Fishing between the Rain storms on the Casselman River

Well we have received the rain that I was asking for and sometimes you need to be careful what you ask for. The Savage river watershed has gotten a lot of water in the past week and so has the Casselman river. The watersheds in the western part of Garrett County were spared most of the rain this week. I fished the Casselman on Saturday with Ed and Sam and the water level was perfect around 160 cfs. There were caddis bringing fish to the surface, but we did most of our damage with assorted nymphs. It was a great day on the water with great company.

 Last one of the Day

Hauling em In

Brookies on The Upper Savage River watershed and a couple of Rainbows

We had high water on most of the big rivers in the area this weekend, so as I usually do I hit the upper Savage River to do some brook trout fishing. The water was flowing at a great level and the fishing was awesome! I didn't catch any big brookies, but there were tons of fish in the 6-10 inch range. It was very windy on Sunday, but some big mayflies were coming off the water getting the fish very excited. I couldn't tell if they were Hendricksons or Quill Gordons, but they were size 14. I caught most of my fish under the surface. I caught a couple of rainbows in the brook trout water and took them home for dinner. I encourage everyone to do the same.

Evening Sun on the water

What to do with those Rainbows

Low Flows and Blue Quills on the Lower Savage River... Casselman River

I have had some very good fishing on the lower Savage River over the past week. In the morning there are still some little black stones coming off and the fish are rising to them. Keep in mind that these flies migrate to the bank to emerge, so you should be fishing tight to the bank. The Blue Quills start hatching in late morning and continue to late afternoon which makes it a great hatch for fisher people who do not like to get out of bed early. I have done well with dry flies, but nymphs out produce them by about 3 to 1. The flows on the Savage have been below normal for April and the Didymo is pretty thick on the rocks especially closer to the dam. Hopefully with the rain we are getting the river will get a much needed flush. It would be nice to have a couple of days of 300+ CFS to clean up the rocks a little.
The Casselman is still fishing well and the caddis are hatching, so now is the time to skip your favorite elk hair across the riffles and watch rainbows launch themselves at your fly.

Red Bud and Dogwoods on the Savage it's Spring time!

Bill with a nice rainbow from the Casselman

Patty showing us how it's done

BWOs popping off on the Lower Savage River

I fished the lower Savage yesterday and the BWO hatch was great. It didn't start till about 1 pm, but it lasted a good 3 hrs and the fish were really keying in on them. I caught all of my fish on size 22 nymphs, but there were plenty of fish taking bugs off the surface. The flow dropped to 90 CFS which is my favorite flow to fish. This hatch should last most of the spring and will start to mix with Blue Quills in the next week or two. I did not see any little black stones on the water, but they should still be in play for a little while longer.

Beautiful Spring weekend on the Casselman River

I spent Saturday morning on the Casselman with Teresa and Jarrett. Teresa caught her first fish and Jarrett was slaying them by the end of the morning. There were plenty of little black stones flying around and the grannoms should be hatching in the next week or so. I would encourage everyone who fishes special regulation waters in Maryland to keep this number in their phone  1-800-635-6124  it is the poacher hotline for the DNR police. The same people who poach fish are usually the ones who leave empty beer cans on the side of the river. We fished a section of the river where we saw beer cans and it was devoid of fish. I know this place always holds fish, so I am pretty sure people are already taking them home for dinner. If you see fisherman keeping fish or fishing with bait please where prohibited report it to the DNR police. Western Maryland has a pretty bad poaching problem, but if we all take pride in protecting our resource we can keep these people in check.

Teresa with her first fish

 One of many for Jarrett

A serving of bug soup on the lower Savage River

We fished the lower Savage river on Friday and the hatches are starting to pop off. There were little black stones, tiny grannoms, and BWOs all coming off at the same time. I will give everyone a hint for the lower Savage whatever size bug you think you are going to need for your fishing trip go 2 sizes smaller and that will probably be the size of the bugs you encounter. We had a good day both Craig and Eric landed some nice fish.

Eric working a Pocket

It Rained on us a little

Spring Brookies on the Savage River Watershed

I had a chance to fish in a couple of spots on the upper Savage River Watershed over the last two days and the fishing was great. The water temps are in the low to mid 40s and flows are in great shape. There are little black stones emerging, but the fish aren't taking bugs off the surface with any consistency. Nymphing in pockets with slow to moderate current will produce the best results. I did catch a couple of rainbows while in the brook trout water and I took both of them home for dinner. I encourage any one who fishes these waters to do the same. DNR still stocks the lower river just above the reservoir and we do not need Rainbows establishing any sort of self sustaining population. The southern Appalachians have had a serious problem with rainbows out competing brookies and we do not need that here. 

