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Jason du Pont

The Many Faces of the Ausable River, Michigan

I recently made the journey from North Baltimore County, Maryland to the Grayling area of Michigan. Matt, a Gunpowder regular joined me for the 14 hour drive across several states with my raft in tow. Nick, a Michigan native and former college chum of Matt was waiting at what felt like the farthest northern tip of the state. We pulled in his cabin’s drive around 1:30 a.m., but he wasn’t there. He pulled in ten minutes later and said he just got done mouse fishing. “Rolled two fish,” he said. Mouse fishing at midnight puts me a little out of my element, but we had …

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Fly Fishing the Canoe Hatch on the Big Water of the Ausable River, Michigan

On a recent float trip down the Ausable River in Michigan three anglers encountered the most prolific aluminum hatch ever documented on film. East coast anglers may find these “hatches” are spotty at best in comparison on most of their local waters. Brown and rainbow trout were biting subsurface and our indicators barely floated for thirty feet in the better runs. The screams and splashes didn’t bother the trout, but line management was taken to a whole new level to avoid hooking anyone. Personally my biggest concern was being run over while wading, as I was constantly playing a game of river Frogger to avoid …

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Copperheads in Gunpowder State Park

I carry a camera everyday on the water for when those elusive hatches begin or that lunker trout appears on the line. Sometimes the unexpected things I capture on video are far more interesting than fish or bugs. Recently I noticed some young park users playing awfully close to these sunning copperheads, (the picture below is of a surprised Northern Black Racer) near the river’s edge. When I began shooting this video, their parents started hovering around to see what the fuss was about. A few moments earlier, the adults had walked within steps of the snakes without noticing them. The snakes coloration was reminiscent …

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Big Trout Feeding in the Gunpowder River with Great Water Levels for Fly Fishing

This is the time to fish the Gunpowder using nymph and streamer rigs for those hard to catch larger fish. Another reason to fish the Gunpowder is it has more flow than many regional streams and rivers. We are very lucky to be on a river that is used to send water from one storage reservoir to another, and to have the greatest human demand when the fish’s need for water is also greatest. Anglers have been seeing higher, cooler flows at the beginning of August on the Gunpowder River, near Baltimore, Maryland than anywhere in the region.The Gunpowder has nearly as much flow as …

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Sage Z-Axis Review

I just fished the 10 foot five weight Sage Z-Axis rod for the second time after this morning’s float, along with a 11 foot 6 weight Sage Z-Axis Rod with a Spey grip. These rods can cast a mile, but more importantly, the ten foot rod length manages every inch of twenty to thirty feet of line anglers routinely fish on Maryland rivers. The common response by anglers is why do you need all that rod for smaller fish and shorter casts? Consider that using a shorter rod may mean not catching anything of size, because it is unable to effectively cover the water with …

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It’s Wild Out There:Northern Brown Water Snake vs Gunpowder River Brown Trout

The thought of killing trout, especially wild trout is certainly taboo amongst fly fishermen in the 21st century. A wild Gunpowder brown is worthy of more than just table fare. Despite good or bad days on the water, angler’s stomachs never suffer. Although, the other true fisherman on this river rely entirely on the bounty the cold flowing water provides. Herons stalk the shallows at Masemore with a deftness that anglers could only dream of acquiring. King fishers lie in wait on high perches and watch for risers to present a target; not for a fly, but for their beak. Snakes lie coiled on the …

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