The famed Green Drake hatch occurs on few Maryland rivers, but I encountered the hatch while fishing the Upper Savage River on the first two days of June with Neil, a shop regular. We spent two evenings wading areas where primarily brook trout were feeding on these large size eight bugs. The action was right before dark, and while fish were rising, the small brookies and large mayflies allowed the fish to gorge themselves quickly it seemed, and begged the question, just how many of these huge Mayflies can a seven or ten inch brook trout eat? I spent some time photographing this hatch and shot some footage of the huge Coffin flies returning to the water.

I moved down onto the Lower Savage below the reservoir for the rest of the week to fish my usual haunts. The flow was at a near perfect 120 Cfs, which I like for nymphing and fishing dries in the rough pocket water. The cold 48-49 degree water was clear, and the fish were surprisingly active on dries, so I only nymphed a few hours during the week. Some sporadic hatches of Hendricksons, BWOs, and March browns had the fish working the surface for a short time each day. The fish though were more than willing to eat a large dry throughout the day, regardless of what was hatching. A size 12 snow shoe winged March Brown dead drifted in the seams around the roughest water, pictured below, produced steady action. Fishing blind with a few casts into each likely holding spot, and covering water brought roughly two dozen wild trout to the surface by day’s end. The thrill of dropping a large, buoyant dry into a precise pocket amidst the chaos of rushing water, and watching trout erupt on the fly, was reason enough the brave the steady rain each day.  While I landed no large fish over fifteen inches, I hooked a few by weeks end. The smaller browns and brookies were eager to rise and fought hard in the strong currents. The latest video features Green Drakes from the Upper Savage and native brookies and wild browns on the Lower Savage River.