first shot at posting pictures

[ryansheehan]

I was up on the Savage river in western Maryland. I had a real nice day a lot of nice browns and some great brookies. I hope the pics post the right way.

 

[J55tyger88]

Nice pics, man. Those are some real good looking fish.

 

[pabrookie94]

Gorgeous fish man!

 

[laszlo]

Nice fish, especially that butter brown

 

[Swattie87]

Very impressive lot there. Nicely done. That's a scary looking male Brookie...not too many of them get like that. How big was he?

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Man I gotta get out there. I did plan on it this year...so far it hasn't happened.

 

[ryansheehan]

Thank you, I would say he was close to 10. I caught quite a few brookies in the 7-9 range that day. This has been the best brookie fishing on the lower savage I have seen in many years.

 

[dc410]

Beautiful fish! Thanks for sharing your photos with us.

 

[Chaz]

Great fish, makes me wonder why PFBC doesn't do a better job of managing wild trout in PA, especially when you see large trout caught.
BTW, MD. DNR was ordered to look at the C & R regs in the Savage R. basin the point is the bait and bucket brigade want to harvest fish and use bait.

 

[troutbert]

ryansheehan wrote:
Thank you, I would say he was close to 10. I caught quite a few brookies in the 7-9 range that day. This has been the best brookie fishing on the lower savage I have seen in many years.

What is meant by the lower Savage River?

How far down are there wild brook trout?

In the photo it looks like you are on pretty big water. The wild brook trout are in there?

 

[ryansheehan]

Chaz wrote:
Great fish, makes me wonder why PFBC doesn't do a better job of managing wild trout in PA, especially when you see large trout caught.
BTW, MD. DNR was ordered to look at the C & R regs in the Savage R. basin the point is the bait and bucket brigade want to harvest fish and use bait.

Great just what we need. I think the regs in place work very well. The only time I have ever seen people keep fish out of the savage is when the rainbows swim up from the north branch of the Potomac or come over the savage river reservoir.There is no size limit on keeping rainbows and most are stockers.


Troutbert, the lower savage is a tail water with wild Brooks and browns. It's not a big river but it is wide in spots. It's a lot of pocket water. There are Brooks all the way down to where it dumps into the north branch of the Potomac, where there are also brookies( not a lot).

 

[PocketWater]

Gorgeous fish. Thanks for sharing the photos. I want to make it down there sometime. Were you right in the area below the damn? I think I read there was some camping right there below the damn and am curious if it fills up really quickly or if it isn't first come/first served and you can make reservations.

 

[ryansheehan]

Yes there is a camp ground near the top, it is mostly wide open except for a few days. There's a box where you register and put money in, don't know the cost but I am sure you can find it online. There is good fishing the entire length of the savage, it's not that long before it runs into the north branch.

 

[Tucker733]

Chaz
I wanted to address what you said above. From what I heard, I couldn't make it due to work, after the last local TU meeting for the Savage area, the two men in charge of surveying the Savage drainage attended and said they had recently showed the secretary of the DNR around the drainage and told him that many of the populations have doubled and rose to very high levels since the regulations went into effect. They said that that secretary thought the regulations were doing what they were supposed to do and there was no reason to change them. I can only hope this is what will really happen

Interesting note: The only tributary that did not see the high increase was the Middle Fork and the reason they stated was pressure and a lack of wood debris in the stream. They wanted to go in and add debris into the stream but the forestry department turned down the idea.

 

[troutbert]

Tucker733 wrote:

Interesting note: The only tributary that did not see the high increase was the Middle Fork and the reason they stated was pressure and a lack of wood debris in the stream. They wanted to go in and add debris into the stream but the forestry department turned down the idea.

That is interesting. Do you know why the forestry people objected?

Adding large woody debris is something that has been done in the western states quite a bit, and more recently has been done in New England and in West Virginia.

I'd like to see it tried in PA, but the land agencies (DCNR, Game Commission, Allegheny National Forest) would have to be convinced. So it would be interesting to see what the objections of forestry managers are.

Is there a road in the floodplain right along the stream? Or other developments such as any buildings or a campground? If so, that makes adding large woody debris to the stream a tough proposition. Because large woody debris does increase flooding of the floodplain. Which is a good thing if the stream is just running through a forested floodplain. But it creates a conflict if the floodplain is developed.

 

[Acristickid]

There is an upper and lower - above and below the dam. The campground is for the most part is little used. I have never seen more than 2-3 sites used. Water is cold and usually the release is very stable. I know they blow it out in spring and for occasional water water use. Try the Phd pool- ha.

The lower river is in a tight valley and is well shaded. The road is above the river goes along almost the whole length. Wading is very slippery.

The north branch is a heavily stocked River.