Hey everybody,
I spent my long weekend with my fiancee and a friend up at Wisp in western Maryland. We had great luck with the ski conditions with ~3 inches of snow over Saturday night, so snowboarding on Sunday was awesome. It was supposed to warm up to 38 degrees on Monday though, and I thought I'd take the opportunity to fish the stretch of the Youghiogheny (Yoc-uh-gain-ee, or the "Yoc") which is about a 10 minute drive from the mountain. This reach of the Yoc is a tailwater that is supposed to have abundant wild trout and a variety of hatches.
Sadly, the river didn't show off for me. The cold conditions and snowfall made for a river full of slush and anchor ice. Still, I think the river shows great promise for the next time I make it out to western Maryland. My impression is that in season it would look a lot like the South Holston in TN.
I headed for the access point in Oakland, which is at the top of the 4 mile catch and return section. It was 22 degrees at 9:30 in the morning, but there were blue skies above and a trout stream in front, so my spirits were high. I was plenty warm, all bundled up with 3 layers under my waders, a thick wool sweater under my ski jacket shell, hat and fingerless gloves. Oh, and hand warmers in my pockets, a must for winter fishing. I walked about 100 yards to the river through untrodden snow -a joy in and of itself! I decided before I got to the river to head downstream because my tactic was to swing a black woolly bugger and a soft hackle hare's ear dropper. Heading downstream turned out to be a mistake. I could of course see that there was lots of slush in the water, and I knew that fish would be holding in deep spots. I thought I would cover more water walking downstream around the island at the top of the stretch. Of course the old fisherman's urge - what's around the next bend? - was a factor as well. The further downstream I went, though, the shallower the water got. The river straightens out for a few miles downstream of this access point, which means the primary feature was a wide river bed. In fact it looks a lot like the South Holston in TN in this area, and I could picture miles of rising trout in easily wadable water. After some mostly fruitless searching for a significant pool or deep slot, I got out of the river and walked along the trail on river right. The trail was full of blowdowns to walk around, but I found a dripping ice waterfall which I could use to cut the whiskey in my little flask. Another winter fishing essential!
I didnt have much time to spend at the river, so I walked down the trail a little further and then turned around. I was curious about what might be upstream of the access point. Not 5 minutes after I passed the drop off point, I got a text from my fiancee saying they were coming to pick me up a little early. Why are friends and family so bad at entertaining themselves when I'm fishing? It was a pity too, because the water upstream looked like the best water for the conditions. There is a deep bend in the river, and there were some obvious deep spots that most certainly held fish. I didn't get in the water, since I knew I was being picked up in 10 minutes. So of course I just stared longingly at the water until I was picked up a little before noon.
TL;DR : no fish, but some fun winter prospecting on a beautiful stream.
Tight Lines,
Misha
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