Nice 10 inch Brookie

 Beautiful Waterfall

Please take Rainbows home for Dinner!

Typical Savage River Watershed Brook Trout

Walking Around the Upper Savage

I took a walk on the river yesterday just to look around no fishing. The water was up and cold just a little over 40 degrees. There were a good amount of little black stones flying around, but no rises. I dug around the river and found a variety of caddis and stone fly nymphs. The upper Savage watershed is not your typical infertile freestone stream. The amount of bug life in the stream is pretty amazing and that is why brook trout up to 12 inches are not uncommon.

Lots of these under the rocks

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Casselman River It's Spring Time

I had my first trip of the year yesterday on the Casselman river. The water flow was perfect 225 CFS with water temps in the low 40s. I saw a couple of  little black stones flying around, but none of the fish were interested in taking anything off the surface. We fished slower water along seems and our flies were bouncing on the bottom. Bob had his best day of fly fishing yet losing count of how many fish he caught. One note to people who plan to fish the Casselman. The bridge is closed, so you will have to take a detour through Grantsville to get to spots down river.

January on the Savage River

The rivers in western Maryland have been running high for the last month. This week flows on the Savage came down to safe wading levels and I had the opportunity to fish for a couple of hours yesterday. I found most of the fish in deep slack water sections of the river and they were stuck to the bottom. I didn't observe any fish in higher sections of the water column. With the water temperature in the high 30's the key is deep and slow. I had to make numerous drifts through likely holding areas to produce strikes. It seems like the fish will not move far to take a fly, so you have to put it right on their nose.

Winter Fly Fishing Shows

Winter is time to sit back tie some flies and dream about fishing trips for the upcoming year. One way to pass the time during the winter months is to visit one of the many trade shows in our area. Here is a schedule for upcoming events.

January 23-26 Baltimore Boat Show @ the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore Md

February 23rd Cabin Fever Expo @ Sheraton Four Points in Warrendale Pa (Pittsburgh Area)

March 1-2 Fly Fishing Show @ Lancaster County Convention Center in Lancaster Pa

March 9th  National Capital Angling Show @ Hanley Center for Athletic Excellence Georgetown Preparatory School  North Bethesda Md

Fish carefully! Big Fish on the Savage River

Fish are in full spawning mode on the lower Savage right now. I fished yesterday morning and there are a lot of fish paired up on redds. Redds are sections of cleaned light tan gravel that are very noticeable and many of them are very close to the bank. Do not wade through these areas because that would destroy the eggs and future generations of fish for the Savage. Fishing for these fish on redds is not a good idea either. When a female in spawning mode is hooked many times this distress will cause her to jettison her eggs losing future generations of fish for the Savage. You can fish responsibly this time of year with great results. A method that I used in Colorado is once you locate these redds fish deep water around them. The biggest fish in the river spawn mainly at night, but are always close by during the day. This way you can avoid walking on the redd and fishing to actively spawning trout. This is how I caught the beautiful male brown pictured below yesterday. There is still a BWO hatch in the afternoon, but it is starting to tapper off a bit and will probably end soon. I have had my best success with small scud patterns fished deep. That is what this guy took. I am happy that I caught that fish contrary to my face in the picture, but it was the best picture of the fish that I got.

Fishing out of your comfort zone

I spent this past Thanksgiving holiday in the Outer Banks of North Carolina visiting my parents and of course had to wet a line. The surf was too ruff to fly fish effectively, so we had to use spinning gear and bait to catch fish. I am not experienced with fishing in the surf with anything other than a fly rod, but with help from the locals we did very well catching many red drum. We used drum rigs with 4oz sinkers and cut mullet to catch these beautiful fish. Low tide was the best time to be on the beach. Friends in Ocean City have been catching nice strippers in the surf using the same rig and bait.

