Bad News for Beaver Creek (Md.)

bdhoover77 said:
I know there are some springs that feed Jones Falls. But what about Western Run? Does it stay relatively cool during the summer?
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It also has a few springs in and along the creek, including some with water cress so possibly minor limestone aquifers, but its saving grace is the dozens of small tributaries, most of which have wild browns and a few of which have wild brook trout. The only tiger trout I ever caught was in a tiny tributary around 1981 or so.

Western run and most of its tributaries are on the ****eysville marble aquifer, a sporadic limestone formation, but the springs are not big enough to prevent warm water issues in the summer.

That said, I used to fish the lower end for carp, which are plentiful, in the summer Huck Finn style with no waders.

You get a real shock when you step into a cold spring on a hot day.
 
There are some springs, and there’s a lot of small tributaries that stay relatively cool. Some even support wild brook trout. The basin is on the ****eysville marble aquifer, a relatively weak limestone formation. I used to fish western run for carp in the summer when I was a kid, and you definitely know when you step into a spring on a hot day.
 
Interesting note about Jones falls: a part of it is classified as youth, blind and senior, and now, they’re actually proposing to remove that section, as stated by this DNR document. https://dnr.maryland.gov/fisheries/...AL-RemovalJonesFallsSpecialManagementArea.pdf
I don’t know how access and the fishing was back in those days, but man it feels like I missed out a lot. I’m still a kid, and I recently moved to Fred co from balt co, and man I always imagined fishing western run, or atleast the upper section of jones falls (under 16, +65 or blind section) but I genuinely could never find any access, and especially in rural areas, you just don’t know who to ask as a kid (who’s literally obsessed with trout) and parents who know nothing about it, bht want to support you.

A thing to note about the jones falls, there was a tributary that once held brookies and then (if I’m not mistaken) they were all wiped out because of a rich neighborhood or something (Castenea or something) and you can clearly see where the trees were chopped and the ponds were built. I was also looking at google maps, and just south of Green Spring road, there’s a bunch of chopped trees right next to the creek. Any explanation?

Western run was really interesting to me too, because it was only like 5 minutes from my house, but I never fished it because there was never any access. I tried to ask my dad if we could park on the high way and fish it, but I don’t want him to get a ticket for a couple brown trout 😂. The western run watershed is really big and seems to have a great number of trout (from what I’ve read) and if DNR got access there, I think it would be wonderful. The brookies here too are isolated to 1 stream, and maybe some small pockets because of brown trout and development and such.

Sorry for the speech guys, but when your home county gets mentioned, especially by older, wiser people with more experience, you really get interested lol 😂.
 
TheBluegillMaster said:
A thing to note about the jones falls, there was a tributary that once held brookies and then (if I’m not mistaken) they were all wiped out because of a rich neighborhood or something (Castenea or something) and you can clearly see where the trees were chopped and the ponds were built. I was also looking at google maps, and just south of Green Spring road, there’s a bunch of chopped trees right next to the creek. Any explanation?
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I drive Green Spring every day on my way to work in Owings Mills. I think the area you’re referring to Will, sadly, eventually be developed into a residential neighborhood.

Have you ever fished the North Branch of Jones Falls?
 
bdhoover77 said:
Have you ever fished the North Branch of Jones Falls?
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Not yet, but when I get a car and license I will. Still saving up. There’s a lot of places I want to fish in that area, it’s just access is really hard.
And the development is really unfortunate too. I just want to enjoy these “urban” creeks as soon as possible, because most of them won’t be around when I’m older.
 
From a MD DNR document

"Wild brown trout YOY were collected from the Gunpowder tailwater in 2002,
2004 and 2005 and stocked into the Beaver Creek C&R area with the objective of
increasing the potential for natural reproduction"

Maryland is blessed with high incomes, budget surplus and plentiful personnel for its small number of trout streams. If the stream quality is verified suitable, I see no reason to not plant more Gunpowder yoy, even if more of a put and grow feature.

Unless there has been a change, the upper stretch impacted was Put&Take and stocked, but nevertheless had higher density wild browns than the mile long C&R section.
 
bdhoover77 said:
I drive Green Spring every day on my way to work in Owings Mills. I think the area you’re referring to Will, sadly, eventually be developed into a residential neighborhood.

Have you ever fished the North Branch of Jones Falls?
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most of north branch is posted. There's a short section in the upper reaches where I have fished, but it is very small. There's a lot protecting Green Spring Valley from development, thanks to Baltimore County's Valleys Planning Council. That operation has prevented large scale development in Green Spring, Worthington, Hunt and Butler valleys since I was a kid. There's a strong political will to prevent development in the valleys. Not surprisingly, the valleys have historically been home to the owners of development companies. The owner of Knight Homes had a horse farm where Shawan Road turns into Tufton Road in Worthington Valley.

