# Rocky gorge this past week



## therevolution (Oct 12, 2010)

I am fairly new to this site, and I have learned a ton. I work nights so have tons of time to fish. I have fished all my life but since last fall I have really started to acquire a fishing addiction. Since then I have been all over Md fishing, but the convenience of rocky gorge is probably going to make it my water of choice this summer. This past week I have been there twice and only snagged a shad. I am fishing a canoe with a trolling motor, just dropped 150 at bpro to put together a decent little tackle box.

After being there for two days my impression of the water is that there is a ton of deep water with very steep dropoffs. The water temps are still in the mid 40's and the water level is low. While fishing, I was looking up at structure that should be submerged. We are supposed to get heavy rain this week that will hopefully fill it up a little more.

I am excited about learnng how to fish this place and catch some nice fish. 

These two times I put in there my intentions were to motor to near the rte 29 bridge. I put in at brown bridge and then scotts cove. But, I never made it even close to the bridge because I would get distracted by the fishy water I saw on the way there. 

I was talkng to the dnr at the scotts cove launch and they were saying not many people fish there and those who do pull some nice bass. Looking at the maps I have of the water, the whole thing is really deep even in the coves. 

Anyways, I wanted to start a dialogue about rocky gorge because I have found limited info about it on the net. And, I have searched many times and looked at many forums with limited info.

So i thought I'd start a thread to track my experiences here.

So far, I have found it to look very fishy. We will see what happens when it warms up. One thing is for sure, I am going to bait up a cove for carps so if bass fishin goes kaput I can still get some pullage.


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## dena (Jun 20, 2010)

I fished it years ago. I grew up a bikes ride away. Up river from Browns Bridge, if the water is up in the Spring is good. Canoe the run from Brighton Dam to Browns bridge. Leave the motor at home, you won't need it.
Suplee park, on the other side in Laurel will get you closest to the dam. 
Some areas warm faster in the Spring than others. Learn these areas and you will be successful.

Deep jigs in the summer days, Buzz baits in the AM, until the sun got up.

Don't over look Tridelphia either.


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## therevolution (Oct 12, 2010)

Yea, from my research I have heard the Triadelphia is good too. I really want to focus on the gorge though. I have learned it gets tough in the summer. But I am determined to figure it out.

Good info about going up from brown bridge. I will have to check it out. This past Saturday the water level was so low at brown bridge, hopefully the rain in the next two days will raise i.t up a bit. The area there looks verry verry fishy.


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## shadyfisher85 (Mar 17, 2010)

I fished Rocky Gorge on a friends boat a few times last year and was able to stick a few bass. One of them was one of the better bass that I've caught in the past few years at just over 4 lbs. It seems to me that this lake is pretty difficult in general. I think you have to zero in on a specific pattern or you will not catch a thing. We used jigs a lot of times with pork trailer.

As far as species, many target largemouth, smallmouth, pike, but there are also pretty big Striper in the Lake from what I hear as well as Carp and even Walleye.

Keep in mind that you are supposed to buy a permit to use the lake.


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## therevolution (Oct 12, 2010)

Yea I have the permit. $60 for the year....ouch


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## shadyfisher85 (Mar 17, 2010)

O my, I thought it used to be $30!


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## SureFireSurf (Jul 6, 2010)

*Little Senneca*

Thats better than Little Seneca in Germantown....$75


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## tacklemake (Feb 24, 2010)

That $60.00 covers two people in the boat for a year.I fish both rocky and tridelphia and if you want crappie,in another week or two things will pick up.I like using a slide float with a bobber stopper and my 1/64oz feather glo-jig and a spilt shot about 18" above the jig.Set the bobber stopper at 6' because of the drop off along the shore line.Look for the beaver mounds there are a big bunch of trees on the rock face in the water and the big crappie hid in them waiting for bait.If you use a minnow the crappie will only put the minnow in his mouth until he feels its safe to take it down,but without the minnow when the float moves its in his mouth set the hook and hang on.If you are fishing rocky you will find the beaver huts about a mile up towards the 29 bridge on the left ,if you launch from brown's bridge road and from the back ramp at tridelphia about a 1/2 mile up on the left..................woody


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## therevolution (Oct 12, 2010)

Thanks woody, that is great info. I will definitely give that a try. A week or two ehh? The closer it is to catchin time, the harder it is to wait.


