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

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.

Savage River Tailwater May 1st

I fished the Savage the following afternoon. The water was up to 125 cfs and there was not a cloud in the sky today. The hendricksons were already coming off when I hit the water around 2:30. I still have not yet seen any larger fish taking bugs off the surface, so I stayed with nymphs all afternoon. Over the last two days I have caught every species of trout in the Savage: Brown, Brook, Rainbow, Cutthroat, and Golden Rainbow. The later three swim up from the North Branch of the Potomac while Brown and Brook trout spawn in the Savage. I have only fished about the first half mile of river upstream from the North Branch since I have been back, but from what I have seen so far the Savage has some of the best natural holding water of any river I have ever fished. There was one pool that I could not get to the bottom of with a 14 ft  leader! I can not wait to explore the tailwater more.

Savage River 04-30-2013

I had a chance to fish the Savage at 100 cfs for the first time since I have moved back to Maryland. What a difference in wading! I walked down to the water at 2pm and there were hendricksons popping off the water. There were a few smaller fish rising to them, but nothing that would make me want to switch to a dry. I stuck with my hendrickson nymph and caught close to a dozen fish in the next 3 hours. Most of the fish were between 8 and 14 inches, but one was a nice 17 inch brown.