Fly fishing along the Gunpowder has been challenging this week. Lots of tubers and boaters have sent more than a few folks into the shop muttering. Fly fishing early and late might be the right approach if you tend to fall into the muttering group. If you can tolerate the “other” traffic, try swinging a nymph or two after the boats have passed and you might find a surprised wild brown trout on the other end of your line. The river is flowing at 90 Cfs, water temps are in the 56 to 58 F range and we’ve had numerous reports from anglers connecting with early morning tricos at Masemore and just downstream of Bluemount Rd access. Bwo’s, especially on cloudy days, have also been accounting for a number of fish released above Falls Rd. access. Nymph fishing can be a very good method to try between hatches. Small Copper Johns in the #16-18 range and larger stonefliy patterns like the “twenty-incher” are worth a shot. But keep in mind, even if fish are not actively rising on or near the surface, sometimes they’ll take a large terrestrial pattern with abandon. For those of you who think the Devil made tricos, stop in the next time you’re up and we’ll show you some smartly tied, reverse hackled, trikes from Mike Bachkosky, that may just make your trico woes go away.

Thanks to Bill For the Following report from July 21,

Theaux – Fished downstream from York Road on Friday morning, and saw only one other fisherman (while I was walking out) in four hours. Brought 9 browns to hand and LDR’d a few more. Used a tandem rig consisting of a #18 bead head PT nymph with a starling collar about 16″ under a #16 bead head “Go To” nymph. All but one fish took the #18 dropper, and everything caught came out of a riffle. Saw no rises the entire time, and only a few scattered caddis
fluttering about from time to time.

Bill