Upper Savage River, Garrett County, Maryland 05/08/2020

[3wt7X]

Time Fished:
08:30 am- 02:45 pm

Weather:
Mostly cloudy and spitting rain all day. The rain became more steady as the afternoon progressed. Air temps were in the low 50s with little to no breeze.

Water:
Most of the western Maryland streams were running high. I passed the North Branch and the Lower Savage on my way up, and both of them had decent color, but the flows were much higher than I cared to fish. The tributaries had great flows. The Upper River was running a little over 100 cfs with perfect color. The Upper River USGS gauge indicated it was in the mid 40s temperature wise. It was certainly cold to wade in all day.

Hatches:
There were several bugs around, but the hatches were muted by the cold water temps. I saw some midges (Grey size 22), Olives (Size 20) and a handful of craneflies (Size 14-16) on the water.

Results:
It sure did feel good to get out on some catch and release water here in MD. I started the day by picking a small tributary to the Savage river reservoir. I fished a dry dropper with an bushy Elk Hair Caddis and a hot spot nymph and picked up around a dozen pretty natives fishing upstream for a half mile or so. Around 10:30, I moved to the upper river. I fished a tandem nymph rig through a couple different pull offs catching a pile of stocked rainbows. The stream temps must have rose a couple of degrees around noon, as the dead drift approach slowed down and the fish started hitting swung wet flies. I finished the day, in a nice riffle swinging up two native brook trout over 10 inches. It is sad they stock that upper river with so many wild trout in there, but it. I did my part in keeping a limit of rainbows, which were fried up for dinner tonight.

 

[3oh4]

Thanks for the post.

 

[wildtrout2]

Nice looking natives. That stream was in good shape.

 

[StreamBottom]

Thanks for the report!

 

[silverfox]

That's my happy place. Regarding the rainbows. I agree. I had a lengthy discussion with DNR about it. They claim the rainbows mostly get harvested, which I know isn't entirely true. They also claim that they don't have much of an impact on the brookies and the age old; "the stockers protect the brookies from harvest" line.

Incidentally, have you seen that MD has proposed C&R on all brook trout in Put-N-Take waters and C&R for brook trout on all waters East of I81?

Link to public comment (I strongly suggest commenting in favor):
https://dnr.maryland.gov/fisheries/Pages/regulations/changes.aspx#brookie

 

[albud1962]

I don’t know if someone was trolling me, but I was told that the catch n release areas and delayed harvest sections were closed during the pandemic. Also that out of state anglers were being told to leave.Let me know if anyone has heard of similar anecdotes. Thanks

 

[Ryno17]

albud,
As of May 7th Governor Hogan has lifted the restriction on outdoor recreation that previously banned recreational fishing and boating. He also previously made a statement that out of State travelers would not be targeted for non-essential travel and will only be cited if the interstate travel is deemed non-essential while investigating another issue (i.e.; speeding, accident). I took a drive along River Rd along the Casselman last Friday and saw plates from PA,MD,VA and W Va.

 

[silverfox]

albud1962 wrote:
I don’t know if someone was trolling me, but I was told that the catch n release areas and delayed harvest sections were closed during the pandemic. Also that out of state anglers were being told to leave.Let me know if anyone has heard of similar anecdotes. Thanks

I know Mike at Savage River Outfitters said that DNR was telling everyone to leave the savage. Not just out-of-state folks. Fishing was only permitted for limited subsistence fishing only, so any C&R areas were off limits.

I live 20 minutes from the MD line and a few people here actually got stopped crossing the border by MD state police and were turned around.

 

[3wt7X]

May 14, 2020 (Update)

Sorry for the delayed report. I had a couple old friends join me for a trip to Western, MD last Thursday. I decided to just make it a running report rather than starting a new one.

Time fished:
0900-0630pm

Water:
Lower river was still running high (200 cfs). Upper River was 115 cfs with good color. Both streams were really cold in the mid to upper 40s.

Weather:
Overcast with temps in the upper 60s for the better part of the day. It spat a little rain in the morning.

Hatches:
Pretty underwhelming. I am guessing due to the cold stream temps. Midges and a few small caddis on the upper river. A few BWO's in the afternoon. Blue Quills (rather sparse, but steady enough to elicit some risers on the lower river), along with the typical midges.

Results:
We fished nymph rigs and soft hackles on the upper river for the better part of the morning landing a decent number of stocked rainbows. We could not find the native brook trout that I had bragged to them about on the upper river. (That will teach me to talk up a stream). The lower river was tough. Decent amount of people out and about and limited wading opportunities. I found a pod of risers and stuck a few on a size 18 olive. We also got into a fish or two on streamers. It was a great trip reconnecting with old friends, which is what it is all about!

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

On a roll man. I always love your reports, thank you.

I do plan hitting the Savage in 2021. We should meet up.
Good luck