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

Western Maryland fishing report Savage River and Casselman River

I had a full week of trips this past week and the fishing was very good. I fished the Savage 4 days and with stabilized flows around 120 CFS it was fishing very well. Morning to early afternoon seemed to be the best time although I am sure the magic hour before dark was good as well, but I didn't have the chance to be on the water then. In morning there was a pretty good BWO hatch that lasted longer on cloudy days. These guys were small size 24, but we caught some nice fish on emergers. Late morning to early afternoon there were some little yellow sallies and crane flies bringing fish to the surface. These bugs ranged from size 18-22 and got the attention of some big browns. I had one client find out how hard these fish are to catch on dries when a beautiful 17 inch Phd pool brown took his dry 3 times, but he could not get a hook set on him. Catching BIG fish on dry flies is the ultimate experience in the sport, but it is also the most challenging. Another brown of similar size followed a client's hopper for a good three feet twice but would not take it! In between hatches little yellow sally nymphs produce very well. On Sunday I took a couple of clients to the Casselman to fish for some smallies. To my surprise we hooked a couple of rainbows along with small mouth and rock bass. There is still a good slate drake hatch going on on the Casselman and nymph imitations accounted for most of the fish. Crayfish and hoppers also brought fish to the net. The water temperature was nice at 67 degrees with flows around 80 CFS.

Lisa working a riffle on the Casselman for rock bass 

Ray trying to catch a Casselman Rainbow

Ray with that Casselman Rainbow

Libby with a beautiful Savage River Brownie

Libby fishing in the mist

Kyle with a Savage River Bow

Kyle working a run on the Savage

 Little brown we saved from being eaten by its big brother

Bob fishing the Phd pool

Rodney & Enrique on a guys weekend

Enrique's nice Savage Brookie

Rodney working a seam

A nice Savage Brown for Rodney's hard work

The Savage River Wins Again!

We received a lot of rain early this week and with a full reservoir that meant high water on the lower Savage. Flows top out at over 250 cfs and came back down to 120 by this weekend. One thing I have noticed is that spikes in flows completely change what is going on in the river. This could be due to the volume of water or the temperature change that results from spill over. I know the fish are there, but what was working before the high water does not produce the same results afterwards. I had two guided trips this weekend and while we caught some fish we did not set the world on fire. This is one of the mysteries on the Savage that I have not been able to crack yet. It was nice to see people actually fishing the river this weekend. If anyone had success let me know.

PhD pool Rainbow

Will showing his technique

Ralph and Ari on a father son getaway 

Pretty Cutthroat!

Alma working an eddy 

Get out there and fish!

If you haven't been fishing the Savage recently you have been missing out. I fished in the late afternoon for about 2 hours today and it was great. I caught a lot of small fish in shallow pocket water, but there is a trout in every likely looking place. The Savage has some of the best natural holding water I have ever fished! The short section I fished today had one nice pool in it and that pool gave up this beautiful brown that was just a hair under 18 inches.

Sunday Funday!

My wife and I spent a couple of hours on the lower Savage this Sunday and it was awesome. Small caddis emergers were the fly of choice again. She caught over a dozen fish in about 3 hours including this gorgeous brown . We first saw this beauty when it tried to eat a small brown she had caught earlier. Once we had it located it was only a matter of time. This fish followed her fly twice, but did not want to stray too far from its lie under a rock overhang till she got the drift just right and bam! It might be time to stop guiding her and teach her some knots, so I can fish!

Hidden hatches...how do you find them?

The Savage River like many great wild trout streams can be very frustrating especially when there is no apparent hatches. We are in kind of a lull hatch wise with many different bugs on the water little BWOs, crane flies, caddis, and a few slate drakes, but none of them in appreciable numbers that would indicate the fish are keying in on any one insect. What I do in these situations is start a process of elimination to try and find what the fish are eating. It is not a true guessing game because I fish with what I see flying around. One thing that I did notice was that only little fish were rising meaning that something is keeping the bigger fish under the surface. I can at least eliminate dry flies from my choices now where in the water column are the fish feeding? When prospecting with nymphs I divide the water column into three sections the bottom, middle, and just under the surface film. You can easily determine if fish are feeding just under the surface by observation. These fish can usually be seen and sometimes look like they are porpoising out of the water (they look like what dolphins do when the swim near the surface). I didn't see any of this, so I focused on the bottom and middle of the water column. After a couple of fly changes, I tied on a size 22 rs2 to see if the fish where eating BWOs and after numerous cast had yielded nothing I was about to change flies when I got a strike and lucky for me it was a nice 13 inch rainbow that was big enough to pump. When I pumped the stomach what I found was surprising. The trout was filled with size 20 caddis emergers. There were small tanish grey caddis flying around but nothing that would lead me to believe the amount that this fish had in its stomach. I switched to the appropriate fly and had an incredible morning of fishing. I got most of it on video, but did not realize the lens had fogged up after I got some awesome underwater footage. Oh well at least you can enjoy this video check it out!

