Savage River, Garrett Co. MD, 10/14/2011

[3wt7X]

I guess you could call this a stream report/rod review. I'll start with the report. The Savage had great flows yesterday afternoon. I have not checked the gauge, but it looked to be around 70 cfs. The water was clear upstream towards the dam, but it got cloudy as several run off feeders entered the stream closer to the N. Branch of the Potomac. The hatches included BWO, Caddis, Cream Midges, and some small size 18 mayfly that I was having difficulty identifying. I observed the spinner stage of that fly, and it had a red thorax and the body was transparent approaching the tail (very interesting looking fly, but I could not get the micro feature to work on my camera.) There were a lot of leaves in the drift, which I believe hindered dry fly fishing. I fished a size 8 orange stimulater, with a size 14 tungsten PT underneath on about two foot of 6X tippet. I arrived at 3pm and fished til dark. The fish were very active, I caught around ten browns in that time period, with the biggest being 14 inches. All fish were taken on the dropper. I also spoke to another angler, who reported taking a 17in brown on a stonefly nymph. The fish were vividly colored, and extremely hard fighting!

As far as the rod review goes, I recently purchased a TFO Professional 9'6" 5wt. This rod is a fish killer on the Savage. The extra 6" does not seem like much on paper, but when dapping flies into pocket water, it is worlds different. The 5wt, had a little more backbone that what I would have prefered on the Savage, but some of the larger fish really put a good bend in that longer rod, and I think I will need the extra backbone if I get into a good fish on Penns. The rod is pretty light for its size and it was a pleasure to cast all day. I even picked up a nice brown at dusk on a streamer, and it did a great job roll casting large buggers 40-50 feet across the Savage. Overall, a great rod for the price. Hope you enjoy the pics!!!

 

[Swattie87]

Great report and pics...love that first Brown...incredible fins and great coloration from the dorsal to the tail.

IMO the ability to roll cast a relatively heavy streamer (like a WB) a fairly good distance is an important attribute for even a light rod to have, especially on medium sized streams, say 25-50 ft in width...so it sounds like you got a good one. I find myself doing that kind of fishing a lot on those types of streams.

 

[NCPAtrtbum]

Those are some beautiful fish. Nice report.

I too enjoy fishing the longer rods, lots of control. Might have to check out that TFO.

 

[Fishidiot]

Great report - some nice browns there.

 

[1wt]

3wt7x,
Great report, and you bring up a whole new way of fly fishing!
I've always wanted to purchase a 9'6" or 10' rod, but I didn't ever do it.
Steelheaders and High Stickers have found the same thing.
I just might break down and get something that is very long!!

 

[gutcutter]

the mayfly that you are describing sounds like P. mollis aka jenny spinner. look it up and see if that is the one.

 

[3wt7X]

Gutcutter,
Great call...I looked it up, and that was the fly I observed. Neat little fly with the transparent tail.