course of the river. Good shade. Some areas had faster flow rates, even though low depth. I could see by branches and stump debris on the shoreline, though, that the depth can be several FEET greater when rains are heavy.

I saw fewer baitfish than in the sections of the Monocacy I often wade, but I did see many 1 inch crayfish. (Didn't see any of the very large brown ones that would be the invasive species.) Didn't see any herons or other fish-hunting birds. On the wooded west shoreline there were 4 young deer.

I caught 1 aggressive bluegill and 2 smallies of the normal 9-11 inch size. Okay. I could handle that, especially in numbers. The bottom-bouncing of my tube was sometimes seeming to be bites, but I also got some more nibbles. A few harder bites. And then... a very welcome, healthy, hefty, mature smallie tug on the line! This bass chomped on and held onto my tube lure. It zigged and zagged, and tried to go around me. With the clear water I could get a good look at it's substantial body as I felt its mass and muscle. I'm glad I had my drag set right, as I had a 6 lb fluorocarbon leader (invisible, compared to my 10 lb braided main line) which I was a little afraid was scuffed and weakened compared to fresh line. This fish 'ran' twice on me, but I landed it okay. Held it by its jaw, swished it in the water as I got the camera ready. See attached.

There are definitely larger-size proportions to some bass. Their jaws are memorably thicker, in addition to the overall body length, girth, and mass. This one was in that class. I think it was just shy of 16 inches, and was either the 2nd or 3rd biggest smallmouth I've ever caught. Don't know its weight.

The area I waded Saturday was only about 1/3rd mile. It had a lot of rock-slab havens for fish. The bigger bass I caught was in the area that was relatively tail-of-the-pool, right before a dividing ridge (short drop) across the river. There weren't boulders or a long riffle. Just somewhat of a defined boundary to a section of the river at that point.

My first impression is very positive for this river. I know I've only seen the tiniest portion of it. I'm eager to get back there again. Maybe check out the section miles further downstream, closer to the battlefields. Gotta have good weather... and time