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.