Fly Fishing for Wild Brown Trout Near DC

The river is flowing at 118 Cfs, (a perfect level for wading) and is 54 F. The reservoir is still turning over but the river is clear enough to sight fish to wild trout taking olives and small caddis in the #18-20 range along the edges of seams. More larger fish, over 14″ have been caught in the past few weeks than the rest of the year combined, including a 20″ fish by lucky Philadelphia area fly fisherman Tom Buterbaugh, and a 20″ fish by local guide Capt. Jeff Lewatowski. Try a large streamer on a sink-tip line through some of the deeper runs and slots above Falls RD and below York RD as quite a few fish in the 4 to 7″ range have been attacked by larger fish this week. Double bunnies and zonkers are worth a shot in the boulder pools.Tiny pheasant tails, brassies and zebra midges are still favorites in the shallow riffles above Falls RD. Cooler days with cloud cover typically point to less traffic on the river, (and better fishing) so bring a rain jacket along and enjoy some beautiful scenery, wild fish this Fall when fly fishing along the Gunpowder River. As I was telling one of our regulars this morning, “The leaves are pretty until I hook them.”

Thanks to Troy for the following stream report.

Theaux:
Thank you again for the tips – I had a great day today, landing a nice fish with my first cast of the morning at about 7:25 a.m. or so, and then catching 5 or 6 on dry flies by about 8:45 a.m. while losing two flies to strikes and missing on 3 or 4. The double nymph set-up also brought in 5 nice fish. Everything today was about 11-12 inches, all Browns except for one Rainbow.
See you at the shop in the next couple of weeks.
Troy

The lower river was recently stocked with 750 rainbows. Most of the fish caught this week were hardfighting and in the 12-13 inch range. Check out access points along York Rd at Upper and Lower Glencoe RD and Sparks RD. Large bright streamers and nymphs should garner some attention from the truck fish.

The Gunpowder river has 18 miles of public water and is suprisingly close to DC, Philly and Northern Virginia. Need directions?