BACKWATER ANGLER

Remember the drought in March? What a difference two months can make! In the midst of the second wettest Spring on record, Pretty Boy reservoir is full, and the Gunpowder river is experiencing low, (at 32 CFs) clear and cold, (54 F) flows. This morning the water temp at Falls Rd was 54 F. Small ants, beetles and grasshoppers paired with #16-18 pheasant tails and hare’s ears and cast along shaded banks should work fine throughout the catch and release section. If you’d like to fish in more, that is, higher water, any access downstream of Bluemount Rd where Little Falls, (flowing at 44 CFs) joins the Gunpower including Monkton and Upper Glencoe are worth a shot. The Glencoe gauge is reporting flows in the 92 CFs range. For more on the broad based effects of the recent weather pattern-outside of a sudden increase in rain jacket sales at the shop, give Frank D Roylance’s article from the Sun Paper titled, Mosquitoes thriving, Md. crops suffering amid rainy weather a read. The article, which points to, the mixed blessing of the 17 inches of rain we’ve received since April 1, features snippets from Maryland Agriculture Secretary Earl “Buddy” Hance about the rain’s effect on corn and wheat crops and a statement from Mike Cantwell, Chief of MDA’s Mosquito Control Division, on subsequent increases in mosquito “landings” observed in Dorchester county.

Typically, wearing a Cloudveil Cool shirt and liberally applying Ultrathon, (both featured above and in the shop) will do the trick against these blood-sucking devils, but if you if still yearning for mosquito know-how be sure to check out the following info from the AMCA website. The AMCA, (American Mosquito Control Association) has great info on repellents and Mosquito-Borne Diseases. Their position statement on Mosquito Misting systems should be adopted by those in the fishing community interested in limiting widespread insecticide use and it’s potential effects on aquatic macro-invertebrates,(. A.K.A.trout-food)
It follows in somewhat abbreviated form with emphasis added:

The position of the AMCA is that the practice of dispensing pesticides at predetermined intervals without surveillance data guiding the treatment is not consistent with the sound Integrated Mosquito Management practices that underlie our valued partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency in the Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program. We are concerned that application of pesticides through these misting systems will have several undesirable effects.
1. Unnecessary insecticide use. …timed space sprays may result in needless insecticide applications, leading to increased costs to the consumer and potentially adverse environmental impacts.
2. Lack of efficacy data…
3. Non-target impacts. Timed-release sprays will negatively impact beneficial insect populations and other non-target organisms on site and through uncontrolled off-site drift.
4. Promotion of insecticide resistance…
5. Risk of pesticide exposure…
6. Incompatible with integrated pest management practices…
…until misting systems are reconfigured so that surveillance drives the application, efficacy is demonstrated and drift is minimized, AMCA believes they are not consistent with sound practices to promote public and environmental health and should be discouraged.