Wild Brown Trout And The Gunpowder River

The Gunpowder River In Fall
The past two months I’ve hiked the Gunpowder (almost) top to bottom looking for spawning activity to film. I watched as redds began to appear nearly overnight along different sections of river. On a few occasions I was fortunate to witness numerous browns in the process of spawning. I watched two big trout pair up on a redd and spawn, before vacating the area days later. One day I filmed as many as eight to ten browns competitively jockey for position next to a female, and bump her to drop eggs. I also filmed some large browns that moved from their hiding spots to spawn in the shallows. I already traded the rod for the video camera in hopes of getting some good footage, and allowing nature to take its course. In the shop we urged anglers the past two months to use caution when wading, and avoid fishing to trout on redds. The New Year is fast approaching and the majority of browns have moved off their beds into their Winter lies. Although the redds are now empty, the clean gravel beds still contain fragile eggs, so anglers should be careful not to wade through them. In this video post I filmed browns in the process of ensuring the future of wild trout on the Gunpowder River.