12/28 Patapsco Riv...anove Daniels Dam

[whenican]

A beautiful day watching ducks & kingfishers on the river & casting the UL. Some ice along the edges but not too bad. I didn't hook anything this time but I did enjoy the paddling workout. I've been fishing from shore, lately, so I was glad to get the Wavewalk wet.

[archeryrob]

I used to be friends with a retried Ranger that lived up that lane and used to fish below the dam, a lot. Its a nice place not far from the city that you feel like youre not anywhere near the city.

[DanMarino]

I've kayak fished above the dam several times. The water was very shallow once I started paddling up river. I found a few tiny smallies and some rock bass. There's other portions of the Patapsco that I've caught better quality and quantity of fish.

[Shady]

Never tried in the winter, but if you fish the area just below old Ellicott city in the summer its usually chock full of bluegills, rock bass, and smallmouth. Never caught any of real size but lots of little to medium fish.

[HJS]

Whenican – Several years ago I canoed from Woodstock Road down to Daniels Dam. Maybe about 4-5 miles long trip through beautiful scenery. Paddling this section is fairly laid-back but I had to keep an eye out for the occasional “strainer” tree that fall across the river… no big deal though at lower flows. There’s a couple 100 yards of really nice looking water with boulders and deep pools at the top end of the Daniel’s “Pond” above the dam. I have no doubt that trout stocked just above the dam quickly work their way up river into this fine looking piece of water.

Archeryrob – No doubt you are referring to “Big Chief” Jim Roane. I met Jim many times over the years at the MD-DNR tent at the Timonium State Fair. He and his wife would staff a Native American booth showing and demonstrating all sort of Indian lore and artifacts. Really cool husband & wife team. They’d be a decked-out in buckskin, moccasins and lots of feathers and beads. I also met him a couple of times at the Oregon Ridge Flintknappers “Knap-in” held ever year at this Baltimore County park’s nature center. I gotta admit, you’d be hard pressed to find a more remote location to live in Howard County than at Jim Roane’s house on the Patapsco.

[bignose]

There is some deep water immediately above the dam (be careful-washing over this would be nasty), and about 3/4 of a mile above the dam, there is a very deep hole 10-12 feet or more, where Brices Run comes in from the north. There is a railroad bridge there. There is a fairly deep channel-we're talking a couple of feet- above this, with boulders along the north shore.
A couple of hundred yards above that the water gets real skinny. In low summer flow you'll be dragging thru there.
Good smallmouth water, some of the fish through here are comparable to those on the Upper Potomac. The usual sunnies, catfish and ever present carp. Trout, yeah, some may wash down or swim up from the fall stockings, but the water is usually too warm for them to hold over.
Access is very easy.
As HJS mentioned, it is a very pretty place.