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## Fish_Nuts (Mar 20, 2009)

Haven't had the chance to Fish Rocky Gorge yet, but I just started fishing Triadelphia last year and I have caught a few LM/SM bass, perch, and one BIG crappie almost 16". As for the water use permit apparently (and unfortunately) EVERYONE needs their own permit regardless of being in a boat or on shore (I also checked with the gentleman that issues the permits at the Brighton DAM office):

"Every person who has reached his/her 16th birthday must possess and carry a WSSC Watershed Use Permit while boating, fishing, hunting or horseback riding. NO PERSON UNDER 16 YEARS OF AGE will be permitted on the reservoirs in a boat unless accompanied by a person who is at least 16 years old and holds a valid WSSC Watershed Use Permit. Persons who are 65 years of age or older, disabled or handicapped are exempt from this fee. These people must show documentation of their age or disability. In addition, those fishing or hunting must also possess and carry the appropriate State permits and licenses. (Refer to the appropriate sections for more details.) The WSSC Watershed Use Permit must be signed to be valid and it is non-transferable, and non-refundable."

http://www.wsscwater.com/home/jsp/content/watershed.faces

IN ADDITION THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE DROPPING TRIADELPHIA 29 FEET IN SEPTEMBER FOR TWO YEARS TO WORK ON THE DAM


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## therevolution (Oct 12, 2010)

So if they drop the lake 29 feet it will be really hard to launch a boat. I have a canoe so I think I could still get on the lake. Will the reservoir be closed after they drop it? And how would that effect the fishing. My thinking would be that it condenses the fish into a smaller amount of water, so there would end up being more fish per acre. Would the effect of that on fishing be negative or positive?


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## Fish_Nuts (Mar 20, 2009)

Those are the same questions that went through my head. I would assume all ramps would become useless and you may be able to get a kayak/canoe down, but you might have to wait for the lake bottom to dry out or else you will probably be walking through serious mud. I think one interesting aspect of this is that you will be able to see firsthand, all the structure around the lake and possibly go "tackle finding". Depending if this greatly decreases the overall volume of the lake you could have an issue with condensed fish and lack of oxygen to support this. This would be a good opportunity for any “old timers” that may have witnessed this occurrence before to chime in (if such a thing has happened). I know I have heard of lakes out in Texas go through 20ft drops as a normal thing, but I assume they are MUCH bigger.


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## therevolution (Oct 12, 2010)

Oooo talk finding. Thats a good idea! Last Saturday I would say the water level at Rocky Gorge was down a good 10 feet. It was interesting to see structure that would be underwater when the level is higher. I definitely saw some spots that look money when the water rises.


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## tacklemake (Feb 24, 2010)

The time before the last when they were down that far I took pictures of all structure that would be under water so I would know where and what it would look like after it was full..................woody


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## therevolution (Oct 12, 2010)

That's a great idea.


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## cducer (May 7, 2010)

I used to live on Ashokan Reservoir in NY and looked forward to the drought times that would lower the water levels!! was amazed at the bottom contors and when I found a spot I liked I could go back there at full pool and know where to look for fish and would know why they were there.
Down side is there becomes a chance to overfish a target species due to the concentration in a smaller area.


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## shadyfisher85 (Mar 17, 2010)

A few years ago when we had a pretty substantial drought, I fished Loch Raven near Loch Raven drive. I dont know how far it was down, but is was quite a bit. I fished just about the time when crayfish were starting to come out. The water was down enough that I was able to easily pick live crayfish out of the rocks. With the water being down so far I was able to see a rock ledge that I probably wouldn't have been able to see otherwise. Every time I dropped a live crayfish next to the ledge a fish would take it immediately. I probably caught atleast half a dozen 2 pound smallmouth doing this. I decided to chuck the crayfish out a little farther and something ripped it so fast and broke the line that I never knew what it was. Its likely that it was a big Northern Pike


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## tacklemake (Feb 24, 2010)

*crayfish or crawdads*

Did you know that on a full moon they shed there shell just like a blue crab.So if you go out on a full moon on ponds and lake in the shallow grass beds you will find soft shell crayfish or crawdads and everything eats them................woody:fishing:


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## therevolution (Oct 12, 2010)

I grew up in Laurel and used to go to Laurel lake all the time. Well one fall in November I was walking in that spillway thing at the top of the lake on the neighborhood side. And back up against the wall where the water came over from the small pond behind it were thousands of crayfish stacked up seemingly trying to crawl up the spillway back into the pond. I remember taking a few home to keep in a fish tank. I am only 25 so this was back in the mid 90's. They would have been easy pickings for bait.


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