Published by Jason du Pont June 23rd, 2008
in fishing report and video.
While I was fishing to a good Hendrickson emergence a few months ago, an angler passing me on the trail told me he saw spawning fish in some shallow riffles. I continued fishing a snow shoe emerger with success until I thought I’d take a look at the area he mentioned. Suckers, some nearly twenty inches long, had gathered in a section of riffle water to spawn. Prior to this I spotted groups of smaller suckers spawning in Little Falls, as well as in the Lower Gunpowder. The clear, shallow water of the upper river at that time made for some prime viewing and videotaping.
These fish had either migrated or congregated in riffles above Falls Rd, which means the sucker fry should now, months later, be providing the brown trout with a bit larger meal than normal. We also have a run of
Gizzard Shad on the Gunpowder, which swim up from Loch Raven Reservoir. These bluish-gray 10-16 inch shad with a distinct forked tail and dark spot behind the gills can be found in areas of the upper river. The past two years I have seen more and more of these fish spawning during late May into June. The migration has ended for them as hundreds of shad are schooled up in the Plunge Pool below Prettyboy Dam.
Published by Theaux Le Gardeur June 3rd, 2008
in fishing report and video.
In this video short, Jason du Pont shows some aggressively “rising” trout, evening duns on the water, fishing to evening risers, and last but not least, he shares some footage of a big brown that Gunpowder regular, Matt Devlin, recently released.
The month of May offered great flows and the exciting start of our annual Sulphur hatch. In June, with water levels at an optimal level, the sulphurs are hatching in good numbers, and fish are still keying on these bright yellow to pale cream bodied bugs. Anglers focusing on specific parts of the hatch are enjoying more success than anglers intent on only fishing dries. Morning and early afternoon anglers are catching a lot of fish on sulphur emergers, wets and nymph patterns, while dry fly anglers are experiencing better success after 3 p.m. on Sulphur duns. The evening fishing has been as good or better as previous years, with spinners and Sulphur duns on the water into twilight. Caddis are a great late morning-midday dry fly, and I have had success prospecting the riffles with some patterns we recently received in the shop. With water temps warmer than usual in the mid to upper 60’s, the fish are very active in the catch and release section, as spillover is raising the water temp despite a recent gate change. While bigger browns usually come to streamers, this fish ate a subsurface fly under an indicator and measured out just under 17 inches. The bugs are hatching, water flowing and rods are bending on the Gunpowder River.
Jason du Pont
Published by Theaux Le Gardeur May 17th, 2008
in fishing report and video.
The latest video post from Jason du Pont shows water building behind the dam this past week. Spillover points to excellent dry fly fishing. The river has moved up slightly from 41 Cfs to 50 Cfs. A recent gate change from 55ft to 15ft has warmed up the water a bit, coupled with spillover today, stream temps have moved up from the mid 50’s to closer to 60 throughout the catch and release section and fish are snapping at Caddis and Sulphurs. Now would be a great time to call the kid down the block and have him cut the grass…
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 May 5th, 2008
in video.
Backwater Angler staff member Max gives us a quick glimpse of fly fishing Chile.
Enjoy!
Thanks Max!
You lucky devil.
