Published by Jason du Pont June 29th, 2008
in fishing report and news.
Throughout the spring and summer many trout anglers travel to fly fish the Gunpowder. Few take advantage of the reservoirs, above and below the river, which provide great warmwater fishing with a flyrod. Both large and smallmouth bass, other panfish, pickerel, and carp can all be caught on the fly. Many bluegills are in the shallows to spawn and large bass and pickerel are cruising shorelines in search of food. Big bass on streamers and palm-size bluegills on poppers is a great way to spend a few hours before an afternoon of trout fishing. Large carp pushing ten pounds swim in pods in shallows where surface wakes and clouds of mud are easy to see. Lots of Pickerel and largemouths can be caught in Loch Raven, while Prettyboy supports good numbers of smallmouth bass and red eyed rockbass. Mornings and evenings the fish are more aggressive, although sight fishing along shorelines can be easy with the bright sun at midday.
Published by Theaux Le Gardeur June 10th, 2008
in news.
We still have room in our fly fishing school this Sunday. If you’re planning on flyfishing Maryland, or anywhere else for that matter, this course is a great introduction to the sport. The school covers knots, casting, gear and fly selection. Class is held from 11:00 AM till 2:00 PM. Cost is $100 per person and includes the use of gear. Class size is limited to 4 and pre-registration is required. Please give us a call at 410-329-6821 or drop us a line at info@backwaterangler.com to pre-register.
Published by Theaux Le Gardeur May 22nd, 2008
in news.
Thanks to Candus Thompson from the Baltimore Sun for her timely reporting on Didymo along the Gunpowder River.
Alex Demetrich, from WJZ13 stopped in last week and spent some time in shop talking about invasives like Whirling disease and Didymo with Backwater Angler Staff members Theaux Le Gardeur and Jason du Pont. Later that night the information was broadcast during “The Environment” segment.
Pat van dem Beemt, of the North County News also wrote a story on Didymo titled, “Rock Snot Reported Below PrettyBoy Dam.”
We’ve also heard about Didymo from a number of Gunpowder regulars:
Roman Kostrubiak, sent us this email in late April that was quite telling…
Theaux,
I was out on the Gunpowder yesterday just above the Masemore Bridge and was quite surprised to see that many rocks along the stream bottom were completely covered with a slimy brown algal growth. In many spots, this appeared to cover the entire stream bed. My concern is what effect is this going to have on the fishery and also on the entire stream ecosystem. Will this destroy the upcoming generation of waterborne insects that require a healthy stream bottom to reproduce? Is this somehow related to the low flow we have seen during this winter or is this perhaps didymo which has been wreaking havoc on other river systems and destroying trout habitat? Is the area involved increasing in size? Can something be done about to remedy or curtail the situation before it spreads to involve the entirety of the watershed?
Roman Kostrubiak
Roman brought up many questions that we’re still wrangling with…
Stay tuned and until then, fish on…and consider an Aquastealth shoe.
Published by Jason du Pont May 9th, 2008
in fishing report, news and video.
Didymo, an invasive algae, has been confirmed in the Gunpowder river.
This video short describes distribution of Didymo, a description of the algae, and some gear treatment and containment methods for anglers.
The increased time fishing and guiding on the Gunpowder River the past month only solidified my suspicions that something wasn’t right. Nymphing and swinging streamers still produced fish, but the increased frequency of cleaning “slime” off the hook was not normal. Many anglers and guides noted similar masses of slime on the hook and also the river bottom, throughout much of the catch and release areas. Fearing the worst I contacted MD Fisheries and boxed up samples of this strange algae. Days later MD DNR Fisheries Biologists contacted Backwater Angler, placed signs along Gunpowder River accesses, assessed the spread and posted a warning on the DNR freshwater fishing report.
Published by Theaux Le Gardeur April 30th, 2008
in news and events.
The shop will be closed on Wednesday April 30, and will reopen at the new location on Thursday May 1, 2008. Our phone lines will down on the 30th as the lines are changed over to the new location. Our phone #, 410-329-6821 will remain the same.
After many questions about where the new shop will be located,
we thought that a few pictures were in order.
The shop is at 16928 York Rd, Monkton, MD 21111 at the corner of Monkton Rd and York Rd.
Stop in May 3 and 4th during our Grand opening at the new location.
Our Scott, Abel, Airflo, and Patagonia rep Ken Lagerveld will be in house on Saturday, May 3 from 10 till 4pm.