Rick's 38 inch Stripper in OC

Stef on the pier in NC

November on the Savage River

November has been an interesting month weather wise, but that is to be expected in the mountains. We've had sunny days in the 60's and 28 degrees and snowing. Even with all this crazy weather the fishing has stayed pretty consistent. The worse the weather the better the fishing. I've had some tough days when there wasn't a cloud in the sky and incredible fishing when it was snowing.
There has been a very good BWO hatch for the last two weeks it starts around 11 am and is usually over by 1:30 pm. These are very small bugs size 24-26 and dark olive. The hatch is heavier on cloudy days and will last a little longer too. When there are no bugs hatching scuds, caddis and midge pupa have been taking fish. I noticed a few fish on redds while fishing today. In the Savage these spawning areas can be all over the place, so be careful and do not wade in these areas or fish them. The will look like shallow bowls of tan gravel against the slate brown river bottom.

Scuds for lunch on the Savage River

It was a pretty hard morning. I fished near the dam with a sculpin and had only one strike in an hour and a half. I made it to the Phd pool and there were some fish taking midges off the surface, but I only managed to fool one and scare the others. I decided to move down stream and work some pocket water with nymphs. There were some small BWO's flying around, so I tied on an emerger and eventually caught one nice brown. I pumped the fish and found emergers and a couple of caddis nymphs. The pump really didn't tell me anything I already didn't know. I moved up to the next pocket and after a couple of cast took another nice brown. Not being satisfied with the results of the previous pump I pumped this fish and what I found did tell me something. This fish was filled with scuds around size 20. I tied one on and caught a fish in every likely looking spot.

Yep...still here

No I didn't fall in and float down river. There have been a lot of things that have kept me from fishing over the last month and a half, but who wants to hear the fishing guide complain about not fishing? Not me!

          The fall colors are all but finished here in western Maryland at least above 2000 ft and this makes the fishing a little easier not having to deal with all the leaves in the water. The brookies have been spawning in the upper Savage for about 2 weeks, so it is best to leave them alone and do their thing. Fishing those streams this time of year requires wearing bright orange which is not too conducive to sneaking up on those weary fish.

         Fish on the lower Savage and the North Branch probably have a couple of weeks before they start to spawn. In Colorado the fish didn't really start to spawn till the water temps dipped below 50 degrees and right now both rivers are in the upper 50's. Fish have still been chasing streamers pretty well from the reports of other guides in the area (check out PJ's huge Savage River brown on the Savage River Angler FB page https://www.facebook.com/savage.river.angler) I fished the lower Savage yesterday and picked up a lot of small fish on emerger patterns, but did not move anything big. I even let the small fish swim around for a while in deep pools, but nothing came to have a look. Bugs on the water include crane flies, caddis, midges, and a mayfly spinner that I have no idea what it is. This spinner has been on the water since mid August. Fish were rising when I was on the water and enough fish took my indicator to make me think a hopper or stimi will take fish. 

Mystery Spinner

  

Fishing Yesterday

Starting to Feel like Fall on the Savage River

I fished the Savage twice this weekend. Once before the front moved through and once after. The temperatures dropped 15 degrees after the front moved through the area and the over night lows were down in the lower 40's. On Thursday, the high was 78 degrees and the fish where really keyed in on terrestrials flying ants especially and I also found bees and house flies in stomach pumps. One thing that both outings had in common was that fish took the indicator and some times would not let go. A hopper dropper is a good rig when this happens, but make sure the hopper can support a decent amount of weight.  On Saturday the high was 60 degrees and when the sun came out so did the little grey stone flies. If you haven't been on the river the past two weeks there has been a stone fly popping off in the mid afternoon that is grey and size 24-26. This hatch gets the fish feeding and is fun fishing in the abundant pocket water. We caught a good amount of fish on Saturday, but nothing over 12 inches while on Thursday I caught a half a dozen fish over 15 inches. We did get some swipes on streamers from larger fish on Saturday, but for the most part they were half hearted. It looks like our day time highs are going to stay in the mid to lower 60's for the next 10 day, so fall is just about here.

Flying ants are candy to trout

Nice Brown on a little yellow sally nymph

Ryan & Chris working pocket water with stone flies

John showing us how to high stick

Casselman River over the weekend

I had three trips this past weekend all clients new to the sport of fly fishing. I decided instead of beating them up on the Savage to try the Casselman since the flows where good. I am pleasantly surprised by the amount of trout that have survived the summer. We caught two trout on every trip along with a ton of rock and small mouth bass. There are some big smallies in the Casselman! We had some 20+ inchers chase after little fish that were caught. My best flies have been slate drake nymphs, crayfish patterns, and hoppers. The flows have gone down since this weekend and are now below 30 cfs which limits the holding water, but you will have the river to yourself.

Denise with her first trout!

Paul with a nice Casselman Smallie

Keith with a beautiful holdover Rainbow