gear

Bauer M2SL, Winston BIIt and Sulphurs at Masemore

The Gunpowder river is flowing at 84 Cfs , is clear and 60 F. Sulphurs sized #14-16 and Caddis in the #16-18 range have been the ticket. Small soft hackles, cripples and emergers are working in the flat water while more traditional duns and spinners are tricking fish in the riffles. Cloud cover and passing thundershowers are a joy to behold. Long leaders in the 10 to 12 foot range ending in 6x and 7x will help your cause. If you’re starting early, try small pheasant tails and unweighted sulphur nymphs in the pocket water. With the water warming up, zonkers cast upstream along log …

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Sweetgrass Pent Rod in Stock

We just received another beautiful Sweetgrass rod from Glenn Brackett and the Boo boys. It is a 7ft 3wt 3pc, 2 tip, pentagonal rod that is trimmed in burgundy silks with black tipping. The rod has a cigar grip and it is fitted with a nickel silver slide band. It is wonderfully supple and lively and is begging to be fished in your favorite brook trout stream. The rod is being offered at $2, 500 and won’t be around these parts long-unless of course one buys it to skate a few caddis prior to fishing out the Sulphur spinner fall on the Gunpowder river.Please give …

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Cloudveil Crystal Creek Jacket for Pennies a Day

A Gunpowder regular, who will remain anonymous, so as not to disclose his methods to his immediate family, just emptied his piggy bank for a new Crystal Creek Paclite Gore-Tex jacket from Cloudveil. The loot weighed in at 148 Oz, (that’s equivalent to 92.5 Scott 7′ 7″ 3wt 4pc G2 fly rods) the rest went on a VISA debit card. We’re thinking about holding the change locally, hoarding it in the Caymans is so passe- at least until we have parking meters at the access points along the river. Then again we could turn it into USPS Forever stamps as we’ll see another increase at …

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Simms Headwaters Pant Review

Thanks to Ben for the Stream report and Review of the Simms Headwaters Pant. Theaux, Just wanted to say thank you for steering me toward the Simms Headwaters Pant. I really like the reinforced knees for kneeling down in those quiet, shallow pools. Jason pointed me toward the Cloudveil boots which I absolutely love. They are extremely light for hiking those trails and still handle the slippery rocks in the river. The fishing was fantastic this weekend. I started out prospecting with a caddis pupae and hooked into a big brown. Unfortunately, he wrapped my leader around a submerged log and got away. I switched …

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Sweetgrass Bamboo Fly Rods

Dave Delisi from Sweetgrass rods in Twin Bridges, MT just sent us a beautiful 7′ 9″ 4/5 Quadrate bamboo fly rod. The rod is a little darker than the hex rods we’ve received thus far. It is a 2 piece, two tip rod with a cigar grip and it is fitted with a down lock curly maple reel seat. This Sweetgrass rod is accurate, powerful and just begging to be cast over some pocket water. And yes, it’s spoken for…The new owner, Geoff Adams, tells me that it will be christened in the Little J over the weekend. May the Grannoms begin… Some time ago …

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Didymo and Rubber Soled Wading Boots

    A year hasn’t even passed since we learned about Didymo’s presence in the Gunpowder River, and yet the angling community’s awareness about aquatic invasives has grown tremendously.  Suddenly the act of just going fishing on two different waters over the same weekend can make people apprehensive. At least it should, as the photo above shows a rock on the Gunpowder nearly covered in the invasive algae, which appeared last Spring, and has been appearing in recent years throughout the Northeast on popular trout rivers. An overwhelming number of local anglers are shifting to new rubber soles for travel, and designating old felt soled boots …

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