Carp Convert Speaks

Thanks to Yancey for the shameless Carp testimonial, Theaux, Jason, I hate to say it but forget the browns. I’m now a devotee of carp fishing. My wife’s cousin was after me for months to try it and so I made the trip up to Syracuse, NY. Low and behold he was right. I hooked up with about twenty of these fish, going anywhere from 10 to 25 pounds. I can’t believe I’m saying it, but they fight harder than kings or steelhead. Landed about five and LDR’d the rest. I caught this scaleless carp, which is actually a hybrid, using a stone fly. I …

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Heavy Fog On The Gunpowder River

Flows on the Gunpowder are still around 50 Cfs and the water is 48 degrees at Falls Rd. We are fortunate to have such cold water through the C & R sections, and temps are still below sixty degrees down past Monkton Road. On Thursday I planned to cover a few areas, and try some different patterns. Fishing the Gunpowder was surreal in the thick fog. I rigged up for the morning trico hatch around 9:30 am. I could hear the fish splash, but it was hard see beyond forty feet through the fog. I fished a few flats, riffles and back eddies catching browns …

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Fly Fishing The Savage River In July

I spent a few days fishing the Savage River in Western Maryland last week. MDDNR was shocking the river, so flows were down to 30 CFs. I opted to fish the North Branch of the Potomac until later in the week, when flows on the Savage would rise to 55 CFs. Alex was out assisting the shocking survey for three days, and said they electroshocked a good number of trout. I fished the Savage a few weeks this year and the majority of wild browns I caught averaged between eleven to fourteen inches. In two days of fishing I fished dries in the pocket water …

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Morning Mist On The Gunpowder River

The air temps cooled down to more comfortable levels along the Gunpowder river this week. I fished yesterday in the upper Falls Road section where the water was a frigid 48 degrees. The flows from Prettyboy Dam are at 75 CFs, a normal level for the river. The air temp hit the mid eighties, but after standing in the water for a while in waders I was comfortable, if not cold at times. The shaded river valley and ice cold water creates a much cooler environment than the expected daily high air temperature. I saw good number of Tricos dancing around, but far less than …

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Low Summer Flows On The North Branch Of The Potomac

I recently returned from a few days of fishing in Western Maryland. The 125 Cfs flows on the North Branch of The Potomac tempted me to spend some days fishing on the WV/MD border. In these lower flows the wading is much easier, and the fish tend to congregate in the deeper areas. I fished around the Barnum access, and also hiked in many miles down river. On Monday I met up with Nate, a Backwater Angler regular, and we fished nymphs in the deeper slots. My Thingamabobber shot under in a deeper chute, and I was tight to a big rainbow. The trout looked …

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Fly Fishing Winston Fly Rods in Montana

Thanks to Fred for the stream report from Montana! Theaux, Matt and I had a great week of fishing in the Missoula, MT area last week. We fished the Blackfoot, Rock Creek and the West Fork of the Bitterroot. All dry-flies, catching the tail end of the Salmon fly hatch, stone flies and some green Drakes. Lots of Rainbows, Browns and Cutthroats, mostly 12″ to 15″. Matt caught a 19′ Brown. -90% of the fishing was from float boats. The water, for this time of year, was high, fast and a bit muddy, not conducive to wading, but we had very good results from the …

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