Plus there are a lot of blue bloods out there including, but certainly not limited to the family of ABC Wide World of Sports broadcaster Jim McKay.

Biggest concern at the moment is if Stephen University tries to develop its "legacy campus," the old Villa Julie College. There's enough historic buildings on the site, though to make that more trouble than its worth.
 
DGC said:
From a MD DNR document

"Wild brown trout YOY were collected from the Gunpowder tailwater in 2002,
2004 and 2005 and stocked into the Beaver Creek C&R area with the objective of
increasing the potential for natural reproduction"

Maryland is blessed with high incomes, budget surplus and plentiful personnel for its small number of trout streams. If the stream quality is verified suitable, I see no reason to not plant more Gunpowder yoy, even if more of a put and grow feature.

Unless there has been a change, the upper stretch impacted was Put&Take and stocked, but nevertheless had higher density wild browns than the mile long C&R section.
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The Gunpowder browns were originally from the Jones Falls strain, dating to the mid to late 1980s when Balto City signed on to a guaranteed summertime flow agreement.
 
JimKennedy said:
most of north branch is posted. There's a short section in the upper reaches where I have fished, but it is very small. There's a lot protecting Green Spring Valley from development, thanks to Baltimore County's Valleys Planning Council. That operation has prevented large scale development in Green Spring, Worthington, Hunt and Butler valleys since I was a kid. There's a strong political will to prevent development in the valleys. Not surprisingly, the valleys have historically been home to the owners of development companies. The owner of Knight Homes had a horse farm where Shawan Road turns into Tufton Road in Worthington Valley.

Plus there are a lot of blue bloods out there including, but certainly not limited to the family of ABC Wide World of Sports broadcaster Jim McKay.

Biggest concern at the moment is if Stephen University tries to develop its "legacy campus," the old Villa Julie College. There's enough historic buildings on the site, though to make that more trouble than its worth.
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hopefully those places stay protected and have trout in the future, and some access is secured. I’ve read about the destruction of some of the trout streams in that area. Mr. Kennedy, have you ever fishing red run or Goodwin Run “back in the day”? I fished Goodwin run because one of my friends has his yard on it, and we only found chubs. A big part of it is channelized too.
 
An update of sorts. I was reviewing the minutes, etc from the Maryland Coldwater Fisheries Advisory Committee (a citizen volunteer board) for the July meeting and came across a report of an intentional fish kill in April at the Albert Powell Hatchery on Beaver Creek just upstream from where the August fish kill happened. The text of the report is:

"Albert Powell Hatchery Fish Kill Update
"The department provided an update for the fish kill that occurred at Albert Powell Hatchery on April 17, 2023. The committee was informed that an unknown member of the public closed a raceway discharge valve at the hatchery, resulting in the loss of 25,000 rainbow trout fingerlings. Maryland Natural Resources Police are conducting an on-going investigation and more details will be provided when they are available. Despite the fish kill, the department expects to meet production goals. The loss of fish was offset by a donation of 25,000 rainbow trout fingerlings from the United States Department of Agriculture at Leetown, WV. In response to the incident, security at the hatchery will be improved in several ways. These actions include the installation of security cameras this fiscal year, the use of the hatchery gate when no staff are present, new signage to inform the public of visiting hours, and increased Natural Resources Police presence."

Link is: https://calendarmedia.blob.core.windows.net/assets/de841a1f-0fb3-4217-bf2c-bb4429785f38.pdf

There's nothing indicating any connection to the two incidents that I'm aware of, but if I were still in the news business, I'd certainly be asking the Natural Resources Police about the unusual coincidence of a confirmed intentional fish kill in April followed by a mysterious fish kill a few months later on the same creek.

Next Coldwater Fisheries Advisory Committee Meeting is in August. No agenda is posted yet, but I'm sure Beaver Creek will end up being discussed because the August fish kill has prompted a proposal to prohibit killing brown trout anywhere in Beaver Creek (short no-kill zone below hatchery, as well as the much longer balance of the creek down to the confluence with Antietam Creek).

While there's no publically available information linking the two Beaver Creek incidents, I know there have been plenty of times in the past when a person gets irritated about wildlife protections that prevent him from doing something, there's all of a sudden a midnight spill of chlorine or some other chemical that destroys or dramatically impacts a wildlife resource. It would be a shame if that's what's happening here, but it's a question that needs to be asked. I'm probably going to send a message to one of the contacts on the Coldwater advisory commission so someone officially asks the question.
 
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