Savage

Seven ridge lines west the Savage River Reservoir is tucked into the mountains just west of South Savage Mountain and just East of Deep Creek MD and  the upper reaches of the Youghiougheny River.   It's a strong MD holdout of pristine water and native brook trout.   Below the reservoir there's trophy trout water but above the feeding into the reservoir are 92 miles of gloriously unimpeded trout streams allowing trout to enjoy both the safety of the reservoir and the cooler tributaries in the summer.   I called Savage River Outfitters before I came and co-owner Paul answered from the base of the Wind River Range in WY.   He said that if I liked the SNP Blue lines I'd be right at home on the tribs leading into the reservoir.   He wasn't wrong.

It's a 3+hr drive from NOVA and I arrived at the damn at 0930, the trophy tailwater will have to wait for another day but it struck me as a freestone tailwater that would require care and planning as the water would be rushing through a very rocky riverbed. As you look at the trib-hollows in the map above the each one deserves attention less Dry Run which while not dry is just too skinny to be very fishy.   I slid in to the first trib, the Cranberry which joins the reservoir at 7:00 with a 2wt dry-dropper setup and high expectations. After meaty brookies slapped my dry I took off the pheasant tail dropper and caught 6 handsome brookies in 20 minutes.   The rest of the day was spent survey fishing each trib, I won't give away all the knowledge I gained here , but I'd be happy to show you.

Of Mayfly and Snake

It's true that you never find the same river and the river never bathes the same long rodder.   Paul, James, Henry and I slid into the warm lick of the South Fork in what seemed like ideal conditions then struggled to match our
catch-rate from previous adventures in these fine waters.   Our history of extraordinary success on this slice of the river makes 'normal' days seem like lean times.  This trip was highlighted by Henry's broad smile as he
tested the standing/stability of his new JK Mayfly kayak.  We all hoped he'd have a learning curve and take a YouTube-worthy fall, but the mayfly was stable and combined with Henry's agility we were robbed of any yard sale
memories.   I picked up smallies on my H Fork 5wt with both golden retrievers and small tubes presented with a 1/32oz jig head, but the strike rate was low.   In retrospect my streamer, stripping and swinging, tactics
didn't allow my offerings to get deep enough in the water column as the fish were laying deep below the 80 degree current layer.   As Paul, James and I were eating lunch and lamenting our low catches Henry arrived from upstream
beaming..."Hey mates how're ya doing? I just had the most amazing time!" He'd adapted and introduced heavily weighted offerings on long leaders to cut/sink through the current and meet the bass in the deeper holes and runs
and had been hooking good sized bass every other cast.    We all more or less adopted his tactics and when we got to the next section that offered deeper waters we met with increased success.

  

At the end, life is but a collection of memories, find your river and make some.