We have driven by the Quantico trout stream many times enroute to our fishing hole at Breckinridge Reservior on the Quantico Marine Corps Base – but never stopped to check it out. After I noticed it was stocked recently, we pulled off to look at it on our way back from bass fishing last weekend (March 11). The stream is nothing special and it appears to be heavily used; although that could be attributed to the recent stocking.
As you can see from the map, the stream is located just off exit 148 on I95. Get off heading west and immediately leave the road on a small dirt road to the right – not more than 50 yards from the exit ramp. If you go over a small bridge, you have gone too far. The stream just does not look impressive – it’s more of a flat running wide and shallow creek. I would bet that most of the trout stocked would die of heat in the summer except for the fact that the stream is fed from the runoff from the Reservior – hopefully, that’s coming from the deep end where the water would stay colder and not just the spillage over the top of the dam.
We saw plenty of people there – the road dead ends about a third of a mile short of the spillway – so the upper part of the stream is probably the best since people would have to leave their cars. We did not walk up that way since we did the recon at the end of a day of fishing. The small pond shown on the map to the right is actually there and is called Gray’s Reservior – but it’s really just a wide spot in the stream.
Guess that looks can deceive, but this just does nto look any good – but maybe the volume of people there proves that this is a productive water to fish. I’d rather head to the Blue Ridge.
A special fishing license is required to fish on Base. You can get it at the Game Check Station (continue following the hardball instead of turning off. Turn left right before you get to the checkpoint. The Game Check Station is on the left.) If it is not open, you can also pick up one at Lunga Reservior or at the Base Exchange.
Looking down from the road. Turn down here and just follow the road – it parallels the creek
Shot under the bridge to the left as you drive over the creek for the first time
As you can see, the creek is wide and not “trouty” looking
None of these pictures get me excited at all….
Unless stated otherwise, this article was authored by Steve Moore