Anyone fish the "yough# near deep creek lake in MD?

[CheeseburgerFly]

Taking a trip to deep creek lake in late july and saw there is a fly fishing only section of the yough minutes down the road. Anybody with experience in that area? Is one able to wade in the water and have a chance at catching trout on the fly?

 

[hambone111]

i fished the Yough for years over summer vacations in the 90's and early to mid 2000's . it was the most consistent producing river for me back then and is still a good fish from what i hear.

you can wade fish all the way up stream to and past the discharge tube . dont be scared, they time and schedule the discharges and there is a siren that would wake the dead when they do discharge. the fishing is very good there but they also get a lot of pressure because its so close to Deep creek so be aware the fish aren't dumb.

if you go down stream past the big island in the middle of the river it really flattens out and becomes sandy and deep, not the best wading. from memory further south than that is boat float only. very deep and rapid laden. there are guides in the area that float it. my dad claims we did it one time and were productive on small mouth bass but i cant for the life of me remember floating that river.

i love the yough.

The Single best day ive ever had in the region was on the Castleman. Foam hoppers in August and my dad and i landed more fish than we can count. so if you can, check that out.

Ive also had great days on the north branch of the Potomac but thats a drive from Deep creek, probably 1 hour one way and i would NOT recommend fishing it alone ever. that river is NO joke.

Enjoy! i would love to take a day trip back out the garret county area for some trout fishing. its the best trout fishing in Maryland in my experience and really the only place i will go out for Trout.

tight lines.

 

[CheeseburgerFly]

Thank you very much. Did you catch your fish on drys or nymphs? Im pretty excited to give it a shot.

 

[hambone111]

Thank you very much. Did you catch your fish on drys or nymphs? Im pretty excited to give it a shot.

back when was the first time i was introduced to the 2 fly dropper system. the guide we used the first time we fished on the yough was a big fan of the dropper system and we have since then used it often. we were using a bead head nymph with an unweighted wet fly style or emerger CDC style fly and we were producing off that. In Late July you will probably have a lot of terrestrial bugs coming off. so like beetles and crickets or foam hoppers cast under trees and around banks is always a good idea, and it never hurts to nymph fish. That would be a good dry/nymph dropper technique for late Maryland summer.

If you find deeper cuts of water decent streamers always work well. i tied for a friend of my dads when i was a youngster and he fished a lot of Clouser Minnows back then in black and white or natural and white or natural and black and was fishing them like 2-3" long. so like a size 8 minimum up to like a size 4. He used to smash trout on the North branch of the Potomac in the summer on those flies because it was a very "off" pattern to fish and often times with lower water the fish are holding deep and they are kind of fattened up from spring feeding and just laying low so you need to throw something more enticing for them to move on a fly. so there is always the idea of throwing some moderate streamers in the deeper cuts for sure.

How many days do you have to get to fish while you are up there?

 

[CheeseburgerFly]

One afternoon, maybe 2 if im lucky.

 

[hambone111]

One afternoon, maybe 2 if im lucky.

yeah, i would recommend yough then. and if you get a second day i would still go back as you will be a more familiar, other rivers will require more of a drive from Deep creek and i dont have any exact memory of where we used to park in order to fish. the Yough was a consistent fisher for us and so close we used to hit it often on the family vacations back when and only hit the castleman or the potomac when we could schedule a full day to do so

 

[50fish]

The Castleman is one of my favorite places. It’s seems to get more popular though every time I go. I prefer to fish downstream from town through the Amish country. Definitely worth a trip if your close by.


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[hambone111]

The Castleman is one of my favorite places. It’s seems to get more popular though every time I go. I prefer to fish downstream from town through the Amish country. Definitely worth a trip if your close by.


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50fish, i think this was where i fished the last time we did so well. i was looking on a map but i couldn't remember when we parked. i just didnt fish the river consistently enough to remember.

i do remember that drive down to the North branch potomac .... harrowing to say the least.

Ive also NEVER caught a fish out of the lower savage River, below the dam. i hear there is great fishing there but IDK, ive never every had even a hook up. Can you comment 50Fish?

 

[scottmd10]

Thats funny Ham as I have never caught a fish wading the North Branch but have always pulled at least one Brown 15 inches or bigger out of the Savage every time I have fished it. The yough is on my list to fish next time I can.

 

[hambone111]

Thats funny Ham as I have never caught a fish wading the North Branch but have always pulled at least one Brown 15 inches or bigger out of the Savage every time I have fished it. The yough is on my list to fish next time I can.

Scott,

ive always heard there were good fish in the Savage, just never been able to produce one myself. Rivers are like that. we all have our preferences in given regions.

Yough has always been a good time and good producer. and if you get a couple guys together to do a 2 man float trip and split the cost, the lower yough is a good producer from a drift boat.

 

[50fish]

50fish, i think this was where i fished the last time we did so well. i was looking on a map but i couldn't remember when we parked. i just didnt fish the river consistently enough to remember.

i do remember that drive down to the North branch potomac .... harrowing to say the least.

Ive also NEVER caught a fish out of the lower savage River, below the dam. i hear there is great fishing there but IDK, ive never every had even a hook up. Can you comment 50Fish?

The popular fishing area for the castleman runs from the 68 bridge, through the town of grantsville, to the PA state line. There is a road that follows the river through this stretch, lots of parking areas.


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[MarsB]

As someone mentioned earlier, be wary of the recreational whitewater releases if you are fishing downstream from the dam. They are typically Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays from May until mid-October, with unscheduled releases for power generation. Call Deep Creek Hydro (315) 413-2823 for up to date info before you go. And be sure to grab lunch at Water Street Cafe in Friendsville (world renowned pepperoni rolls!), tell Chris that Ben sent ya!

Deep Creek - Brookfield Renewable

 

[CheeseburgerFly]

I just wanted to take a moment and thank everyone for their advice. I hit both the yough and the lower savage and enjoyed both very much. I found the savage to be much harder to fish, but four hours on that river made me better at fly fishing than the entire spring of fishing in nj.

 

[hambone111]

I just wanted to take a moment and thank everyone for their advice. I hit both the yough and the lower savage and enjoyed both very much. I found the savage to be much harder to fish, but four hours on that river made me better at fly fishing than the entire spring of fishing in nj.

Good to hear your time out there was positive.

how were water levels? we have had so much rain in MD this year, but its been very localized.

Savage is a tough river. All of western MD rivers are high quality and a good time. you'll have to find a friend and make a trip to the North Branch of the Potomac river. shoot me a PM if you get around to that and ill give you parking directions.

 

[CheeseburgerFly]

The north branch came highly recommended but all said its not safe to go solo. I would love to do a float trip with the local guide PJ daley at some point down the road.

The savage was fishing at 50 cfs when i was there.

 

[hambone111]

The north branch came highly recommended but all said its not safe to go solo. I would love to do a float trip with the local guide PJ daley at some point down the road.

The savage was fishing at 50 cfs when i was there.

Yes the north branch is not safe by yourself. But if you find a buddy to go with and you check the water table before you go and just use common sense wading judgement you'll be safe and sound. ive done it many times with friends and family. its the closest thing to "back country" fishing you can find in MD.

50CFS is pretty good. i think western MD has missed much of the terrible deluges we have had here in more central MD.

Glad you made the trek out west. now you'll be dreaming about it until next summer