Deep Creek Lake

Type: Nontidal
Region: Western
Location: Deep Creek Lake

I�m a little late on this report but I thought someone might tuck away the info for next year. We had great late May fishing at Deep Creek Lake for smallmouth, big pickerel, rock bass and few other nice specimens. I pulled into the campground on Wednesday afternoon the 18th. It was grey and even a little chilly but that not uncommon for Garrett Co. this time of year. The next day was a little rainy and cool so I took my time getting ready. I dropped by boat in around nine and started fishing the Park shoreline. Within 10 minutes I had numerous hits and caught several little smallmouth on a white streamer fly that I like to fish unweighted on a 6-weight outfit. This was a good sign. The water temp was 60 f which is a perfect early spring temperature. It never actually warmed up and the water temp may have dropped a half degree which may be why the smallmouth fishing never got really hot. But no matter the pickerel were hungry and I got several over 20�. The next day alternated between sunny and balmy and breezy, cloudy and chilly but the smallmouth fishing was better. That afternoon I picked up our former Western regional manager, Ken Pavol for a few hours. And Ken gave me not only a casting clinic but showed me what it takes to drive these smallmouth crazy. Kens been on this lake for 30 years and knows a thing or two about DCL smallies. Over the next few days the smallmouth got more and more aggressive. I fished a few different flies and a couple of spinning lures but nothing could beat that suspended streamer pattern. My wife came up for the weekend joined me for some fantastic flyrodding for smallmouth. Nothing was huge but most ranged between 11 and 15 inches. We also caught a few bluegill that were pushing 11 inches. You talk about fun! Well I heard from Ken just a week ago that the lake was still on fire. The smallmouth were trailing off but the bluegill action only got better. You can bet where I�ll be next May.