fishing report

Winter temperatures, high flows and ice on the guides hasn’t kept many anglers from wetting a line this past week on the Gunpowder. My last day of fishing in 2009 was on Monday of last week, with a few friends willing to fish in the dropping 400 CFs flow. Each of us landed a few fish in as many hours nymphing the soft edges of riffles and bends. Big streamers produced a few strikes, but the browns were not really aggressive in the colder water temps. My last brown trout of 2009 was hard fighting and took me around some trees requiring an assist on …

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The Gunpowder river is flowing at 668 CFs and is dropping. A full reservoir, coupled with 19″ of snow from the last storm, and a warm and rainy Christmas weekend in the Hereford Zone, pushed the river up to 1, 070 CFs last night. An angler who stopped in the shop yesterday at 8 AM tried his luck at Masemore until a tree floated past him. Typically, flows below 275 Cfs are more reasonable for fly fishing the Gunpowder but even at those levels one should limit wading and use the excellent trail network to get around the river. If pitching streamers from the bank …

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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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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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The Gunpowder River is flowing at 96 Cfs is clear and 50 F. Fish are still taking dries from Bunkerhill Rd. through Falls Rd. access points. Blue Winged Olive mayflies and small grey midges sized #18-22 have also been tricking a few rainbows. Be sure to bring along some gloves if you’re planning on doing some early morning nymphing. Alex and Max were both fishing the Gunpowder over the holiday break and reported good fishing with dries and streamers and relatively few anglers along most stretches of the river. Large stoneflies, like the one pictured above, can be imitated by using large Copper Johns rigged …

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Thanks to Jeff Johnson for the great photo and report: Theaux, Hello, I was in your shop a few weeks ago to pick up some materials for my trip to Western New York over the holiday.  I managed pick up a few fish on flies I tied including this pony. Thanks for the advice.    Jeff