Thanksgiving Cheer, Virtue and Action

The Gunpowder River is flowing at 174 Cfs is clear, and 52 F. Bwo’s have brought many fish up to the surface for a looksee this week. With higher than normal flows, the river is full of water and the wild fish are looking for an easy meal. Streamers are an effective way to cover the cut banks and log jams in search of larger fish. We have lots of light bright zonkers and crystal buggers in the muffin tins on the front counter. The river level should continue to drop through the weekend. Thanks to Mark Noble for the stream report. Theaux, Thanks for …

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Bwo’s along the Gunpowder River

Thanks to Jed for the stream report, Dear Theaux and Jason: The day was beautiful last Sunday when I fished the river. It was certainly brighter than October 31st when I had fished previously. Still, there were more bugs coming off on Halloween than last Sunday. Interestingly, I saw some spinners just upstream of Bunker Hill on the flat section above the small creek that comes in. To me they looked like olive spinners. They were small, and there weren’t great numbers of them. I also saw a few caddis, and some midges. One bug really got my attention. It was floating in still water. …

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Naturally Reproducing Gunpowder Brown Trout

The Gunpowder flow has dropped below 100 CFs, and is currently 52 degrees at Falls Rd. Rain is forecasted through the week, so expect water levels to rise again. Warm air temps and added spill over may increase water temps, and create ideal conditions for olive hatches with rainy, cloudy days ahead. Caddis, adams and small olives have worked for many anglers preferring to catch fish on the surface. A few fish can be found rising to midges or olives, but the majority of trout are caught on dries fished blind. Nymphing with small nymphs and midge patterns sized 20-24 are working, along with larger …

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Gunpowder River Tiger Trout

Fly fishing this Fall along the Gunpowder has yielded recent catches of tiger trout. I can assure you that not many of these fish swim in the Gunpowder but it’s certainly a testament that catch and release works folks! Following is a another great stream report and picture from Richard Gunion. Thanks Richard. Dear Backwater Angler, I was fishing the big pool at the bridge near Hereford High School and caught this tiger trout. This is my first one. At any rate it jumped out the water about 3 ft and put up a good fight for it’s size. Let’s hope it gets bigger like …

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Fall Fly Fishing in Maryland

The Gunpowder river is flowing at 79CFs is clear and in the mid 40’s throughout the catch and release area. Nymphing up leaves is still a tough way to spend a day on the river. Streamer fishing with Zonkers and small Muddlers is a safe bet, especially in the fast water along the undercut banks. If you’re more inclined to fish light and long, trying small BWO’S in the flats on cloudy days. It’s hard to go wrong with a #18 Elk Hair Caddis on bright warm days in the riffles just make sure that it’s tied n to 6 or 7x tippet. Thanks to …

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High Water, Tricos and Streamer Fishing On The Gunpowder

On Wednesday of this week the Gunpowder flow climbed to 400 Cfs, and it was prime time to swing some big streamers. Wading was limited at these flows to a few steps off the bank, as the current was quite swift, but many accesses were fishable from shore. In many cases the trout were pushed against the banks and extremely active on flies at the end of the swing. In a few hours ten fish landed was a small number compared to the number of fish chasing, short striking or the ones that shook the hook. I did land a heavy trout (pic above), just …

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