fishing report

for river related condition reports

Low Flow Tips for Fly Fishing the Gunpowder River

The low water, at 24 CFs, has changed the fishing on the Gunpowder River compared to the higher flows we’ve seen the past three months. Gone are the days of big indicators, three spilt shot rigs and waist high water that threatens to knock you down. The soft edges that held trout weeks ago are now bone dry, but trout are still taking flies eagerly. Let’s face it, we dodged the low water bullet all summer while most rivers in the region suffered. Dry flies are a great option as they land softer than bead heads and won’t hang up in shallow riffles. Many good sized pools …

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Fly Fish the Gunpowder River with Zebra Midges

The river is flowing at 24 Cfs and is cooling a bit at 52 F. Leaves are making fishing dries challenging but the fish are looking up and blue winged olives in the #18-20 range are a good bet . Long leaders in the 10-12 ft range ending in 6x are necessary to deliver small flies at a distance that won’t spook fish. Riffles and flats are holding fish, particuarly near log jams and deadfalls from Falls Rd through Masemore RD.Small prince nymphs, pheasant tails and brassies should account for fish feeding in the “skinny water.” Many anglers in the past week have been reporting …

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Fall Fly Fishing on The North Branch of The Potomac River 2007

November through December are exciting times to fly fish for trout in Maryland. The possibility of catching a really big trout is very good on the North Branch of the Potomac tailwater fishery. This Fall the rainbows made up the bulk of what was being caught by many anglers. Small midge pupaes were producing fat, chunky rainbows up to four pounds. These fish looked good, fought hard and some appeared to be second year or older stockies. A few of the shorter, “fatties” were freshly stocked but fought hard in the river’s flows. The extremely low flows made accessing the river very easy, but may …

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Mid-Atlantic Fly Fishing Heating Up as the Gunpowder River Drops

The river is flowing at 24Cfs, and is 55 F. The river should be low and clear for sometime as Prettyboy Reservoir is given a chance to recharge. We saw many flyfisherman from the Northern Virginia and DC area taking advantadge of low flows and great Fall Flyfishing weather this past weekend. Most of the catches over the weekend were on brassies, small midge larvae patterns and small streamers. Falls RD through Masemore RD access points were red hot hot but with lower flows forecast through the week, it would be prudent to seek out fish below the confluence of Little Falls at Bluemount RD …

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Gunpowder River Low and Clear After Heavy Local Rains Douse Maryland

After a signifigant storm, the promise of great trout fishing is alive and well on the Gunpowder river.  Where can one fly fish in the Mid-Atlantic after 5″ of rainfall? The Gunpowder river of course. While most locales received between 5.01 and 5.6 inches of rainfall in the past twenty four hours,  the Gunpowder river is low and clear from Masemore RD upstream through the Falls RD stretch to PrettyBoy Dam and is flowing at 80Cfs. Olives, caddis and small bead head nymphs have been very productive this week. Small streamers, including Lite-Bright Zonkers are also worth a shot.   

Fly Fishing for Wild Brown Trout Near DC

The river is flowing at 118 Cfs, (a perfect level for wading) and is 54 F. The reservoir is still turning over but the river is clear enough to sight fish to wild trout taking olives and small caddis in the #18-20 range along the edges of seams. More larger fish, over 14″ have been caught in the past few weeks than the rest of the year combined, including a 20″ fish by lucky Philadelphia area fly fisherman Tom Buterbaugh, and a 20″ fish by local guide Capt. Jeff Lewatowski. Try a large streamer on a sink-tip line through some of the deeper runs and …

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