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Home › Waters › Maryland › Youghiogheny River (Maryland)
River · Garrett County Highlands, Western Maryland · Maryland

Youghiogheny River (Maryland) Fishing Guides

Maryland's mountain Youghiogheny - a cold highland river with a catch-and-return trophy trout reach above Friendsville and the famous Upper Yough whitewater below.

A small waterfall stepping through mossy boulders in an eastern hardwood forest
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Youghiogheny River (Maryland)

Claimed profiles take booking requests. Unclaimed profiles are built from public records so the river is never empty; the guide can claim or remove one any time.

About the Youghiogheny River (Maryland)

The Youghiogheny rises in West Virginia, runs north through Garrett County, Maryland, and crosses into Pennsylvania on its way to the Monongahela. The USGS gauge at Friendsville watches about two hundred and ninety-five square miles at the Maryland end of that run, and it carries a live water temperature series alongside discharge and stage – a genuinely useful combination on a river where trout survival depends on how cold the water stays.

Maryland manages a stretch of the Youghiogheny above Friendsville as a catch-and-return trophy trout fishery, and that reach is the reason most anglers make the trip. It holds brown and rainbow trout, with brook trout in the colder tributaries feeding in. Below the trophy water the river warms and smallmouth bass become the dominant sport fish, with walleye present in the deeper runs. The Deep Creek Lake hydroelectric station discharges into the river upstream, and its release schedule affects both flow and temperature on the Maryland reach – anglers and paddlers both plan around it.

Friendsville is also the put-in for the Upper Yough, one of the better-known advanced whitewater runs in the eastern United States, and the town’s rhythm follows scheduled releases. That matters for fishing: on release days the river is high, fast and full of boats, and on non-release days it drops back to a wadeable trout stream. Reading the gauge against the release calendar is the practical skill here.

The setting is genuine highland country – Swallow Falls and Herrington Manor state parks, hemlock and rhododendron, and the Youghiogheny River Natural Environment Area protecting the corridor. Maryland’s trophy trout regulations differ from the statewide rules and are strictly enforced, so the current guide is worth checking before fishing the upper reach.

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Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

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2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

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5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

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Posting to Youghiogheny River (Maryland).

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Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Flow alert

Tell me when the Youghiogheny River (Maryland) cfs

Now: 248 cfs, read 4:45 am CDT, Thu Oct 22, 2026 (USGS 03076500, YOUGHIOGHENY RIVER AT FRIENDSVILLE, MD).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Friendsville town access and gauge - the flow, stage and temperature reference; Upper Yough put-in.
Youghiogheny River Natural Environment Area - protected corridor with walk-in trout access.
Sang Run boat access - the standard access above Friendsville and near the trophy water.
Swallow Falls State Park - upstream river frontage in old-growth hemlock.
Hoyes Run area - access below the Deep Creek hydro discharge.
Oakland area crossings - upper-river access in the headwater reach.
Maryland-Pennsylvania line below Friendsville - the bottom of the Maryland water.

Seasons

Spring: high and cold; strong flows and the best trout conditions of the year.
Summer: low between releases and warming in the lower reach; fish the trophy water early.
Fall: cool, clear and excellent - the most consistent window for trout above Friendsville.
Winter: cold and often icy, with limited access and occasional fishable mild spells.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Youghiogheny River (Maryland)?

As of Oct 22, 4:45 am, the USGS gauge YOUGHIOGHENY RIVER AT FRIENDSVILLE, MD reads 248 cfs, with water temperature 51.6 F. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Youghiogheny River (Maryland)?

Anglers target Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye on the Youghiogheny River (Maryland) in Maryland.

Are there fishing guides on the Youghiogheny River (Maryland)?

GuidedFloats lists 2 guides and outfitters on the Youghiogheny River (Maryland). Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the Youghiogheny River (Maryland)?

Friendsville town access and gauge - the flow, stage and temperature reference; Upper Yough put-in. Youghiogheny River Natural Environment Area - protected corridor with walk-in trout access. Sang Run boat access - the standard access above Friendsville and near the trophy water. Swallow Falls State Park - upstream river frontage in old-growth hemlock. Hoyes Run area - access below the Deep Creek hydro discharge. Oakland area crossings - upper-river access in the headwater reach. Maryland-Pennsylvania line below Friendsville - the bottom of the Maryland water.

When is the best time to fish the Youghiogheny River (Maryland)?

Spring: high and cold; strong flows and the best trout conditions of the year. Summer: low between releases and warming in the lower reach; fish the trophy water early. Fall: cool, clear and excellent - the most consistent window for trout above Friendsville. Winter: cold and often icy, with limited access and occasional fishable mild spells.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Youghiogheny River (Maryland)?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Maryland agency site: https://dnr.maryland.gov/fisheries/pages/regulations/index.aspx