On a recent outing to the catch-and-release area of the Gunpowder river, I was happy to have landed a good number of fish including a nice 16 inch brown. If fished from about 6 o’clock to 8, and landed a good number of fish casting small elk-hair caddis and large stimulators into riffles. There were no fish consistently rising, but they were eager to take properly presented and skated caddis imitations. At one point, the mist was so thick that I resorted to a dead-drifted size 10 wooly bugger with a small green Copper John dropper. I took the 16 incher on a fingerling rainbow imitation streamer. The evening was a good time to fish because it was nice and cool, and the sun wasn’t as strong as during the middle of the day. All in all, a good day in the catch-and-release section of the Gunpowder River.

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Thanks to Christianna McCausland for the stream report, pics and kind words from Silver Creek, Idaho.

Thought you all would appreciate that I had some good fishing in Idaho last week. I went with a guide one day, which is when I got the nice rainbow on the Bigwood River in Sun Valley. Later that day we went to Silver Creek and boy was everyone right — tricky fish! A few days later there was a brown drake hatch at Silver Creek, so I made my guide into my friend and he and I went out there to fish the hatch at dusk. I’ve never seen anything like it — there were so many anglers we had to wedge ourselves into the river, (as you can kind of see in the pic). And all fishing etiquette went out the window! We drank some beers and stayed until about midnight fishing the caddis hatch by the light of the full moon, which was truly one of the coolest things I’ve done recently. The only way I knew my friend was still out there on the river with me was the occasional sound of his line whistling in the still night air; the only way to know the fish were there was to listen for their slurp and splash in the darkness. I had one really good bite but didn’t set my hook fast enough. Definitely need to work on that for next time as those Silver Creek fish don’t give you a second chance. Theaux, you and Rocky should know that my guide complimented me on my skills, which I owe to you guys. Thanks to Backwater Angler, I was able to get into a river crowded with major anglers and hold my own!

Best,
Christianna

I fished the river last Monday for the majority of the day. I fished in the Upper Catch and Release section and started at around 8 in the morning. As sunlight seeped through the trees and reflected over the water, the Gunpowder River seemed to be an excellent place to be prospecting for wild brown trout. All morning, Caddis were sporadically coming off in size #16 as the sun warmed the water.

I saw many midges in sizes #20-24 hatching in the riffle water. Lots of midges were clouding up together over back eddies and flats, dancing above the water. I skated a size #16 tan Elk Hair Caddis through the riffle water in front of me, which accounted for a few browns. As I worked my way through the riffles, I switched to nymphing. I fished a size #14 bead head Pheasant Tail nymph with a smaller Hare’s Ear nymph as a dropper. I attached a small split shot above the Hare’s Ear nymph to attain more depth. I added a stick-on indicator four feet above the Pheasant Tail nymph on my 9ft 6x leader. I worked my way up the riffle and picked up many fish on the smaller hare’s ear nymph. The average fish was a chunky 8 to 11 inch brown trout eager to take a fly. The nymphing was a ton of fun and I was filled with euphoria every time my indicator shot underneath the surface as I found myself tight to another Gunpowder River brown trout.
I fished hard throughout the morning and into the afternoon. Early in the afternoon I ran into Gunpowder River Guide, Bill Wolf. At this point in the day, sulphurs were coming off here and there. The bugs were in sizes #16 and #18. It was a light hatch as the bugs were not incredibly thick. However, Bill and I scanned the flat water and saw a trout nose or two breaking the surface.
We worked the water together and fished Comparadun patterns and CDC emergers. We were able to fool a few fish that were rising and it was satisfying getting some surface action. I consistently caught fish throughout the entire day. The fish of the day was a nice rainbow I caught in the morning. Stop in by the shop and we’ll recommend some effective patterns. The river is fishing well so wet a line!

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The Gunpowder river is flowing at 75 Cfs and is a cool 54 F. The fly fishing along the Gunpowder has been much better most mornings, as the fish are keying in on small nymphs, (#18-20) in the upper river before 11:00 AM. Caddis and Sulphurs have also been producing by midday but the hatches have slowed down a bit. Spinner Falls have been spotty, but still worth a late look. Streamers have also been getting a lot of attention, especially in the stretch downstream of York Rd. A good report this morning from Jeff pointed to lots of takes on small caddis and craneflies. The slow water caddis has also been a very effective pattern just downstream of the Masemore stretch. Lime Sallies are coming off down towards Monkton Station. Fireflies are present through most of the meadow stretches, but a fur ant will do the trick, especially along the high banks.

Sneak into the shop this weekend and celebrate Father’s Day with us and check out our latest shipment of rods from R.L. Winston, Scott, Sage, and St. Croix.
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