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A water release was made this morning from Prettyboy Dam to raise water levels in Loch Raven Reservoir. The shop was informed that these flows should continue through this week into the weekend, and possibly the following week. The Gunpowder was ice cold all Summer at a medium to lower flow (5 times the bare minimum, and nearly double the dreaded 30 Cfs flow), but now is climbing to an early Spring level in the 115 CFs range. The conditions and fishing on the Gunpowder prior to the release really favor dry fly fishing. The trico hatch in the mornings and caddis hatches midday get …

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My buddy Matt was in town, so we decided to head to the Savage for a few days fishing. We arrived just before dark on Sunday and set up camp. On Monday morning we started on a stretch that has proven productive this year, and holds some nice trout. We were both fishing with nymph rigs on 5X tippet. Three casts into the first pool, and I set the hook when the indicator stopped. The brown above got the blood pumping before I directed it out of the faster water and into the net. This trout was only fifteen inches, but was built like a …

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The Gunpowder River is the ideal destination for trout fishing in late Summer. The prolonged high air temps and lack of rain have basically shut down trout fishing on freestone streams in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Low flows are not the big problem, but the warmer water temps over 70 degrees can be too stressful on trout. Fortunately the frigid bottom release from Prettyboy Dam offers refuge from the hot air temps, and allows us to fish the Gunpowder without concern. Yesterday I was curious just how much river was fishable based on water temperature. The Falls Rd area is 48 degrees, and roughly …

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The morning trico hatch on the Gunpowder is pretty late compared to most streams. The fish start rising after 9 am until 11:30, and sometimes continue rising until 1 pm. On Monday I fished a section of river in the morning with decent hatch clouds of tricos, but not a lot of fish rising. The interesting part of the day was around 3 pm when trout started rising everywhere. I noticed a lot of female tricos emerging and the trout were quickly sipping them off the surface. The tricos in the air even grabbed the attention of some birds, including a few hummingbirds. I snapped …

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The Gunpowder flowing at 50 Cfs, and well below 50 degrees in the first mile. Tricos and caddis have worked well, but the trout can be very selective during the trico hatch. The shop has a variety of size 22 and 24 trico spinner and dun patterns that are fooling wary browns. Small duns described by many anglers as BWOs, PMDS or “tiny sulphurs” are emerging in the afternoons. I never grabbed one to I.D., but did manage to catch a few browns on a couple variations of BWO’s during this afternoon emergence. In the latest video I filmed the morning hatch cloud of tricos …

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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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