Jason du Pont

G.Loomis NRX Rods In Maryland

The new NRX Rods from G.Loomis have arrived in the shop, and are available in line weights for fresh and salt water fishing. Short of rehashing industry terminology, the NRX rods are extremely light, yet powerful. We took them to the lawn in four, five, eight and nine weights (all 9 feet long) to test them out. The four weight was definitely not as fast as I expected (power often equates to stiffness) and loaded quickly. Surprisingly the rod worked with little effort at twenty feet, yet never lost power at three times that distance. The four and five weight rods worked at distances we …

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Fall Fly Fishing On The Gunpowder River

The Gunpowder is flowing at 34 CFs, low and clear. The lower sections of the C & R have slightly higher flows from the smaller tributaries that enter the river. The flow in the Glencoe Rd stretch leveled out at 75 Cfs, after spiking from recent rains. The low water conditions make for challenging fishing, but anglers are still catching fish on a variety of patterns. Dry flies are still working as searching patterns and indicators with small nymphs dropped behind. Olives and X-caddis patterns are working and we have a number of these locally tied patterns. Nymph rigs with tiny nymphs and midge larvae …

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Didymo In Western Rivers

My two recent trips out West to Colorado and Montana provided some good fishing opportunities on new water. The trips also enlightened me on the current range of Didymo in the West. On my second day nymphing on the Frying Pan, I was frequently catching the green stringy algae, typical in most rivers. Yet, on a few occasions I pulled in some rather large, snotty fibrous growths. I immediately recognized that white, gelatinous, dripping mass that enveloped my fly. No one in the parking lot or fly shops could confirm if its presence was documented, and many had never heard of Didymo. I did see …

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Fly Fishing Montana:Creeks And Small Rivers

I fished a few creeks in Montana and quickly felt at home on the smaller water. Flows were low everywhere, an ideal time to gain access to the better holding lies. The first day I arrived, I was barely off the plane for 2 hours and we were rigging up on a small creek. This creek held mainly cutthroats and rainbows, which were quite aggressive. We hiked along a precarious ridge overlooking this small tributary of a much larger river. I fished up from the confluence, and quickly found some hungry cutthroats. The fish were six to eleven inch West Slope Cutthroats. In the deep …

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Fly Fishing Montana:Floating The Bitterroot River

The last float of my trip came after a few days wade fishing on my own. Matt and I drove a short distance from his house to the Bitterroot River. The weather had changed, and air temps dropped ten degrees from the previous days. The wind blew hard, pushing clouds across the sun, casting us into ten minute intervals of cold or warmth. The trees along the river were a bright yellow against the gray mountains, and the river, as silver as a mirror. This section of river had good numbers of big browns, and I felt confident fishing one particular streamer pattern. We both …

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Fly Fishing Montana:Floating The Blackfoot River

On the second float of the trip we decided to hit a section of the Blackfoot River. This section of the Blackfoot river was remote, and hard to reach on foot. Matt and I crept along on uneven back roads, before dropping the raft in by 9:00 am. The river was relatively low and clear, which was a major change from the float on the Clark Fork. The clear water wasn’t always good, since it was easy to fall into “aquarium watcher” mode, as I often did. The rocky bottom was interrupted by dark swaying forms that held until the last second, and spooked as …

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