Had some business in Western MD so I left early and fished a morning on the Savage.
Low 70s and overcast with a water temp of 52, clear water up by the dam, colored the further downstream you got. Western MD has had plenty of rain in the last few weeks resulting in nice releases and plenty of cold water on both the Savage and North Branch Potomac (which is almost too high for good wade fishing).
There were enough bugs (BWO Spinners, a few sulfurs, a couple of caddis) to get some of the smaller brook trout looking up in the few slower pools, I fished a size 12 black stonefly nymph down though the chutes and picked up half a dozen nice browns to 14”. It felt great to be fishing with an abundance of cold water, I’m looking forward to a return visit to hit the North Branch once the flows drop.
The photo shows a flow of 60 CFS, hard to believe they crank it up to 1,000 for white water releases. The Savage gauge was out of commission for some reason, here is a link to projected releases for those traveling to the area: https://www.nab-wc.usace.army.mil/nab/northBranch.html
Mark C
Low 70s and overcast with a water temp of 52, clear water up by the dam, colored the further downstream you got. Western MD has had plenty of rain in the last few weeks resulting in nice releases and plenty of cold water on both the Savage and North Branch Potomac (which is almost too high for good wade fishing).
There were enough bugs (BWO Spinners, a few sulfurs, a couple of caddis) to get some of the smaller brook trout looking up in the few slower pools, I fished a size 12 black stonefly nymph down though the chutes and picked up half a dozen nice browns to 14”. It felt great to be fishing with an abundance of cold water, I’m looking forward to a return visit to hit the North Branch once the flows drop.
The photo shows a flow of 60 CFS, hard to believe they crank it up to 1,000 for white water releases. The Savage gauge was out of commission for some reason, here is a link to projected releases for those traveling to the area: https://www.nab-wc.usace.army.mil/nab/northBranch.html
Mark C
