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!

Early Rise Flies Western Maryland's Fly Shop

Those of you who do not live in western Maryland are probably unaware of the great fly shop we have in Cumberland. Early Rise Flies opened its doors last October and is a full service fly shop conveniently located off Interstate 68. If you are headed to the area and forgot a essential piece of equipment, need on the water supplies, or that fly tying material to get your pattern just right Early Rise Flies has it all. Dan and Chris are the proprietors of the shop and two of the nicest guys you will meet. The shop's address is 457 N Centre St. Cumberland, MD 21502. Their website url http://www.earlyriseflies.com/

Directions from Deep Creek Lake Area
I 68 East towards Cumberland
Take Exit 43C Downtown Cumberland
At the stop sign off the Exit turn left onto Queen City Blvd (stay in the right lane) 0.7 miles
Take second right on to N Centre Street (you will go under a rail road bridge) 0.2 miles
The shop will be on the right just before the first stop light

Directions from east of Cumberland
I 68 west towards Cumberland
Take exit 44 US 40 Alt/ Baltimore Ave/ Willow Brook Road 0.2 miles
Slight right onto Baltimore Ave/National Pike (signs for US 40) 0.6 miles
Turn right onto Henderson Ave/National Pike 0.5 miles
Turn left onto Knox Street
Turn right onto N Centre Street the shop will be on the right before the first stop light 0.2 miles

The Shop

The Hours

Sign for the shop

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