Welcome Aboard!
You are not logged in.
Westernport MD...146 miles from my house as directed by Waze. It's a long drive but once you get there, things settle down as you are way out in the country in the mountains of western MD. The North Branch of the Potomac (still about 30 miles from where it starts) has a cool, fast flow from dam released water upstream. It also separates MD and WV.
John and I were fishing with PJ Daley and off we went!
Our target was gator browns!
And fairly early into the trip, John gets hooked up!
Nice!!
We each scored on some fall fish...
...some folks call them trash fish. I call them pullage!
About 1/2 down the float, I got majorly snagged when mi fly line wrapped around a rock in the middle of a very fast flow. There was no way to stop the boat. All of of the sudden, my rod comes apart and 2/3 of it go flying up river. We did everything we could but I was down to the backing and it finally snapped.
This is all I have left of my 7wt now...
...hopefully, PJ will find the remaining 2/3 of the rod (big clue will be a yellow floating line) on his next trip or 2.
Lunch was great as John brought subs from the Italian Deli. Have to remember to take pictures. They were fantastic. I had the Philly with both sweet and hot peppers.
And now, some scenery...
There were two important condition issues today: 1. flow 2. leaves
The hard flow made it hard to stay in contact with your line. Lots and lots of mending as we went all fly. And, because of that flow...lots of recasting. We both need to rest our arms and shoulders today.
The leaves, mostly big sycamore, faked us out many a time. When you hook one at 1st, it feels like a fish. Must of happened 20 times!. I wish we could have caught that many fish...
Still, it was great especially down some of the fast riffles...felt like we were on a roller coaster at times.
PJ is a master on the oars and took us back upriver a few times to hit some honey holes. He was very frustrated. Not with us but with the lack of production. The fish were just not on.
I did talk to another guide and fisherman and they also experienced slow fishing. So much so that they switched to spinning and scored a few. When I fly fish, it all in or nothing.
Well, we didn't get nothing We did score on a few rainbows, the fall fish and John's Brown which we estimated at @18".
Here's one of my rainbows...
...unfortunately, we could not get the bigger ones to eat!
Offline
Nice looking trip! Sucks about the rod. Did you have another?
Offline
drxfish wrote:
Did you have another?
The one I lost was a 7wt that I was throwing with streamers. PJ had another one that he let me use. We also used 5wts for nymphing.
Offline
Great report. It's beautiful out in that area, Western MD is so much different than the rest of the state.
Offline
Gorgeous trouts!!! I haven't seen a fall fish that big before, pullage indeed.
Offline
Is that the South Fork of the Potomac?
I've fished above Cumberland before - NF of the 'mac. Trout & smallies. Higher up the flow you go the more slime rockets are prevalent
Offline
North Fork, just below the Savage River...about 25 miles W of Cumberland. Water gets fed/controlled by Jennings Randolph Lake.
Offline
Forgot I had this image. What you resort to when trout fishing is slow.
Offline
Ernie wrote:
Forgot I had this image. What you resort to when trout fishing is slow.
lol That's one of the things I use all the time when trout fishing Either that or trout magnets. But then again I've only fished for stocked trout...
Offline