Savage River, Garrett County Md. 11/8-11/9/2009

[mikeyB]

The weather was too nice to rake leaves so I packed up the Jeep and headed to the mountains of Western Md. Sun. am. Got to the stream around noon. Water temp was in the low 50's. I Noticed some BWO's and midges and some fish rising in the pool behind the cabin. Tied on a #20 bwo and got lucky within the first couple casts. Missed a couple and everyone in the pool got the word so they stopped even looking at my fly. Moved upstream and caught a few in some faster water. Nothing of any real size. I did catch this chunky brookie and had to take a pic. (I usually don't like to take many pics when I fish alone but I promised my wife to take more than usual as she really likes to see them.)

Even though I did not see evidence of any active redds, I only fished dries and stayed out of the water as much as possible. It wasn't a banner day fishing wise but it certainly was otherwise and I did catch a few.

Monday was overcast and chilly (low 40's)in the am and perfectly calm. I made coffee and walked out back to the stream and there were a few risers at 7:20 in the am!! Did not see anything hatching but ran back to the cabin, grabbed my fly rod and was into fish immediately. #20 bwo was the ticket and I am glad fish have short memories. Anyway, by 7:45 am or so I already had 3 browns and I hadn't planned on fishing until about 10:00 am or so. About 8:00 am I put on the rest of my gear and headed upstream. Had a decent morning catching one here and there. I fished slower pools and glides with the bwo and switched to a bushier dry for the faster pocket water. Both worked about the same. Finally, I noticed a drowned midge olive spinner and it looked really close to the size and color of my olive winged wets!

Well, I did the old Indian trick of tying on a wet, greasing up the tippett and putting on a small spot of strike putty about 2 feet above the fly and things really heated up! This was the nicest of the day.

Headed home around 4:00pm after a very satisfying and much needed get away.
Cheers, Mike

 

[afishinado]

Nice report & pics. Looks/sounds like you had a good time.

 

[sundrunk]

Way to stick'em mikeyB! Nice brookie hen..

 

[mikeyB]

Thanks fellas. It was a good time.
Mikey

 

[DGC]

From this October 30 article:

http://www.times-news.com/local/local_story_303233113.html


"Cosden said that fishery crews will likely start in the upcoming week to use an electric current to shock some of the native brook trout in the downstream section and move them to a holding pond below the dam that is not a part of the main flow."

Curious if you noticed anything like that pond or anything else that struck you as unusual.

Picture of the drained reservoir:

http://www.times-news.com/local/images_sizedimage_303233024/resources_photoview

Good time for reservoir fishermen to identify structure.

 

[jrcll]

this is one stream that i`m going to make an effort to fish next year !!!!

 

[sundrunk]

jrcll wrote:
this is one stream that i`m going to make an effort to fish next year !!!!

Don't forget about the upper Savage. Some of the best brook trout fishing to be had any where. A lot of water lies within 17,000 of uncut hardwood and Hemlock...Last year I hooked into a really big native brookie during the green drak hatch, never forget that one...He broke off...

 

[mikeyB]

I did't notice anything very unusual, in fact, everything seemed like a quite normal fall weekend of fishing. However, if the pond they mentioned is the pond below the dam that I know, I would be concerned about placing brookies in that environment. If the gates are 4-6 weeks late and it's a 6 month project (they are already behind) thermal conditions could definitely be a factor. The lesser flow on the downstream section during the project is not necessarily a thermal problem as much as it is a predator problem for the brookies, imo. You see, they are predicting some unusually large and toothy critters getting washed into the lower
Savage from the resevoir. They should eventually make their way to the NB but it could be interesting for a while. I plan on keeping an eye on things throughout the winter there.

Sundrunk is right about the upper savage. It is good brookie fishing but they do stock on top of them. The further up you go from the resevoir, the better. There is a lot of old growth forest around there and you can find some very beautiful places to fish.
Cheers, Mike

 

[sundrunk]

mikeyB,

Did you fish the upper waters while you were there? If so, how was it fishing?

 

[mikeyB]

Sundrunk,
I did not. Word was it was fishing well. I may head up in the next week or so. If I do, I will spend some time up there and report.
Mikey