Home Forums Fishing Flyfishing Savage River Md trip

The Savage and Gunpowder are pretty much Maryland's two prized native trout rivers. The Gunpowder is pretty local to me (45minutes) but the Savage is a distant three hours and I can be up in PA at some frightfully good streams in that time so I've passed until now. That's now changed with our camp in WV so it's about an hour and a half so I made the trip out on the 3rd and thought folks would enjoy some pics.

Even though I've been fly fishing for 35-ish years I have to admit my trout education has increased a lot here the last decade with these heavily fished east coast fish and with one of the big pools called the PhD pool and the one downstream the 7X pool there was a certain amount of low expectations on my part and expected great fishing and poor catching.



The stream itself is a tailwater in this part and largely freestone with a couple nice pools.



This is the pool I ended up in. Air temp was 98 and the water 61.


Fishing alone, as I usually do, and wanting to get the fish back in good shape it's hard to get many hero shots but here's a nice brook trout. I caught the Savage slam with Browns, Rainbows and Brooks in the four hours I fished so was pretty pleased.



Was pretty well set for flies but stuck to orange CDC Sulphurs in an 18 and the green Elk Hair Caddis in 16 and did well.



Fished a 7' 4 weight Penn's Creek Bamboo but I can see the need for a 9 or 9 1/2 4 weight for further trips to really do well with the pocket water.

That looks like a fine trout stream-- thanks for posting the pictures. I can't fathom fishing for trout in 98 degree heat. I'm surprised the water temp stays that cool--- is it spring-fed?

There are lots of springs on it that originate up in the Savage State Forest that provide a stable water temp but where I was fishing was a tailwater from the small Savage Reservoir that has a bottom of the dam gate so that's likely the bulk of the reason this part of the river stays cool.

Several times a year they raise the flows for kayakers and canoeist so it's paddle able.

Lived near there going to school for 2 years and never fished it. Obviously a mistake on my part. Then again I was on the prowl for ladies at the time.

Nice pics and trip info.

There are some very good streams to fish here if you have the desire to work a little.

People that have not fished Maryland for trout are usually very surprised at what our streams have to offer. MD DNR has worked very hard to make these once barren streams thrive. Bottom water discharge and lime injectors have done wonders for our native and non native trout alike.

I used to help out with the freshwater program from time to time. During shocking surveys it would astonish you how many trout and the size of them even in heavily fished waters like the Gunpowder.

If you get a chance try further west in the Northern Potomac, Yochagheny, and Castleman (before it get too hot in summer)to name a few. Antietam, Beaver, and other lime stone streams in central Maryland can produce nice results as well.

Good Luck
FB

I've hit most of those but the Yogh and Antietam. Happy for any hints on places to go on those. If you ever want to get together let me know.

There will be a leak inquiry by the FBI re the mention of the Castleman. I have been conditoned to always say "aint no fish in the Caatleman" whenever it is mentioned by the guy who first took me there --blindfolded.

Actually, I am relatively sure that the past two weeks of excess heat have made the river nearly fishless. They disappear as soon as the water temps rise and stay high for any length of time. Deep spring holes? Upstream into PA?

There must holdover fish because the size range varies substantially from the usual 'run' of newly socked fish.

But watch out for the rattlers and cobras there.

Pugs,

Next time you go -- north along the river past a ledt aurn over a bridge -- maybe half mile up is a parking area with access. Fish up from there.

1B

Haven't fished Savage River in awhile but your pics make me want to give it a try again. This time of year I like to head to Barnum or the Potomac at Black Oak bottom off of Rt. 220. Great pics thanks for sharing.

I pretty much give up on the Casselman by late April and I tend to only go on a weekday. I help do the stocking with TU on the local waters here in Eastern MD with state provided fish and they actually provide a wide variety, including some 18"+ fish, so I suspect that the Casselman gets the smae sort of mix. There's no way there's a hole anywhere I've seen on that river, including PA, that a rainbow could summer over with low flows.

I'm pretty familier with have a dozen holes on that river. No, I won't put it on the web.

Thanks - I need to hit the Potomac more. That's about 2 hours from camp but likely worth it.