This past week, on one of those hint-of-spring days, Millie the wonder retriever and I took a hike at Rocks State Park that reminded me of one of Mark Twain’s tales. Rocks State Park covers 855 acres of boulder-strewn forest in northern Harford County, a 90-minute drive from Annapolis.
The park comprises a rock-topped peak skirted by a bend in Deer Creek. Deer Creek is a charming stream that meanders eastward about 15 miles before it joins the Susquehanna River halfway between Havre de Grace and the Conowingo Dam. It’s ideal for fishing, wading and tubing, except for a short stretch of Class 3 rapids.
We began our visit with a spot of fishing on Deer Creek. It is one of the many stretches of water where volunteers from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources stock trout this time of year. Millie got acquainted with two other fishermen who had just arrived while I rigged my 5-weight fly rod with a new reel and tied on a little fuzzy “wooly bugger” that’s supposed to fool fish into thinking it’s a delectable leech when it gets wet.
The stream at this point is 40 or 50 feet across, quite shallow with a lot of riffles around and over massive boulders. Despite the air temperature hovering around 60 degrees, there were still bits of ice crusting the rocks along the bank. I cast across to a likely-looking pool on the far side and Millie, wanting to be helpful, waded in to help locate any trout lurking. I managed not to hook her. I did spot a pretty little golden trout hovering in the middle, but leeches weren’t on its menu that morning.
This past week, on one of those hint-of-spring days, Millie the wonder retriever and I took a hike at Rocks State Park that reminded me of one of Mark Twain’s tales. Rocks State Park covers 855 acres of boulder-strewn forest in northern Harford County, a 90-minute drive from Annapolis.
The park comprises a rock-topped peak skirted by a bend in Deer Creek. Deer Creek is a charming stream that meanders eastward about 15 miles before it joins the Susquehanna River halfway between Havre de Grace and the Conowingo Dam. It’s ideal for fishing, wading and tubing, except for a short stretch of Class 3 rapids.
We began our visit with a spot of fishing on Deer Creek. It is one of the many stretches of water where volunteers from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources stock trout this time of year. Millie got acquainted with two other fishermen who had just arrived while I rigged my 5-weight fly rod with a new reel and tied on a little fuzzy “wooly bugger” that’s supposed to fool fish into thinking it’s a delectable leech when it gets wet.
The stream at this point is 40 or 50 feet across, quite shallow with a lot of riffles around and over massive boulders. Despite the air temperature hovering around 60 degrees, there were still bits of ice crusting the rocks along the bank. I cast across to a likely-looking pool on the far side and Millie, wanting to be helpful, waded in to help locate any trout lurking. I managed not to hook her. I did spot a pretty little golden trout hovering in the middle, but leeches weren’t on its menu that morning.