North Branch of Potomac, Garrett Co., Maryland 11/04/2017

[3wt7X]

Time Fished:
08:00 am until about 03:30 pm

Weather:
Cold in the morning at about 40 degrees. The sun peaked out for a bit, then it became breezy and chili with rain in the early afternoon.

Water:
Water was in the low 50s with a little turbity. The river was pushing at about 400 cfs, which was a little low for this time of year.

Hatches:
Light olives had a couple small fish coming to the surface. We never targeted them, so I am unsure if they were trout or fall fish.

Results:
On and off activity throughout the day. We had success nymphing eggs and buggers. Streamer produced the most fish in the deeper pools. Mostly big fall fish, with a few nice rainbows mixed in. We finished with a mixed bag of fall fish, about 15 rainbows, two smallies and a 10 inch brown. A good float with great company!!!

 

[3oh4]

You float the clean or the dirty water? I had water temp. issues where I fished Saturday and the fish were shut down. Had to go find cold water. : (

 

[3wt7X]

We fished the dirty water from Westernport to McCoole. I was just guessing on the stream temp based on how the water felt. It was definitely warmer than the air temps, but that is not saying much when the air was in the low 40s all day. I looked at the discharge up at Barnum today and it said the water was around 60 degrees at the dam on Saturday.

We never considered stream temps to be an issue, given the colder nights out in western md this time of year.

 

[ryansheehan]

Zack, temp issues in the clean? I'm heading that way Friday night fishing through Sunday, can't freaking wait. It's been way too long since I've had a pair of full days together.

 

[3oh4]

Yea like 3wt. said it was a brisk day air temp wise but I ran into water temp issues. It was cold enough that when my hands got chilled from the air I just dipped them in the water to warm them up. Second time in the last two months this has happened to me there. During the dry spell we had a while back it was like fishing in bath water as well (I've never had this happen to me before up there). I ended up fishing the confluence of the Savage and Branch thinking the Savage would be cold at least. Caught a bow, moved a couple browns and caught a solid brown in no time. Only thing I moved in the Branch was a giant fall fish who hammered an articulated streamer - I swore it was a big brown. The fallfish's body temp was insanely warm like a child with a fever. I skipped fishing the rest of the section after that. My brother in law may fish it Thursday, if he does I will shoot you a PM and let you know how the water was.

3wgt. I'm going to shoot you a PM.

Once I found the cold water it didn't take long. Very disappointing day.

 

[ryansheehan]

Solid fish, I know that spot ;-)

 

[Dave_W]

It's always good to carry a stream thermometer.

I try to include water temps (usually) in fishing reports and a thermometer allows for accurate info on this.

 

[3oh4]

Dave, I def. have full intentions of getting one this winter. Any suggestions on the most accurate and reasonably priced?

 

[Dave_W]

3oh4 wrote:
Dave, I def. have full intentions of getting one this winter. Any suggestions on the most accurate and reasonably priced?

I've always used generic fly shop stream thermometers. They typically run about $12-15 and I assume are accurate to within a degree or so.

I tie some orange ribbon on mine so I can see 'em. To get a good temp, place the thermometer in shallow water with some current and shade. After a minute or two (I usually do this while rigging up my rod) you should have a good reading. If the temp seems odd, I'll repeat the experiment somewhere else. Usually, the temps are consistent.

While it's not always necessary to take a water temp, I do this most fishing trips just out of curiosity.

 

[albud1962]

I have been using a digital grill/meat thermometer. Seems to provide reasonable readings and its about 20 bucks. They have them at Lowes and Home Depot.

 

[ryansheehan]

Looks like a beautiful weekend to be in western md, I don't think it will get above freezing tomorrow. It's going to be a cold fun weekend.