While most of the folks South of us are building arks, we missed most, if not all of the rain last night in the Hereford Zone. The Gunpowder river is flowing at 62Cfs, is clear and 60 F. With air temps approaching the mid-80’s, wet wading is certainly an option. We have some great new CDC loop wing emergers, duns, soft hackles and spinners designed by Eric Stroup in the muffin tins on the front counter. Small elk hair caddis, tiny grey midges and feather winged spinners have also been tricking wild fish.

Following are two very different stream reports. The first is from a Gunpowder guide from the past weekend,

Hi Theaux,
Fishing was good right from the start (5pm) and actually slowed down towards dark. Wasn’t really counting but would guess 8-10 released (the first was by far the biggest and was a nice one about 13 in). Went to York and I would have been the 101st car, so turned around and went to Big Falls. Fish were rising upstream of the bridge, the first kayaks through put them down, after that, it was 200 yards or so to find more rising fish, then tubers ….and another 100 yds to find the third group of rising fish. Have no idea what they were rising to. Saw about 1 sulfur per 5 min, millions of midges and one big bug (size 10) that I never got a good look at because the fish ate them before any got off the water.. Go figure, but I took all the fish on a size 18 caddis; worked from the start so I never changed. Also, I was the only one fishing and only three groups of kayaks and tubers came by. Hope to see you again soon.
Regards,
the wood elf

And this one is from a Backwater Angler Staffer from Tuesday evening.

Hey Theaux,
Thought I’d let you know how well I did on Monday evening fishing above Falls. I started fishing at about 6:30 and was immediately catching fish on a sulphur soft hackle. At about 7:30 I switched to a size 16 sulphur dun and caught about a dozen fish in the riffles. Right before dark I tied on a dark spinner pattern that I tie, and caught about 8 more fish on that. Its safe to say that the sulphurs are still out there, and that the fishing is best towards dark.
Thanks!
Max Meneveau

Concentrated spinner falls between dusk and dark have been consistent throughout most of the catch and release section. However, stream reports have been varied owing to factors like section of stream one is fishing and most importantly, how late in the evening folks are fishing. Remember that if you’re not fishing your chances of catching fish are slim. This week , find a way to spend some time on the river. The first step is to point the car towards the river…what you tell your co-worker, spouse or friend is up to you…