Casselman River April 2025
When: Saturday April 26, 9:00 AM to Sunday April 27, 5:00 PM.
Where: Casselman River, Near Grantsville, MD.
Participants: Ken Bowyer, Bob O’Donnell, Priscilla O’Donnell, Grace O’Donnell, Karan Singh, Lou Reichel, and Ron Kerrick.
FYI, the restoration work on the historic stone bridge hasn’t started yet. According to the Park Ranger that I talked to on the phone before the trip, construction will be starting later this year, and they expect that it will take 2-3 years to complete the project. But in the meantime, the parking lot is open.
One of our members, Andy Grosko, is also a member of the Free State Flyfishers and they had their group outing to the Casselman River from Thursday to Sunday. On Thursday Andy reported a tremendous Caddis Fly hatch in the evening. One member of their group caught a dozen trout on Thursday. Friday morning there was another Caddis fly hatch starting about 10 AM, but by 4 PM the rain started and everything shut down, plus the river rose significantly. The highpoint for Andy was catching an 11” brook trout on a caddis fly. He reported that most trout were caught on Caddis flies, but other patterns worked at times. Large nymphs hooked some nice 15-16” rainbow trout for several in their group.
I drove out to the Casselman River on Friday so I wouldn’t have to get up before the sun on Saturday morning to get to the outing on time (in my old age it makes for a much easier and less tiring day). Lou and Ken also drove out on Friday. I got out there at lunchtime and went over to the Savage River to fish there first, but the water was up a bit. I spent about an hour there with no luck and headed to the Casselman. The weather got a little wetter as the day went on. There was light rain on and off and then later a heavy downpour with some thunder in the distance. I quit for the day at 5:30 and went for dinner. Lou and Ken stopped by my room after dinner and we recalled our day’s adventures. Lou and Ken both had luck and caught fish on the Casselman before the heavy rain. That afternoon, Ken fished for about an hour at Farmer’s Lane using Pete Yarrington’s Henryville Special (from our chapter’s Fly-Tying Meeting). He caught a 10” rainbow and lost 2 others. Lou also had success, catching a couple of Rainbows using a Henryville Special and then a peacock deer caddis.
On Saturday, the official start of the outing, the three of us met in the parking lot at the Casselman River Bridge State Park at 9:00 AM. Bob, his wife and daughter and Karan let us know that they were going to arrive later. Weather-wise, Saturday kinda bit the rusty hook when a cold front came through. When we started, the air temperature was about 60 degrees (the temperature dropped during the day) and the sky was overcast with occasional rain making an appearance. The water flow was up and as to be expected, a bit muddy from the rain on Friday. Ken, Lou, and I headed over to Bear Creek to check out that area for the morning. We fished at one of the roadside pull-offs where all three of us had some bites, but no hook-ups. At 1:00 we met the rest of the group back at the historic bridge parking lot for a lunch of grilled hot dogs and beans. We cooked and had lunch in the small pavilion at the State Park and Karan brought a variety of chips to share. After lunch, we headed back out to fish the Casselman. The sky remained overcast, and the air temperature dropped to 46 degrees by the end of the afternoon. Then at 6:00 we all met at the Casselman Inn for dinner. Bob reported that he and his family caught 9 total, plus lost a bunch more. He had a really big fish launch itself in the air and shake the hook out. Their hot fly was a green crystal bugger. The fish were really whacking it and his daughter Grace had a fish leap out of the water after an orange sucker spawn. Bob said that he caught one fat fish that was so wide he couldn’t wrap his hand around it.
Sunday morning at 8:00 was a group breakfast at IHOP and then back out to the Casselman. Everyone fished the River Road pull-offs and at Farmer‘s Lane. Sunday’s weather was cold (40 degrees) and a little windy with bright sun. At the river, water flow and turbidity had reduced a bit. Karan caught a rainbow of about 9” on a #16 green caddis nymph. He got several strikes with his combo of a caddis nymph dropper with a #16 caddis emerger above it. Most people fished until mid-afternoon and then headed back home.
I think everyone had a great outing even though we just missed the big Caddis hatch on Thursday evening and Friday morning. With any luck, we will hit the hatch next year.
Ron Kerrick
