The Gunpowder River is flowing at 346 Cfs, is clear and 52 F. Stream crossings, while not impossible at these flows, can take your breath away. Gunpowder Guide Capt. Jeff Lewatowski is featured above two-stepping gingerly downstream with a highwater hookup during a similar flow in 2006. If you’re coming up this weekend, be sure to bring a wading staff and a good measure of caution. When the river is flowing over 275 Cfs, we suggest that anglers limit their wading. So if you’re planning on fishing the catch and release section, be sure to move up and down the river on the trails to cover the “fishy” spots with a sink-tip and an index finger sized streamer. Guide Dave Smith reported last night that there were still a few places in the upper section for die hard nymphers to try their luck. With the cloud cover rolling in we’ve had a smattering of olives in the morning and cream midges in the evenings. I talked to a few anglers that toughed it out this morning and left a number of fish rising to small dries. One of the most effective ways to fish dries at these flows is to focus on back eddies-a longer rod, 9 to 10 ft will help to keep the dries in the “slow” water. If you have any big terrestrials from a trip out west, come on up and try your luck against the banks. If you’re nymphing this weekend, you might need enough shot to get the flies down and rolling on the bottom to consider borrowing a helmet from one of the kayakers.
Thanks to Gary for a stream report from last Friday when flows were a little, shall we say, kinder…
Theaux and Jason
I took this past Friday off and fished the Gunpowder for about 6 hours and it was pretty much none stop action. The water was perfect at around 100 to 115 CFS and I had the upper section pretty much to myself…there was 1 other fisherman. Oddly enough I caught the majority of the fish using a cadis emerger (orange) and fished it dry. Occasionally I’d get hit just below the surface but the majority of hits occured while skating it on top. The big surprise was catching a beautiful brook trout on a black wooly bugger in some fast moving riffles. The fish slammed the bug hard and pulled line off (I was using the bamboo). I have not caught a brook in a fairly long time and this one was a big male at around 10 inches long and fat. Probably the biggest brook I’ve caught on the river.Gary S. Corriero