The State of Western Maryland Trout Fishing

We have had a lot of rain the last 2 weeks. The rain gauge at Savage River Lodge showed almost 6 inches in a little over 5 days. Needless to say we have had high water for the last two weeks. There are good and bad aspects of this though, the brook trout streams are in great shape for this time of year, but the large rivers have run high for the last two weeks. Rivers are now back to normal flows and should stay that way with a fairly dry forecast for the next week.
I have not had the chance to get to the Youghiogheny River in the last 2 weeks, but looking at the USGS chart it should be in good shape now. Deep Creek vacationers have turned on their air conditioners and increased power demands which requires generation from the dam. They have been running the turbines every day for the last ten days for 2-4 hours a day, which helps the fishing tremendously, as long as you plan the day accordingly morning fishing till about 11 and afternoon/evening fishing after 2-3 pm you can have great dry fly fishing on caddis.
The Savage River tailwater is back to normal summer flows of around 50-75 CFS, but any amount of rain can bump due to spillover because the reservoir is completely full. The Sulphur hatch is over for the season, but little yellow and lime sallies are still showing up right at dusk to provide about 45 minutes of good dry fly fishing. Low light in the morning and evening are great times to try your favorite little trout or sculpin imitations for lager fish. There has been a descent BWO hatch in the late morning the past couple of days bringing a few fish to the surface, though is has been more productive with emergers 2 ft under the surface. These bugs are small size 22. If you are coming to the river do not forget fly ant patterns. It has been a little hit and miss the past week, but you don't want to be on the water without them. They can range from size 18-24 and are usually more productive when fished under the surface.

Savage River Brown on a flying ant 

This guy was hungry for BWOs

This guy took to the air a couple of times

Presentation is key on the Savage

John with a hook up on the Savage

Fishing Report for Western Maryland

Summer is gradually coming to the mountains of Western Maryland. I have had a chance to fish most of the area rivers over the last two weeks, so I will give you a rundown of what has been going on.
The Youghiogheny River has been feeling the effects of the heat the most by noon the water temperature creeps above 70 degrees and you should stop fishing when I was there the water temp was 74 at 2pm. This limits you to morning fishing and afternoons after water releases. The releases usually stop at 2pm and the water drop s quickly, so you can be on the C&R section by 2:15. Caddis are the primary bugs on this river and nymphing with a rock worm caddis will always catch fish on the Yough.
The North Branch of the Potomac is fishing well and right now is at a good level for wading at 260 CFS. I have done well with size 16 pheasant tails, tan scuds size 14, and slate drake nymphs 12-14. Slate Drakes are good swimmers so put some action into the fly during your drift. 
The Savage River below the damn is fishing well with hatches of sulphurs and little yellow and lime sallies on the menu. When you are on the stream bring your favorite emerger patterns as most of the fish I have been catching have been in the middle of the water column. There has been a good evening hatch on most nights, so if you can try to stay till dark.
We have received a good amount of rain over the last week and the brook trout streams are in good shape with water temps in the low 60's. This time of year there are not a lot of hatches going on beside some sporadic caddis, so terrestrials are going to be your best bet. The key is to have a fly that makes a plop when it lands to get the trout's attention. Two more good traits in a fly are something that is easy to see and will float for a long time without floatant.

                                                                North Branch Rainbow                                                    

                                                     Garrett County Brook Trout Stream

                                             
                                                                 Rhododendron Blossom

                                                                    Mist on the Savage

                                                         Ron with a Rainbow on the Savage

Teaching the Guide

I have been a Fly Fishing guide for the last six years and I learn more about the sport from my clients than I could ever figure out myself. One of the most important lessons I have learned over and over again is what it means to be on the water. As a guide our primary focus is to put fish in the net for the client. This is very important, but for most clients is a secondary perk of the trip. This is especially true for people who are trying the sport for the first time. They are paying for an experience and for a guide and experienced fly fisherman it is easy to forget about the other aspects of a great fishing trip besides the number of fish caught. One of my favorite lines to clients when we reach the river is "welcome to my office", which I can take for granted some times. My clients always remind me how lucky I am to do this for a living when they do one of the most frustrating things for a guide and all beginners do this and you cannot blame them for it. When you are guiding someone you are constantly watching their indicator for any movement and when it does move and there is no reaction by the person you wonder why. I will look up and they are staring at the environment around them and you can't get mad because that is part of their experience. They are just happy to be on the water and I need to be reminded of the value of that from time to time. So thank you to everyone I have taken out recently for that.

As for the fishing, the Casselman river is done as far as trout fishing. When I was on the river last week there were few trout left and the harvest season had not even started yet. The Casselman does have a good population of rock bass and some nice smallmouth if you are looking for a place to fish for those species. A small streamer in crayfish colors will be your best fly to catch these fish. Hatches on the Savage this week can best be described as sporadic. Sulphurs and little yellow sallies account for the greatest volume, but there are still some March Browns and on cloudy days BWO's . I have had my best fishing recently with big sculpin imitations at low light in the morning and evening. The North Branch and the Youghiogheny were blown out for most of the week because of the rain that those watershed received, but hopefully I will have a report on them next week.

Bug soup on the Savage Tailwater

Hatches are in full swing on the lower Savage. Sulphurs size 14-16, Little Yellow Sallies size 18, March Browns size 10-12, and Blue Wing Olives size 18.With these bugs add in various caddis in green and tan and you have the bug soup that is the Savage right now. I have fished it twice so far this week and one day bugs were prolific and the fish were rising everywhere. The other day bugs were sporadic and the fish were rising only occasionally. This is why I love the Savage, every time you think you have it figured out it will throw you another curve and send you back to the drawing board. The Savage is at 60 CFS and around 54 degrees and should continue like this for the next week or so.