You can't get there from here," the punch line to an old New England joke about asking for directions, could also apply to Maryland anglers attempting to find access to the water.
It is, however, a cruel joke: a state with thousands of miles of waterfront and fewer and fewer ways to get there.
Shoreline development and a bumper crop of "No Trespassing" signs have put the squeeze on folks who don't live on the water or have a boat or have friends who have boats.
At a meeting at Department of Natural Resources headquarters earlier this month, perch fishermen ticked off a number of traditional fishing spots that are no longer available to them. Security concerns at the Calvert Cliffs nuke plant and the LNG dock have closed some prime Chesapeake Bay hot spots (although, curiously no one seems to mind boats bobbing up and down next to the Bay Bridge supports).
Even a tiny stream - a jewel - near my home in Montgomery County that seemed hardly worth a second glance to developers will soon be walled in by McMansions.
So when a big company volunteers to unfurl the welcome mat on a prime piece of fishing real estate, the sun shines, the birds sing and the angling angels weep.
Exelon Energy Corp., owner of the Conowingo Dam and shoreline below it, wants to improve access at Fisherman's Park, the sliver of green just below the dam in Harford County that serves not only anglers, but birders and hikers, too.
But wait, as the TV announcer would say, there's more. The utility also is throwing in access improvements at the mouth of Octoraro Creek on the Cecil County side of the Susquehanna River, just across from Fisherman's Park.
For three-quarters of a century, Conowingo Dam was a fishing magnet, with fishermen wading the waters below and others dangling lines off the catwalk above. During the spring shad run, the water was thick with fishermen practicing catch-and-release.
Then came 9/11 and homeland security. Exelon closed down the whole dam thing and enforced it with signs, fences and guards.
Since then, the power company gradually has given back fishing privileges, and even improved the parking lot and the boat launch area and added portable toilets. It seems many of Exelon's managers and employees are fishermen who felt the public's pain.
Now, says Exelon spokesman and avid fisherman Ted Caddell, it's time to take the next big step, if the feds say it's OK.
