N. Branch of Potomac, Garrett County, MD, 11/30/2008

[3wt7X]

I initially planned to fish the Savage river today and upon my arrival at 11:30, I managed to take two beautiful wild browns approximately 8-12 inches from the Savage. The fishing was kind of slow and I noticed some fish still spawning, so I decided to fish the N. Branch of the Potomac for the first time. I used an assortment of streamers and managed three fish from 1:30 to 4:30. The first fish was a very fat 22 inch rainbow that I would estimate at 4lbs. It took a golden wooley bugger aka "patuxent special" with a lead cone head slowly stripped across the bottom. The fight was fairly uneventful as the fish simply used its body weight and gave a few nice head shakes. The second fish that I took was a 16 inch golden rainbow that took a sucker spawn pattern that I tied slowly drifted across the bottom.
The third fish that I took was most memorable fight that I have had all year. I was fishing a current break where a feeder stream entered the river and I was using a 4inch brown trout imitation streamer. I made a decent cast to the opposite bank and mended line so the fly was nice and deep as it reached the current break. On about the third stip, I felt some added weight and I set the hook. The fish proceeded to scream out all my fly line, putting me into my backing in a matter of seconds. It then proceeded to lanch about 3 feet out of the water clear on the other side of the river. After about 4 or 5 nice runs and about 20 minutes I brought a really fat 18 inch rainbow to the net. It is fish like that that keep me coming back for more. The weather was cooperative but cold. The rain held off for the most part and the temperature was about 40 degrees. I will post pictures in the photos section of both rainbows.

 

[David]

Sounds like an enjoyable day...congrats.

 

[Fishidiot]

NB Potomac is a fantastic river for big fish - too bad it's so remote, I'd visit more often. But this of course is part of it's appeal - the wilderness setting. The state of MD, in conjuntion with a private hatchery, stocks some very big 'bows in this river in the fall. Electrofishing results reveal many trophy class trout every year from this water.

 

[3wt7X]

I totally agree with you fishidiot about the big fish potential in the N. Branch of the Potomac. In fact, I believe the state record brown trout came out of the N. Branch at a huge 18 lbs. That seems incomprehendable to me, but I guess with the size of that river and the large baitfish population it must hold some real bruisers. I will always prefer the wild fish that inhabit the streams around central PA, but I hope that I can be a resource for some of you guys or gals on this site that wish to make a trip to western MD.