Owens Creek

Owens Creek runs off the Catoctin Mountains north of Thurmont in Frederick County, from Catoctin Mountain Park down past Sabillasville Road to the Roddy Road covered bridge. It's one of the county's most popular trout streams, with native brook trout in the headwaters, a few wild browns, and spring-stocked rainbows and browns. DNR created an unusual hybrid regulation here: normal put-and-take fishing in spring, then catch and release with artificial lures for the rest of the year.

When to fish

• March through May: put-and-take season after the spring stockings; the stream closes briefly for stocking.
• April through June: DNR calls fly fishing particularly productive.
• June through February: catch and release only, with artificial lures, on the lower special-regulation water. Low summer and fall flows can make the fishing tough.

Where to fish

• Buck Lantz Road down to the Roddy Road covered bridge: the stocked, special-regulation water, much of it on private land that owners open to anglers.
• The headwaters in Catoctin Mountain Park, down to Buck Lantz Road: wild-trout water with native brook trout; nothing is stocked, and brook trout must be released.
• Pools, undercut banks and pocket water: where trout hold in this steep, boulder-strewn creek.

How to fish it

DNR notes the trout aren't especially selective but spook easily, so approach quietly. A Fish & Hunt Maryland writer who fished Owens Creek after opening day used ultralight spinning tackle with light line, small spinners, spoons and tiny hair jigs, and found that retrieving with the current usually caught more fish. Bait (worms and similar, on small hooks with a few split shot) works in spring where it's allowed.

Getting there

Park at the gravel pull-offs along Sabillasville Road. Much of the lower creek flows through private property whose owners allow fishing; stay out of posted sections and treat the access as the privilege DNR says it is. Outside the spring put-and-take season, use artificial lures with barbless hooks and release all trout. You need a Maryland nontidal fishing license and a trout stamp.