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Jason du Pont

Fly Fishing Maryland: Small Stream Shots 2009

Every year I always make time to explore smaller streams throughout the region in search of wild trout. Fishing small streams, especially for the first time, can lead to incredibly scenic places where few trout are pressured by anglers. Exploring unknown water is a gamble, as many hours or even days can be spent hiking along small streams with few or no trout caught. The anglers who stumble onto small streams with good numbers of trout, often find a piece of paradise to themselves. Over the course of 2009 I fished a number of small wild brown and brook trout streams in Maryland, and wanted …

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Fly Fishing The Gunpowder River In December

The Gunpowder River flow increased to over 600 CFs midweek at the Falls Road gauge, when warm air and rainfall melted the snow that fell the previous week. Once the river flows dropped below 400 CFs, I spent some time nymphing and swinging streamers Thursday. A combination of cold night air and spillover dropped river temps into the 40s, but browns were still eating a variety of patterns. The increase in flow and colder water required deep, slow drifts for nymphing. The takes were really subtle, so using a Thingamabobber, and extra weight on the line helped detect these strikes. The trout preferred big or …

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Blue Wing Olives, Brookies, and Snow Along The Gunpowder River

The first snow storm of the year dropped three to four inches in the Hereford/Monkton area yesterday morning through late last night. Anglers braved the snow storm yesterday, and a number of reports included rising trout and empty parking lots at river accesses. Today the bright sun is melting the snow on the roads and trees, so river flows may increase over the next few days. A number of cars were parked along the Masemore stretch this morning, yet no anglers in sight at the bridge above. This week a good olive hatch had trout feeding on the surface on the tiny mayflies, and many …

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Naturally Reproducing Gunpowder Brown Trout

The Gunpowder flow has dropped below 100 CFs, and is currently 52 degrees at Falls Rd. Rain is forecasted through the week, so expect water levels to rise again. Warm air temps and added spill over may increase water temps, and create ideal conditions for olive hatches with rainy, cloudy days ahead. Caddis, adams and small olives have worked for many anglers preferring to catch fish on the surface. A few fish can be found rising to midges or olives, but the majority of trout are caught on dries fished blind. Nymphing with small nymphs and midge patterns sized 20-24 are working, along with larger …

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Gunpowder November Fly Fishing Report

The Gunpowder is still providing numerous opportunities and surprises for dry fly fishermen, as this photo of a brook trout taken by Neil Stahl illustrates. I was fishing tricos to risers just downstream of him when he caught it, and we found fish looking up in most pools and riffles we fished. Blue Wing Olives and Tricos are still on the water mid morning, although waves of emerging bugs and rising trout are sporadic on colder days. The past two weeks large midges in a size 16 were hatching in big numbers on warm days and bringing trout to the surface. On a guide trip …

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High Water, Tricos and Streamer Fishing On The Gunpowder

On Wednesday of this week the Gunpowder flow climbed to 400 Cfs, and it was prime time to swing some big streamers. Wading was limited at these flows to a few steps off the bank, as the current was quite swift, but many accesses were fishable from shore. In many cases the trout were pushed against the banks and extremely active on flies at the end of the swing. In a few hours ten fish landed was a small number compared to the number of fish chasing, short striking or the ones that shook the hook. I did land a heavy trout (pic above), just …

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