The Gunpowder River is flowing at 70 Cfs is 54.5 F and clear. Fish are looking up and taking small caddis, Bwo’s and Tricos. Bright days are tough on the water so find some shade in the sycamore groves or hemlock stand along the catch and release area. Longer leaders in the 9ft to 12ft range ending in 6x and 7x will help deliver the small flies accurately and drag free. Think short cast-long drift.

Thanks to Josh Reider for the great photos and Stream Report from August 19:

After fishing this morning I hooked into plenty of fish in the catch-and-release section of the Gunpowder. I caught some fish on the surface with a caddis and dropping a small reverse hackle trico pattern behind. The majority of the fish I caught was nymphing small Pheasant Tails, Hares Ears, Black Copper Johns, and Caddis Pupa.You can get away with fishing 5X or 6X right now in riffles, but I would go to 7X in flat water. Flows are 94 Cfs–prime and should be taken advantage of…

The Gunpowder River is clear and flowing at 43 CFs and is 50 degrees F. With lower flows forecast for this week, if the sun ever breaks through the clouds the river will warm up much quicker. Monday it reached 55 degrees and by noon there were a few size #16 caddis coming off in the upper catch and release section. BWO’s, sized #18-20 were drifting through the Beaver Dam flat just downstream of the High Trail by 3 PM. Small Hare’s Ears with a little Deep Soft Weight ahead of them accounted for a few fish in the runs and deeper riffles between the boulder pools. The meadow stretches from bunkerhill through Big Falls Rd have yielded a few fish on terrestrials. Grasshoppers and beetles are still worth a shot especially along grassy banks. At Masemore, Tricos have been very late but will start earlier as the river warms up and the reverse hackled patterns are still the best way to imitate these devilishly small patterns.

Thanks to Backwater Angler Staffer Max for the following stream report:

I fished a few days this past week and had great success on small caddis and nymphs. The fish were looking up in the riffles and taking dries during the morning and evening. During the mid-day hours I had success on bead-head caddis imitations also fished in the fast riffles under an indicator. Being a tailwater, the Gunpowder is blessed with cold water all summer so the fishing has remained good throughout the hot days and heavy rain. Sticking with smaller tippet in the 6-7X range has been a must especially on sunny days.

Thanks!
Max

The Gunpowder River is flowing at 90 CFs and is 51F. The river is clear above Bluemount but a little off-color below Little Falls and downstream through the two-fish a day section. Streamers such as light bright Zonkers and olive Wooly Buggers have accounted for larger fish in the boulder pools this week-one taping out at 17 inches that was released by a new Gunpowder regular. Guide trips have produced fish consistently on terrestrials including ants and beetles but the nymphing has been difficult. A good bet is a beetle or hopper trailing a #18 olive bodied Caddis or tiny BWO’s or midge emerger. Tricos in the #20-22 range are in the spider webs and Mike Bachkosky’s reverse hackled patterns in male and female have been tricking quite a few fish. Try a longer leader, 12to 13.5 feet ending in 7x to present these flies properly in flat water. One can get by with a 9 footer with a bit of tippet in the riffles. With air temps in the mid-80’s during the last week, small Joe’s hoppers have been effective in the meadow stretches of the river. We outfitted folks this week that were traveling, well, seemingly everywhere. Jackson Hole for Cutthroats, Banff for Pink Salmon, the Restigouche for Atlantic Salmon and the Catskills for Brookies. Pennsylvania anglers that are limited to spring creeks come August and even some local folks from Baltimore, D.C. and Northern Virginia are giving the cold restorative waters of the Gunpowder River a try. We have a two full fly fishing schools on Sunday and will be offering another on Sunday August 11th. Yesterday, I tripped over a few walnuts in my yard that were surely signaling that summer is on the wane. For those anglers with kids that are just starting to eye up pencils and binders it’s time to make that last fly fishing trip before the leaves start getting a little crispy and your schedule goes straight to hell.