The trees are turning various shades of oranges, yellows and golds along the river. Many leaves have already dropped, so the leaf-hook up ratio isn’t too bad. The water is low, clear and in the fifty degree range, fluctuating from cold nights and warmer day time temps. Aside from leaves crunching underfoot, the Gunpowder State Park is quiet and a perfect place to wet a line in solitude along seventeen miles of trout water. Fishing the river at these low levels has been productive for anglers using stealth, long thin leaders and small dry flies. Move slowly, wear drab colors, and use polarized glasses to spot and cast to fish in the shallows.  Avoid wading too deep or down river to improve your chances of not spooking the wild browns. Tricos are beginning to be outnumbered by Olives in the mornings, and afternoons on cloudy, rainy days. Reports from customers and guides confirm that the Olives extend through the C & R area, and I have seen the clouds myself at York, Bunkerhill, Masemore and Falls Rd.  This hatch is frequently overlooked or mistaken for a midge hatch, as many of these mayflies range in size from 22-26, although the fish have been eating larger patterns.  The browns are sporadically rising to the olives early in the flat water, and are quite selective, so consider small caddis patterns or olives around riffles and pocketwater. Midges, caddis and brown stoneflies are also hatching in small numbers, in isolated pockets along the river.

Low flows, at 27 Cfs, warmer river temps, almost 57 F today at Falls Rd., and cold October mornings on the Gunpowder have added up to great fishing. The Trico hatch began two months ago and is still going strong with many fish active near riffles and slow pools through out the catch and release section. Many rising trout are eating spinners, which are dropping to the water later in the morning than previous weeks. Anglers and guides are reporting really good caddis hatches beginning when the Trico activity slows. Numerous first time customers and regulars are returning to the river for consecutive days, and to the shop to stock up on patterns after experiencing, “some of their best fishing on the Gunpowder.” The shop has had successful guide trips on the river nearly everyday over the past two weeks. After four guide trips last week my clients, ranging from first timers to experienced anglers, fished over pods of rising trout and landed into the double digits, with many more fish broken off or missed.

On days when cloud cover and rain are present, blue wing olives have been hatching and bringing fish to the surface. The terrestrial bite is still good, as many trout are hitting beetles, hoppers and ants fished near structure. Tiny flying ants are also a possibility after a previous days rain, and really get the trout’s attention. On some days toward evening a small number of non-descript mayflies emerge ranging from size 16-20, and result in a short lived spinnerfall at dark. Streamers are also starting to turn some larger fish and I recently lost two of my largest Gunpowder browns of the year in the 17-19 inch range on a 4 inch long pattern I tied. Note the trout’s extended belly in the pic above as a sign that the fish are feeding and bulking up for the next few months.

I recently spent a vacation with my girlfriend in the Adirondacks in New York. We were fortunate to experience great weather, views and river flows all week. The water was at Spring levels and in the low sixties on the West Branch of the Ausable, which is where I spent a few hours fishing each day. The West Branch of the Ausable River reminded me a lot of the Savage and the North Branch Rivers with endless rapids, chutes and pocket water areas. The first few days I tested the water with snow shoe rabbit winged dries, which have a storied history on these waters. After numerous rainbows and wild browns in the typical size range you catch on the Gunpowder, I switched to lots of weight and large nymphs. The river rocks were covered with shucks from stoneflies and isonychia nymphs, in sizes #10-12. In my most exciting hour of the week I hooked and lost three huge browns; a seventeen, eighteen and twenty two inch brown. Once I got dialed in on hot patterns, I was catching a lot of eight to thirteen inch browns and rainbows. I barely scratched the surface after exploring different access points over the week, and didn’t see another angler until my last day of the trip.

Aside from the fishing, there was a lot to see and do in the Lake Placid, Ausable Forks and Wilmington areas. Numerous waterfalls along the Ausable were great for pictures and Whiteface Mountain offered serious views of the mountains. Days could be spent hiking on well traveled trails leading to deep glacial “ponds,” which harbor huge brook trout, browns, rainbows, steelhead, and landlocked salmon. The region is less than 200 miles from the Canadian border, and offered a pristine experience and endless places to explore. The fishing in this part of the state is totally underated.

Maryland’s tailwater fisheries such as the Gunpowder, Savage, and North Branch of the Potomac are all at great flows with water temps in the mid 50’s. Summer hatches of tricos, caddis, bwos, stoneflies and midges are hatching on these rivers through mid to late Summer. The hatches can often be overlooked, in favor of fishing terrestrials, which is some of the most fun and productive fishing. Japanese beetles, crickets, moths, ants and grass hoppers are already crawling on the foliage on the river banks. Guiding and fishing on the Gunpowder the past month has been fun as the trout are really looking up now, and willing to eat a variety of flies. The presentation and approach is critical since the trout are a little wary under the bright midday sun, hiding in logjams, under bushes, branches and undercut banks. Draw the trout from their cover using a bigger dry fly or putting the fly inches from the bank or structure. A beetle or ant has been extremely productive for many anglers fishing throughout the catch and release water. A long leader, 6x-7x tippet and a bit of stealth will help catch these wary, but hungry trout. Backwater Angler Intern Alex McCrickard caught these two nice Gunpowder browns while floating with me through some quiet water. One brown exploded on the hopper when he cast it into the shadows as we drifted along, and the other larger fish took a huge black Kaufmann’s stone he bounced on the bottom.

I took two trips to western Maryland in late June and again in early July for fishing on the Savage and North Branch of the Potomac Rivers. The Savage River browns were hungry for size 12-16 dries fished in the pockets, behind rocks and along ledges. I caught some 14-16 inch browns and rose a few 17-18 inchers after two afternoons of fishing the Savage. The action wasn’t dependent on any specific hatch matching situation, but more about covering water with big dries, especially the rough water areas. While walking the trails along the North Branch in the mornings, I noticed that hoppers were flying about in good numbers. Some 20 inch browns were willing to inspect my foam and deer hair creations, but dropper nymphs accounted for many smaller fish and a good 19 inch rainbow. Ice cold flows, optimal levels and wild trout on terrestrials, means Maryland is the place to fly fish during these hot Summer months.