3wt7X
Active member
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2008
- Messages
- 704
I had a training conference in Oakland, Maryland today, so rather than getting up at 0400 am to get there, I decided to take Wednesday off and do some exploring of the Youghiogheny in Maryland. The water conditions were nice when I arrived flowing at about 280 cfs, but they rose steadily as the day progressed with the precipitation and the run off from the warm air temps mixed with the three foot of snow that they had on the ground. The weather was nuts. I got there at about 1000 am, and it was in the low to mid forties and spitting rain. By noon, I was being pelted with dime sized hail. At 0100 pm, I was run off the water by a nasty thunderstorm. At 0200 pm, it was sunny, 50 degrees and rather pleasant. By the time I left, at about 0500 pm, it was gusting at about 30 mph with a mix of sun and clouds. In terms of hatches, I had small stoneflies and midges in the afternoon, but the wind was blowing them off the water so fast that nothing ever materialized.
Now for the fishing, as I said this was an exploratory trip, so I was bouncing around a lot. I started in the Delayed Harvest Stretch in Friendsville. I was mostly indicator fishing as I moved up stream through some fishy looking water, and I worked my way back downstream with streamers, but I could not move anything. Next stop was off of Hoyes Run Road, in the upper portion of the Catch and Release Stretch. Once again, very fishy looking water reminicent of the Catch and Release stretch of Penns, but I could not move a thing throwing stonefly nymphs, eggs, buggers, sculpins, caddis nymphs, and junk flies like san juans and green weenies. Finally, I finished at the bottom of the catch and release stretch off of Sang Run Road. This stretch had some nice long runs, which were divided up by some moderately deep holes. I switched my approach up a bit and focused on the slow deep holes, dead drifting a black bugger and slow stripping it back around the bounders or any obvious structure. About a half hour before leaving, I felt dead weight on my second strip in a deep slow moving slot, and I was connected to a heavy fish. Two nice downstream runs, and an upstream run later, I had a colored up 20 in holdover rainbow, which made my day. I did not have a camera to capture an image of the fish, but I had an awfully big smile after busting my butt all day walking through 3 foot of wet snow pack and nasty wading conditions. I sat down on a rock and thought to myself, this must be what it feels like working for an entire day in British Columbia for a steelhead, only to finally hook up in the last half hour. Okay, maybe not, but it is about as close as you can get in Western, MD.
Now for the fishing, as I said this was an exploratory trip, so I was bouncing around a lot. I started in the Delayed Harvest Stretch in Friendsville. I was mostly indicator fishing as I moved up stream through some fishy looking water, and I worked my way back downstream with streamers, but I could not move anything. Next stop was off of Hoyes Run Road, in the upper portion of the Catch and Release Stretch. Once again, very fishy looking water reminicent of the Catch and Release stretch of Penns, but I could not move a thing throwing stonefly nymphs, eggs, buggers, sculpins, caddis nymphs, and junk flies like san juans and green weenies. Finally, I finished at the bottom of the catch and release stretch off of Sang Run Road. This stretch had some nice long runs, which were divided up by some moderately deep holes. I switched my approach up a bit and focused on the slow deep holes, dead drifting a black bugger and slow stripping it back around the bounders or any obvious structure. About a half hour before leaving, I felt dead weight on my second strip in a deep slow moving slot, and I was connected to a heavy fish. Two nice downstream runs, and an upstream run later, I had a colored up 20 in holdover rainbow, which made my day. I did not have a camera to capture an image of the fish, but I had an awfully big smile after busting my butt all day walking through 3 foot of wet snow pack and nasty wading conditions. I sat down on a rock and thought to myself, this must be what it feels like working for an entire day in British Columbia for a steelhead, only to finally hook up in the last half hour. Okay, maybe not, but it is about as close as you can get in Western, MD.
