Western Region:

Fishermen at Deep Creek Lake continue to enjoy good fishing for walleye and smallmouth bass along steep edges near points and humps. A number of fishermen are drifting live minnows on jig head combinations or fishing with crankbaits by either casting or trolling. Crappie continue to school up near the bridge piers of the Route 219 and Glen Dale Bridges and fishermen are catching them and large yellow perch on small minnows. Largemouth bass are being found near deep submerged grass beds often in 10’ or more of water. The lake continues to be in a draw down stage as workmen continue work on the power plant turbines and many of the shallow cove areas have exposed bottoms.

The fisheries crews from the Lewistown Office have been sampling the waters of the upper Potomac River with electro-fishing equipment recently and they sampled some impressive fish. John Mullican sent in this report. Gone is the influence of our last rainfall and the river has once again dropped to very low levels. The water is crystal clear with the bottom easily visible as deep as nine or ten feet. Nevertheless, with the days getting shorter and the water temperatures dropping into the 40s, fish are feeding aggressively before winter. Fishermen have been doing well on smallmouth and walleye in the deeper pools using jigs or deep running crankbaits.

We recently finished up our fall electro-fishing survey of the upper Potomac River. Although we haven't worked up the data yet, I can say that I have never seen so many quality-size bass.

Flows are down once again in many of the regions trout waters and fishermen are reporting that access is easy to the rivers and streams and fishing is good. There are plenty of recently stocked trout and the resident fish are there they just tend to be a bit spooky and the larger brown trout tend to hold in the deepest water they can find. Falling leaves on the surface of the water can make dry fly fishing a little difficult at times but the trout are feeding.

Central/Southern Region: