LOWER SAVAGE RIVER 8/26/17

[3oh4]

Fished the Lower Savage for the first time this year. Flow was around 100cfs; with my normal stream waters running dry and the North Branch whitewater releasing I purchased a 9$ three day license. It was nice to see my ole stomping grounds, but it was a typical day on the Savage. I'm just amazed the pressure that stream gets year round from us anglers. I think I saw New York, PA, WV and MD plates. It fished pretty well, but I do regret not fishing a better "brown trout section". Landed 8 browns, 5 bows and 1 native. Fished a lower section which is always just over run with rainbows, I should have known better. I'm always tempted to throw the bows over the bank but it just isn't in me. The water felt a little warmer than I'm used to feeling on the Savage, I think that is why I only caught one native, I imagine they bolted farther upstream. Did stop at a hole on the trophy section on the way out and managed the best brown of the day. Picked up everything from underneath, didn't feel like playing a guessing game on top. Midges, Very small BWOs and sporadic Tricos were in the air though.

 

[JackM]

Those are some nice fish. I would let the rainbows to their own devices instead of thinning the herd.

 

[3oh4]

Yea as ugly as some of them are I could never kill a fish. But that bulldog, head straight to the bottom is such a better vibration than the mutant head shake of a well traveled stocked rainbow.

 

[3wt7X]

Nice report and pictures. I'll take the browns and brook trout in the Savage any day over the rainbows. That being said, I think the rainbows look nice in the Savage and they rise pretty well to a nicely placed caddis or stimulator, so I will take them in the lower stretch any day of the week.

The Savage is an odd stream, when it comes to pressure. It seems to be randomly super busy, then you'll pick a weekend day expecting to run into a bunch of people, and you only see one or two other cars. Thanks for the report and motivation!!!

 

[Tucker733]

I was on and off the Savage by 9 the same day before I had guys showing up all around me. I got 4 browns and 2 Brooks and had too many rises to count. Disappointing was the big guy, 16+, that broke me off on a stimmy. I think that a vast majority of the savage fish don't go too many days in the summer without seeing a fly.

 

[3oh4]

Yes, for the size of that stream I personally feel that it is fished way to much. I'm not going to go out and say that is why the fish are weak and skinny but it could have something to do with it. I wasn't there at sunrise on Saturday but I wasn't far off and all the "normal" parking spots already had cars in them for the most part. I used to fish it religiously 4-5 years ago and prior but have since quit fishing it 2 out of the last 3 years b/c it just gets pounded. I enjoy driving by it on my way to the North Branch though, usually I pass more cars in one trip at the Savage than I see all year on the Branch.

16+ is a rarity by Savage standards, I wish you would have gotten him.

 

[Tucker733]

I think the pressure can get out of control but I haven't personally seen and trend of skinnier fish. I have seen a increase in fish size since the last time they emptied the reservoir to fix the dam. Especially this year, I've seen alot of at least longer fish. I got a 14 or 15 inch Saturday and saw plenty that size and bigger this year.

 

[rrt]

Sorry to read that what looks like a lovely stream gets so much pressure. The pics guys have posted on here of the browns they catch seem to show that the browns comprise a particularly attractive population of trout. I have never fished the Savage, but it looks like a nice stream if you could hit it on the right day.

 

[3oh4]

The Savage is a terrific tailwater, very pretty and clean for the most part. The fish population is very healthy, wild browns and native brookies with migratory stocked rainbows from the North Branch and the spillway from the Savage Reservoir. The North Branch does have a growing population of wild bows but I rarely find them in the Savage; I have also caught cuttbows and cutthroats in the Savage that have swam up from the Branch. It isn't a very big waterway so it is easy to get to every fish almost 365 days a year unlike other streams and tailwaters where fish can live in peace if they find the right spot in the waterway or deep hole. Savage browns are some of the prettiest fish there are but they are very weak fish especially for a tailwater fish. Didymo haunts the water in mid-spring and usually isn't washed away until the first whitewater release in early June. I think the combination of whitewater releases washing out hatches, fishing pressure, lack of protein based food (minnows, suckers, chubs, crawdads etc.) and didymo really kills the size potential of Savage fish.

Like anywhere else, catch the perfect conditions and you can really see just how many fish are in the water.