Published by Theaux Le Gardeur October 29th, 2007
in fishing report.
The river is flowing at 24Cfs, and is 55 F. The river should be low and clear for sometime as Prettyboy Reservoir is given a chance to recharge. We saw many flyfisherman from the Northern Virginia and DC area taking advantadge of low flows and great Fall Flyfishing weather this past weekend.
Most of the catches over the weekend were on brassies, small midge larvae patterns and small streamers. Falls RD through Masemore RD access points were red hot hot but with lower flows forecast through the week, it would be prudent to seek out fish below the confluence of Little Falls at Bluemount RD downstream through Monkton RD.
Thanks to Craig for the following stream report.
I just wanted to let you guys know I appreciate the complete and accurate updates on stream and fishing conditions on your website. I drive up from Dulles so it’s nice to know ahead of time what’s happening.
Regards,
Craig
Fairfax, VA
Published by Theaux Le Gardeur October 27th, 2007
in fishing report.
After a signifigant storm, the promise of great trout fishing is alive and well on the Gunpowder river. Where can one fly fish in the Mid-Atlantic after 5″ of rainfall? The Gunpowder river of course. While most locales received between 5.01 and 5.6 inches of rainfall in the past twenty four hours, the Gunpowder river is low and clear from Masemore RD upstream through the Falls RD stretch to PrettyBoy Dam and is flowing at 80Cfs. Olives, caddis and small bead head nymphs have been very productive this week. Small streamers, including Lite-Bright Zonkers are also worth a shot.
Published by Jason du Pont October 25th, 2007
in news and gear.
Fall can be the time for pursuing wild browns amidst the changing colors of leaves and reflecting on the past year’s fishing. Journals can help, often times a fly box can be a great place to look to bring back memories from months ago. The tattered snow shoe hendricksons and soft hackle nymphs in my box bring back early Spring evenings. Size twenty midge pupaes, zebra midges, caddis larvae and the faithful San Juan kept things hot on cold winter days. Wet flies, caddis pupae and pheasant tails in many colors and sizes dominate rows and rows of slitted foam in my boxes. My “fur lined” streamer box is a menagerie of creatures lined in tight rows, which give the appearance of one multi color pelt.
I recently pulled quite a few flies from my boxes in a effort to make room for future patterns. Those future patterns have yet to be tied, some even yet to be dreamt up. I prefer ushering out old patterns and leaving big gaps in all those rows of slitted foam. The mayflies, beetles and terrestrials that have served their purpose for the summer are stored until next year. Caddis, midges and attractor nymphs are reliable and effective patterns year round. Flies that rarely work, despite looking realistic or patterns that have little place locally all need to go. There can be no greater sense of satisfaction than to open a fly box that has been crammed full of flies tied by you. No greater sense of frustration than tying and fishing patterns that seem to fall short of productive. A level of comfort is gained by a full fly box, although random flies and prototypes from years past are just taking up space. An empty fly box makes anglers anxious, and that nervous feeling can best be remedied at the vise. Tying new patterns, whether from books or websites can provide inspiration along with seining insects on local waters. Tying and fishing flies is a constant progression toward having a fly box that is filled with patterns that catch fish.
Published by Theaux Le Gardeur October 24th, 2007
in fishing report.
The river is flowing at 118 Cfs, (a perfect level for wading) and is 54 F. The reservoir is still turning over but the river is clear enough to sight fish to wild trout taking olives and small caddis in the #18-20 range along the edges of seams. More larger fish, over 14″ have been caught in the past few weeks than the rest of the year combined, including a 20″ fish by lucky Philadelphia area fly fisherman Tom Buterbaugh, and a 20″ fish by local guide Capt. Jeff Lewatowski. Try a large streamer on a sink-tip line through some of the deeper runs and slots above Falls RD and below York RD as quite a few fish in the 4 to 7″ range have been attacked by larger fish this week. Double bunnies and zonkers are worth a shot in the boulder pools.Tiny pheasant tails, brassies and zebra midges are still favorites in the shallow riffles above Falls RD. Cooler days with cloud cover typically point to less traffic on the river, (and better fishing) so bring a rain jacket along and enjoy some beautiful scenery, wild fish this Fall when fly fishing along the Gunpowder River. As I was telling one of our regulars this morning, “The leaves are pretty until I hook them.”
Thanks to Troy for the following stream report.
Theaux:
Thank you again for the tips - I had a great day today, landing a nice fish with my first cast of the morning at about 7:25 a.m. or so, and then catching 5 or 6 on dry flies by about 8:45 a.m. while losing two flies to strikes and missing on 3 or 4. The double nymph set-up also brought in 5 nice fish. Everything today was about 11-12 inches, all Browns except for one Rainbow.
See you at the shop in the next couple of weeks.
Troy
The lower river was recently stocked with 750 rainbows. Most of the fish caught this week were hardfighting and in the 12-13 inch range. Check out access points along York Rd at Upper and Lower Glencoe RD and Sparks RD. Large bright streamers and nymphs should garner some attention from the truck fish.
The Gunpowder river has 18 miles of public water and is suprisingly close to DC, Philly and Northern Virginia. Need directions?
Published by Jason du Pont October 23rd, 2007
in news and video.
The shocking survey on the Gunpowder River is pretty incredible to witness. On September 24th a team of Maryland Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Biologists shocked the Falls Rd area on Gunpowder River. A line of wader clad, net wielding biologists and volunteers pushed upstream behind biologists wearing electro-fishing backpacks. The shocking prod stunned anything within a five to six foot range with a low volt charge. The stunned trout floated to the surface where they were gently netted and placed in buckets. Trout and the occasional big sucker floated up from every little hole. The contents of the buckets were placed into tubs with meshed out bottoms to allow water to flow through. The area sampled was over a hundred feet long and was comprised of shallow riffles. During the survey, seven to ten tubs lined the shoreline each filled with 75 ten inch adult brown trout, and many smaller and young of year trout. In this video short, the trout in these tubs were anesthetized with a quick acting liquid solution that allowed the biologists to handle and release the fish with minimal injuries to the fish. Once the trout were sedated each trout was measured, weighed and looked over for hooking injuries. Many of the trout sampled did show signs of being hooked and safely released many times. After the trout recovered in a fresh water bucket, they were placed into the tubs in the river to recover and then released.
The Gunpowder has such a high density of wild trout that most anglers wouldn’t believe the results of the shocking survey, unless they saw it with their own eyes. In recent years the survey has uncovered browns over twenty inches and up to four pounds, but not this year. Although three fish in that size range were caught and documented on film by Backwater Angler Guides this Summer. Jeff Lewatowski’s big brown was caught one day after shocking surveys ended and was landed within earshot of where I video taped the survey. Big fish can make your day or even year, but the Gunpowder does not give up big fish easily. It does yield more wild trout than any river in Maryland, and its density of trout can allow skilled anglers the chance to catch dozens of feisty, beautiful trout in one outing. Once you become proficient on the river and resign yourself to catching these often acrobatic nine to twelve inch browns trip after trip, the big trout may start hunting you.
