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Warm Water Fly Fishing In Maryland

There are many warm water fishing options in Central Maryland during the Summer months. Anglers can fish large reservoirs, ponds, rivers and even small streams across the state. Once June arrives I start to spend a day or two a week exploring numerous warm water hotspots. I went over to Loch Raven Reservoir last week armed with my 1 weight Scott fiber glass rod. I quickly located a fallen tree swarming with crappies. My camera was dead, so it was just an hour of catching and releasing a few dozen “paper mouths.” A few days later I returned to the area to find the fish …

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Late May Fly Fishing On The Savage River

I’ve watched the USGS gauge fluctuate on the Savage River all Spring, and finally found a window to go fishing. I was on the water at noon on Tuesday, as the Savage dropped from the 250 CFs range. The higher water makes for some great fishing, especially throwing dries in the pockets. I arrived, rigged up a sixteen foot 5X leader, and tied on a size 12 snow shoe march brown. I started in a rough water area, fishing the small pockets behind boulders, and where the soft seams meet the fast water. The trout were looking up, and I rose quite a few, but …

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Clouds Of Spinners On The Gunpowder River

Clouds of mayflies weren’t the only clouds hovering over the river this week. Heavy rain the past few days caused the Gunpowder to hit nearly 600 CFs, and steadily rising as a light rain falls in Monkton today. Current USGS reading at Falls Road today is 596 CFs, and climbing straight up. A good possibility of thunderstorms later today and tomorrow means anglers should check the gauge before the weekend. 100-300 CFs is wadeable, although anglers should be cautious on the higher end of that range. 300-400+ CFs has limited wading options, but fishing is still possible from the banks or shallows of wide flats. …

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May Fly Fishing On The Gunpowder River

The Gunpowder has dropped from late April high flows and leveled out from 600 CFs down to 140 CFs. Flow from Prettyboy Dam is still a combination of spillover and bottom release, so water temps are fluctuating from the high fifties to low sixties. The warmer water has spurred on hatches of numerous mayflies and caddis. The caddis hatch is best in the morning to midday, and again just before dark. The trout will take dries, but swinging or nymphing pupa patterns has been extremely effective. Sulphurs are now hatching steady each afternoon and I hit three spinnerfalls this week. The emergence of the size …

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Late April Fly Fishing On The Gunpowder

Heavy rain the past few weeks has kept the Gunpowder at higher flows, but fishable compared to other rivers in the Mid Atlantic. Last week anglers from Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, and New Jersey journeyed to the Gunpowder, since many rivers in those states were blown out. In a “spillover Spring” the frequent rain storms will raise flows on the Gunpowder, but the river remains clear. The higher water last week was producing results for anglers using big streamers, but I could only get chases from a few bruisers I’ve been targeting. This week flows leveled out at 137 CFs, and water …

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Late March Fly Fishing On The Gunpowder

The Gunpowder dropped close to 100 CFs last week. The river gradually leveled out after the big surge of water on the 11th. Heavy rains last night bumped river flows up to 165 CFs. The Spring rains should provide good flows the next few months, since the river levels will fluctuate with rain and spillover. The City notified the shop they recently made a gate change to the 10 foot level at Prettyboy, and the temperature graph on the USGS shows a spike up to just over 48 degrees. Angler reports from last weekend of slightly off color water was likely the result of the …

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