Jlafko3
Member
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2017
- Messages
- 48
I fished the Savage river this weekfor the first time and it is a wild place for sure. Very difficult to access, and wade especially when the flows are above normal.
I fished it from 6/6 -6/8 in the evenings after work. 4pm -8pm
Flows were way above normal from lots of rain early in the week,
6/6- 400 cfs 59 degrees
6/7- 350 cfs 57 degrees
6/8- 200 cfs and dropping 57 degrees
6/6- this was my recon day. I stopped in to the Savage River Outfitters, and talked to the owner, he is a great guy. Super nice and very helpful to a new angler on the river. The water was extremely swift, had a nice brown tint but not chocolate milk. So I fished the banks pretty much exclusively that day. I threw squirmy worm, rainbow warriors, green mop flies on my nymph rig, and I saw/felt a few swings and misses. I also threw streamers, articulated sculpin to the banks too and saw swings and misses too. Water was just too fast. That night was the best in terms of hatches. Blue quills, red quills were prolific. A few sulphurs were coming off but they were smaller then sulphurs in PA. The only slower pool I saw, a few fish were hitting the quill spinners.
6/7- The water level had dropped a bit but it cleared up. So I decided to throw nymphs again when it was brighter out. I had a frenchie as my point, rainbow warrior above it and switched that out soft hackle towards the top. I caught one 9 inch brown right off the bank, missed about 3. Fished that big sculpin in the deeper water to a few strikes from smaller fish. The water started to drop a little more as the night went on so I took my nymphing rod and fished some seams. And right before I was about to leave, I threw on a mop and squirm in one riffle, took three drifts and watched a really good fish miss my flies. Took two more drifts and it was on. My first good size fish on the Savage. I watched a dark gold bar jump out of the water one time, then take off towards the rapids on the far side of the run. I did all I could but when he swam downstream with that fast water, the hook just popped out of his mouth. He was about 18 inches and that left me wanting more.
6/8- I got to the river around 2 that day. The rain I was watching went south and I knew it was gonna be a better day. The flow dropped significantly, and I could really tell when I got on the water. Since I had more time, and didn't have to be up at 5 the next morning, I decided to traverse where I felt people don't typically go because it is so hard to access. And that paid off. I sclaled a 100-150 foot cliff, and jumped down to a long, deep pool that had riffles on the top end. I missed about 4 fish in there over the course of an hour. I lost 8 nymphs in total in the run and decided to switch it up. I threw back on my searching patterns, rainbow warrior and a squirm, walked above the pool to do some riffles and pocket water and landed a 14 inch brown on the squirmy worm. Super healthy, dark gold brown. I scaled the mountain back to my car took a 10 minute breather and headed toward water that I wanted to fish the last few nights but couldn't make it to because of the flows. I had my eyes set on this one run, made my way over there, took two drifts and landed a 16 inch brown, same thing dark gold, super healthy. I fished it out and missed a couple more. I landed one smaller brown again on a rainbow warrior. And decided to call it a day when I lost my last set of flies and tippet ring.
All in all, it is a beautiful place. Very healthy fishery and very wild. When the flows are up it is extremely difficult to fish and more difficult to access the water you want to fish. Next time I am bringing my wading staff. I talked to a couple guys on my way out and they said 3-4 fish landed on that river with the current conditions is a good day. If anyone is thinking about making a trip to it, me and eye on the gauges, if it get around 75-150 cfs it will be worth the trip for some high quality browns.
If you get a chance, stop in at the Fly shop, the owner is a great guy and super nice to to talk to.
***I can't figure out how to post the photos of my fish, if anyone has a way to help, let me know, thanks!
I fished it from 6/6 -6/8 in the evenings after work. 4pm -8pm
Flows were way above normal from lots of rain early in the week,
6/6- 400 cfs 59 degrees
6/7- 350 cfs 57 degrees
6/8- 200 cfs and dropping 57 degrees
6/6- this was my recon day. I stopped in to the Savage River Outfitters, and talked to the owner, he is a great guy. Super nice and very helpful to a new angler on the river. The water was extremely swift, had a nice brown tint but not chocolate milk. So I fished the banks pretty much exclusively that day. I threw squirmy worm, rainbow warriors, green mop flies on my nymph rig, and I saw/felt a few swings and misses. I also threw streamers, articulated sculpin to the banks too and saw swings and misses too. Water was just too fast. That night was the best in terms of hatches. Blue quills, red quills were prolific. A few sulphurs were coming off but they were smaller then sulphurs in PA. The only slower pool I saw, a few fish were hitting the quill spinners.
6/7- The water level had dropped a bit but it cleared up. So I decided to throw nymphs again when it was brighter out. I had a frenchie as my point, rainbow warrior above it and switched that out soft hackle towards the top. I caught one 9 inch brown right off the bank, missed about 3. Fished that big sculpin in the deeper water to a few strikes from smaller fish. The water started to drop a little more as the night went on so I took my nymphing rod and fished some seams. And right before I was about to leave, I threw on a mop and squirm in one riffle, took three drifts and watched a really good fish miss my flies. Took two more drifts and it was on. My first good size fish on the Savage. I watched a dark gold bar jump out of the water one time, then take off towards the rapids on the far side of the run. I did all I could but when he swam downstream with that fast water, the hook just popped out of his mouth. He was about 18 inches and that left me wanting more.
6/8- I got to the river around 2 that day. The rain I was watching went south and I knew it was gonna be a better day. The flow dropped significantly, and I could really tell when I got on the water. Since I had more time, and didn't have to be up at 5 the next morning, I decided to traverse where I felt people don't typically go because it is so hard to access. And that paid off. I sclaled a 100-150 foot cliff, and jumped down to a long, deep pool that had riffles on the top end. I missed about 4 fish in there over the course of an hour. I lost 8 nymphs in total in the run and decided to switch it up. I threw back on my searching patterns, rainbow warrior and a squirm, walked above the pool to do some riffles and pocket water and landed a 14 inch brown on the squirmy worm. Super healthy, dark gold brown. I scaled the mountain back to my car took a 10 minute breather and headed toward water that I wanted to fish the last few nights but couldn't make it to because of the flows. I had my eyes set on this one run, made my way over there, took two drifts and landed a 16 inch brown, same thing dark gold, super healthy. I fished it out and missed a couple more. I landed one smaller brown again on a rainbow warrior. And decided to call it a day when I lost my last set of flies and tippet ring.
All in all, it is a beautiful place. Very healthy fishery and very wild. When the flows are up it is extremely difficult to fish and more difficult to access the water you want to fish. Next time I am bringing my wading staff. I talked to a couple guys on my way out and they said 3-4 fish landed on that river with the current conditions is a good day. If anyone is thinking about making a trip to it, me and eye on the gauges, if it get around 75-150 cfs it will be worth the trip for some high quality browns.
If you get a chance, stop in at the Fly shop, the owner is a great guy and super nice to to talk to.
***I can't figure out how to post the photos of my fish, if anyone has a way to help, let me know, thanks!
