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When people talk about fishing the North Branch, chances are that they are discussing the access points near Barnum. Barnum consists of three distinct areas:
- The Catch and Release area that hugs the base of the dam
- The Put and Take area that runs from the below the first parking lot down to the curve in the river shown on the map to the right (right bellow the "1110")
- The lower Catch and Release area
After fishing and absolutely loving the upper part of the North Branch extensively last year when I covered Lostland Run, Laurel Run, Wallman North, Wallman South, Gormania, and Bayard, I was anxious to see what all the excitement was about. Not wanting to waste a second of stream time, I planned my trip carefully. After loading up the truck, I got detailed directions from Google Local and compared them to Mapquest - both checked out and matched. Confident that I knew where I was going, I jumped out of bed at 0330 and, after grabbing a quick coffee at the local WaWa, headed out.
Traffic ran smooth and clear at this hour of the morning as I made good time all the way to Keyser. Even the big trucks that drive you crazy as they struggle up down the West Virginia hills on Route 50 were scarce. All was well until I got to the outskirts of Keyser. The directions said to turn on Pine Swamp Road and then take a Hoover Hollow Road over the mountain to the Barnum area. I must have driven around for 45 minutes looking for that small turnoff - it is not there or is not obvious. In a true fish panic... burning daylight... I swallowed my guy pride and hurried into the Keyser Burger King in a desperate search for direction. Thankfully, there were two good ole boys there sucking down coffee who took pity on me. They were not aware of the Hoover Hollow cut off - maybe it had another name to the locals, but they sent me to Elk Garden where the turn was marked. I hit the road.
Thirty minutes later, I pulled into the Barnum area. The first thing to note is that the initial parking area is not the only one. Use this if you are going to fish up to the dam. If you continue through the parking area, you will run into another road. It runs the length of the Put and Take area and deadends in a very large parking lot where the red line starts at the bottom of the map. There are a number of turnouts along the Put and Take if you want to fish it. And boy does it look good! I skipped past that and parked under the trees in the northern lot. The size of the lot confirms that this river see considerable traffic. But... recognize that the river is a multiple use resource that the kayakers like as well. Once I left the lot and headed north, I did not see another soul fishing but did encounter two kayakers cruising downstream.
Applying the standard calculus that has proven that the farther in you walk, the less the water is pressured, I hit the trail in at easy jog - had to make up some time! The first, very pleasant surprise is that the trail, the old railbed, is inactive and grown over with a nice carpet of grass - no dancing across railroad ties that are purposely spaced to make walking awkward here! Great! A high speed avenue of approach into the heart of the lower C&R! The trail takes you by the old town of Warnocks and its coal mine. Both sites are marked with signs on the trail, but with the fishing obsession in full control of my senses, I did not detour to investigate.
At around the 2 mile point, I could not stand it any longer and slid down the 15 foot bank into the river. This water looks great - a crisp 56 degrees! In this section, there are long, wide and deceptively deep runs that are separated by riffle areas of shallow rapids. The water is so clear that you tend to assume it is shallow - don't. I was up to my thighs most of the day. My start point was fast, open water with no clear seams to deploy a nymph. It all looked the same; flat and fast. Rather than randomly drifting nymphs downstream, I opened with a grasshopper. I flipped it up under the numerous trees and other shoreline structure with no luck. Dang.
I noticed some crawfish skittering along the banks, so I switched to a streamer - a Paxtuxent Special - and started to work it by casting across the river, letting it drift downstream and then twitching it back home. On the fifth cast, there was a huge rip on the line as a pretty good rainbow locked onto the lure. I worked him gently back through the current for several minutes until he tired of playing with me, took a huge lunge skyward and flicked the lure out - no pictures. Sadly, this my only fish of the day - but they are there. I could see them huddled up in the right fish places; probably telling jokes about the new fly guy trying his best to fake them out.
I worked up the river from my entry point, crossing back and forth across the river to give it a good workout. In my mental after action review of the day, I concluded that I moved too much, too fast and gave off too many signals (noise and water movement) - and that defeated me.
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Remember to refer to my rating explanations - these are based on what I look for - so RED for Physical Fitness translates to easy physically - you do not need to be in shape to fish this section. I prefer terrain that is tough to get into and out of.
The river continued to be interesting as I moved upstream - there are good, deeper rapids and slots that offer more of an opportunity for nymphs upstream. I tried a number of my different tandem rigs and basically just got a lot of good practice - no takers.
About halfway up from my start point on the west bank, I discovered a picnic table and fire pit with an unimproved road - more of a 4x4 track - leading up to it. I did not follow that road to the west, but I wonder if it links up with "Seldom Seen Road" which is prominent on the Google Local hybrid satelitte map. That may be a faster way to get to the middle of the lower C&R and avoid the 2 mile hike. I'll check this at some point in the future.
At the end of the day, I found myself looking at a very, very wide and flat section about a 100 yards long. The immediate and wrong conclusion is that this is a big, flat, shallow area that should be skipped. The shallow area splits into two large "lakes" with very deep sections. Normally, the middle of a lake is kind of a deadzone with the fish holding at the head and tail of the pool where the water compresses to funnel any food to the trout. However, there are submerged rocks that could hold the fish in the deeper parts of the "lakes". In addition, there was still a considerable current in the middle, so the food flow probably continued past the rocks. Since I did not have a sinking tip, I could not get my streamer down to the right level before it would sweep by; even with some split shot. I'll come better equipped next time and bring my sinking line.
It killed me to have to leave the river at 1530 to begin the long drive home. As I walked back, I poked and peered at the river and saw more and more great water. Even the stretch just downstream from the parking lot was pristine. I stopped to admire it and noticed a number of nice trout gently slurping insects from the top. No time. Had to go. Rats. If you go there, this is the section that borders the concrete retaining wall - it will be obvious to you and I have a picture below.
It is not physically demanding to hike back into this section. As you can see from the picture, the railbed makes walking easy. In addition, if you move back about 10 yards from the bank, the vegetation thins out and you can move up and downstream with ease. I also found that the wading in this section is not as sporty as it is up near Wallman and Lostland Run. There seems to be more of a shallow shelf at the edges of the river that allows for rapid travel. However, once you get out into the main section of the river, you do need to be careful. While the rocks are not "snot slick", they are a bit slippery.
Bottom line: Nice, nice spot. Scenic, not much evidence of humans about a mile in. I know the fish are here. I saw them. Just could not hook them up.
Getting There: For detailed directions, please purchase either the North Branch Map Book for $4.95 or the full 190 page Fishing guide to the North Branch for $9.95. After checkout, you can download the books instantly.
The fishing guide is also available in hardcopy - click here
Both books include detailed directions overlaid on topo maps with pictures for the confusing places to get you to the river. The key difference is that the full book walks you up the river from Westernport to Wilson using over 140 pictures with a detailed discussion of what to expect beyond the parking lot.
Sorry to have to do this, but selling these eBooks is how I support the cost of maintaining this site. Please support the site.
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