Triadelphia and Rocky Gorge / Bumpy Oak Pond

[zeebyrd]

I have heard a lot of people both here and offline talk about fishing these two reservoirs. Are they separate reservoirs - or are they connected in some way?

Is the seasonal pass good for both reservoirs?

How are the launch sites?

I have fished a good number of times at Centennial Lake and had some success. I am looking for a change of scenery - and larger bodies of water. I have also driven out to Blairs Valley Lake and Big Pool, but I'm looking for something closer to home. I have been on the upper Potomac a few times. Most of this was with my canoe in the past couple of years.

BTW, I went to Bumpy Oak Pond in La Plata last week, not far from Mattawoman Creek. I had heard that when the Mattawoman floods, snakehead end up in the pond. As I was getting my kayak into the water, a woman on a bicycle had told me she had seen a lot of large snakehead fished out of there. She also said that she had seen baby snakehead in the drainage ditch that runs into the pond. Unfortunately for me, nothing was biting that day. It was too windy, or I would have gone to Mattawoman.

Bumpy Oak Pond has a lot of underwater plant growth. Almost every paddle chucked some into my kayak. I ended up needing to wash the kayak when I got home. There is a large beaver den there. After reading about the killer rodent in another thread here, I am glad I did not encounter it. Parking is limited to a small area along the road, no parking in the park itself.

[RockFlag&Eagle37]

I've fished the bumpy oak rd pond from shore several times with absolutely no luck whatsoever. I've used different color and shape frogs and any number of weedless rigged soft plastics.

With that being said, there are definitely snakeheads in there. The adult snakeheads I've seen were literally right along the shoreline, on that bike path. They saw me long before I saw them and all I got was a flash, splash and a mud trail underwater. I've also seen the juveniles in the drainage ditches and that little opening just up on the corner near the road. A few times last year I also saw people catch snakeheads in that pond just feet from where I was fishing, all on various floating frog lures. A lot of them seemed to be casting, reeling a bit then just letting the frogs sit, not necessarily working them like a bass lure. Neither the sitting or working the lure tactics worked for me there. I saw one person kayak there, but returned back to land quickly because of the thickness of the SAV there.

I'm not sure of the specifics on the Triadelphia/Rocky Gorge reservoirs, but I know they're run by WSSC. That's where you'd get the permits and such. I believe that you can get day permits fairly cheaply, at least when I fished Triadelphia about 5 years ago. I'm not 100% sure on this but they might have regulations that prohibit vessels that have been in other bodies of water to prevent the spread of aquatic hitchhikers. I'd certainly call before heading out there to avoid a wasted trip!

[zeebyrd]

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I'm not sure of the specifics on the Triadelphia/Rocky Gorge reservoirs, but I know they're run by WSSC. That's where you'd get the permits and such. I believe that you can get day permits fairly cheaply, at least when I fished Triadelphia about 5 years ago. I'm not 100% sure on this but they might have regulations that prohibit vessels that have been in other bodies of water to prevent the spread of aquatic hitchhikers. I'd certainly call before heading out there to avoid a wasted trip!

Just went to the WSSC site to find out about boats having been in other bodies of water - thank you for pointing that out. Here is what it said:

"WSSC requires that all boats/kayaks/canoes that have been used in another river, lake, or pond be cleaned and dry prior to use in any of WSSC’s reservoirs."

This is good to know. I don't even consider the Baltimore County reservoirs due to the restrictions placed upon boats having been in other water.

[Turtle135]

The WSSC Season Pass (or the daily pass) are good on both Tridelphia and Rocky Gorge Reservoirs. Both reservoirs are part of the Patuxent River Watershed. Tridelphia is upriver from Rocky Gorge and both have approximately 800 surface acres. Both reservoirs are a drinking water source for WSSC so both can become extremely drawn down if we have a dry summer.

I have not visited all the launch sites recently but the ones I have used seem to have adequate parking and can handle trailered boats so launching a kayak is easy.

[HJS]

I have fished a good number of times at Centennial Lake and had some success. I am looking for a change of scenery - and larger bodies of water. I have also driven out to Blairs Valley Lake and Big Pool, but I'm looking for something closer to home. I have been on the upper Potomac a few times. Most of this was with my canoe in the past couple of years.

Have you tried Black Hills Lake, aka: Little Seneca Lake? It's over 100 acres with lots of meandering coves and arms to the lake. It has lots of down timber too. Take Rt 121 south (Exit 18) off of I-270, near Germantown and Rt 121 will go right over the lake in a few miles. There's a nice launch with a pay box. It cost ~$4-$5 to launch so take a bunch of ones. The lake can get busy on nice weekends though, weekdays are by far best.

[zeebyrd]

Have you tried Black Hills Lake, aka: Little Seneca Lake? It's over 100 acres with lots of meandering coves and arms to the lake. It has lots of down timber too. Take Rt 121 south (Exit 18) off of I-270, near Germantown and Rt 121 will go right over the lake in a few miles. There's a nice launch with a pay box. It cost ~$4-$5 to launch so take a bunch of ones. The lake can get busy on nice weekends though, weekdays are by far best.

I haven't fished there but have heard a lot about it. I get messages from bassresource.com in my email that talk about Black Hills all the time. I will have to try it out some time soon. Thanks for the info!

[DanMarino]

Rocky Gorge and Triadelphia are great places to paddle. The fishing can be difficult at both places. If you live near Columbia, try the lakes up there. You can get a free permit for your kayak from the Columbia Association. I've had some very good days of bass fishing in the Columbia lakes with nothing more than rubber worms.

[HJS]

I just checked their website and the Black Hills Lake is 505 acres. That's a lot of water. Most of the shoreline is fairly scenic and is bordered by mature forests or grown up fields. Only a few areas will you see any townhouses. Pretty place to fish.

http://www.montgomeryparks.org/facil...gional_map.pdf

[zeebyrd]

Rocky Gorge and Triadelphia are great places to paddle. The fishing can be difficult at both places. If you live near Columbia, try the lakes up there. You can get a free permit for your kayak from the Columbia Association. I've had some very good days of bass fishing in the Columbia lakes with nothing more than rubber worms.

I did get to Triadelphia this past weekend in addition to going to Accokeek (nothing caught at Accokeek). Here's a pic of what I caught at Triadelphia.
triadelphialmb18inches.jpg

I caught it on a pumpkin green Yum Wooly Bug.

This is my largest large mouth to date. A nice chunky one at that. The explosion when it jumped out of the water was beautiful. It was the only fish I caught that day, but it was well worth it.

[zeebyrd]

I just checked their website and the Black Hills Lake is 505 acres. That's a lot of water. Most of the shoreline is fairly scenic and is bordered by mature forests or grown up fields. Only a few areas will you see any townhouses. Pretty place to fish.

http://www.montgomeryparks.org/facil...gional_map.pdf

Thank you for posting the link. Nice map - good info. Will definitely go there now that I see how large it is. I am always up for a change of scenery.