The river is falling from 152 Cfs and will be in excellent shape for the weekend, water temps are still cool at 51 F. No word on Caddis yet but they’re close to popping, so we might not need to wait till mothers day as long as things continue to warm up a bit.This afternoon a young man stopped in the shop to report that there were, “lots of rising fish at Masemore”. It’s very likely that he was seeing fish taking spinners this afternoon, (picture by Jason du Pont below)

Riffles can be very productive during this hatch. We also had a number of anglers in today that thought Blue Quills might be the ticket. Soft hackles and loop winged emergers are a safe bet in the morning and by mid-day consider switching to a Hendrickson in a #14-16. If you see a few larger mayflies in the #10-12 range out there, try a Quill Gordon or March Brown for the heck of it. Historically we have not had as varied a mayfly population on the Gunpowder as compared to streams in South Central Pennsylvania, but we have seen a slight increase in OTF, (Other than Sulphur) patterns on the river since the Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources and the City of Baltimore have been able to manage water temperature and flow to a higher degree in the past few years. –Plus it’s fun to fish classic mayfly patterns, and it’s about time we all cast to some rising fish. This weekend, the yard will have to wait-go flyfishing on the Gunpowder!