So with the North Branch high and cold, I took some clients to fish on the Casselman River, expecting to have a productive day. As a guide, I am constantly trying to figure out what the fish are doing. Factors such as clarity, flow, temperature, pressure, and such can really change how the fishing is going to be that day. Hence the phrase, "thats why they call it fishing."
The Casselman usually fishes well in the Spring. The hatches are good and the trout that are stocked are usually very healthy and often huge. Spring rains and snow melt keep the river at levels between 150 -250 CFS and the river is a god card up your sleeve when the other rivers just aren't fishable.
With snow in Western Maryland a week or two ago, that really changed things along with the cold nights. With temps in the mid 40's to start the day, we were looking at tough conditions. In the past, I and my clients have been able to move fish using larger streamer patterns. But this day, little luck. With few bugs hatching and low temps fish were deep and out of site. I also think that some of the higher flows pushed some of the stocked fish up unto PA. We were able to hook up two nice trout though. One Brook Trout took a Flash Fly Clouser fished deep and another Brown Trout took a 6th Man being worked back upstream through a nice run on the lower river near the PA line.
But as any fishing day goes, its always a good day to be out on the water helping clients improve their skills, give them some new techniques and at least give them something to take home at the end of the day besides the thousands of cast during the day.
