Strike While The Iron Is Hot!

There was only a very small window of time to fish and I got there! The flow dropped way low and jumped right back up. I got out for a few in the low water window and the action was hot! Lots of Rainbows up from the North Branch! There are Rainbows throughout the entire river right now! There should be a nice mix of fish in the river for the Fall and Winter seasons. 

Go Time!

A Roller Coaster of Flows.

I was able to hit the river during a three-day window of 300 cfs flow and the fishing was fantastic! The lower portion of the river was getting a lot of runoff, was more off-color, and likely considerably warmer. As always, I went looking for clear cool water and found some hungry fish waiting for me! There were plenty of Browns, Brookies, and a surprising number of Rainbows! I am guessing that some Rainbows spilled over from the lake OR the high flows allowed a bunch to make it way up river from the Potomac. I hooked my very first Palamino Trout in the Savage, but, most likely a result of my astonishment, it came unbuttoned before I landed it. 

We are likely stuck with some high flows for the remainder of the week! So if you are not opposed to some still water fishing the smallmouth have been hitting pretty good!

  

Should Have Been There Saturday!

Saturday the river jumped from around 120 cfs to 200 cfs and the fishing was FANTASTIC! You could do no wrong, the Browns were all over just about anything on a dead drift. 

Then the storm Sunday dumped a ton of rain and the flows skyrocketed! I fished and it was stupid. There is no reason to fish in super high flows. 

However, something to keep in mind is that runoff is usually a different temperature than the river. The runoff entering the river this weekend was really warm and river temperatures were approaching 70 degrees.

As you can see in my pictures, I found some clean cold water above where the major runoff inputs were entering the river and found some fish. No matter how desperate you are to catch fish (and I get desperate) keep an eye on the water temperature and stick to the cold water. You will catch more fish and minimize risk to the fish. 

The smart move would have been to say forget it and fish for some smallmouth...

Wait, I did that too.

122 and Fishing Fantastic!

Fish are very agreeable right now! It is the time of year where every style of fishing will be productive! Dry/Nymph/Wet/Streamer- Pick Your Poison! 

The Savage is flowing at a 122 cfs and continues to have the perfect amount of color, which in my opinion is PERFECT!!

Temperatures are climbing but still very fishable, make sure you keep your thermometer on you and check water temperature as you move downstream. Remember, the closer to the dam you are the colder the water will be this time of year!