North Branch of the Potomac, Garrett County MD., 6-17-17

[Bruno]

I had the opportunity to fish the North Branch of the Potomac on Saturday with Albatross and one of his friends. This is the 2nd time I have had the chance to float and fish this river and I like it more each time I am there. We had planned to float the Yough but we received a report Friday night that indicated that the river would not be in good shape for a float on Sat so Plan B was to hit the North Branch. The river flows were 350- 400 cfs which made for a little bit of a bumper car float with some dragging necessary but it was all good. Water temps were around 52 and the air temps were in the 80s. Made for some very good wet wading. However, It is one of the most difficult rivers I have ever waded. Slippy as hell and take a swim drops all over the place. I think we all took a tumble or two. No hatches to speak of with a sporadic may fly here or there. I think we only spotted two rises all day. The rapids were relatively easy to navigate with all in the boat taking turns at the oars. I did leave Albatross stranded on a rock in a rapid as he took one for the boat and got out to get us off a rock I hit broadside.. The look on his face was priceless as we floated away from him. We caught mostly rainbows with a couple of browns, a nice small mouth and a brookie in the mix. Flies that were most successful were a Tungsten Bead March Brown nymph # 12 and a very generic soft hackle wet fly #14 . I also learned that tacky fly boxes do not float as I had to do a little diving to retrieve my box from a deep pool. All and all a great day with an excellent shore lunch with some great people.

For you Yough Lovers – we stopped at the Anchor In in Addison PA for dinner on the way home. Very nice place with some solid food – 20 bucks for a ribeye and shrimp. They even cooked the steak right !

 

[Bruno]

My CFS report is wrong - it was like 250. still trying to figure out those gauges

 

[ryansheehan]

Nice report, did you put in at Barnum or below westernport? The flow jumped from 250 to 400 at Barnum in the middle of the day on Saturday. There is also a gauge at Luke where the savage and nb meet.

 

[McSneek]

"Slippy" - no doubt which side of the State you are from Bruno! Nice report.

 

[3oh4]

By looking at his pic you can tell he put in at Barnum. 250cfs would be bumpy, 280 and down is when I lick my chops to wade fish it.

 

[albatross]

Yes, we put in at Barnum and lifted anchor about 10 AM. It was really rough going at first, but I think we finally caught the wave of the flow rising to 400 CFS (It started bumping up about 10:30).

Saw scattered caddis and a few cahills and Isos.

I took my fish mostly on an iso nymph.

We really enjoyed the solitude and scenery.

 

[Dave_W]

Great report, thanks for posting. It's been too long since I've been out to that part of MD.

 

[DaveS]

Glad you guys had that plan "B" up your sleeve. I'd like to give that river a shot one day.

Bruno, that should be your new avatar!