Gunpowder - Baltimore Co, MD 4/14/13

[BelAirSteve]

Back out on the water after a long break. Beautiful day, water temps around 51 as I recall, got to fish for about 3 hours and didn't see another fisherman.

Brought 4 to hand - nothing big, but it felt good having a wild brown trout in my hand after a long break. Caught the first one under interesting circumstances. I started out prospecting with a size 16 BHPT. After a half dozen drifts or so, I was taking in the scenery and checking out if anything was going on upstream when I felt a bump as the fly was just hanging in the water column. So for fun, I started swinging the BHPT on purpose, thingamabobber and all! Caught the fish on the third cast! Caught 3 of them swinging a partridge and orange wet fly.

Saw a few caddis here and there, maybe a hendrickson or two, and watched a half dozen fish rise. All in all, a very pleasant day on the water.

Saw something odd when I arrived at the lot. Saw two guys reading the sings by the wader wash station. One of them had a spool of fishing line in his hand. I made eye contact with them, and they wondered over to the car and put the spool in the trunk. I put my sunglasses on, and continued to watch them, leaving them wondering a little bit. After I geared up, I walked past them to get to the trail, said hello, and they responded. When I got to the bottom of the hill, I called the MD DNR Poacher hotline. They asked me "What do you think they are going to do?" I said, "I didn't see them doing anything, but it's difficult to fish in the catch and release section of an ALO stream with a spool of fishing line." She said she would send someone by in the area. My hope was that these guys would scram in a hurry if a DNR pickup truck rolled up.

 

[Cincivol]

Sounds like a great day. Glad to hear that trout are rising somewhere. Thanks for making the call about the potential poachers. We all need to do our part!

 

[midgeman]

If all the years of my fishing experience on the Gun, I've never seen bait containers. I have met anglers at the parking lot with spinning gear and explained that the Upper Gun is unstocked. They were all unaware of the stock locations further downstream. I've seen very few spin fisherman there as well. Good decision on calling the DNR, but usually a friendly conversation and pointing th in the right direction goes a long way.

Great report Steve. I was there before the flow spike last week and strictly sight fished for risers with dry midges. The temp spikes have a tendency to make the browns hold a long the banks. I had an awesome day in the 4 hours I was there 11-3.

 

[streamerguy]

I'm all for busting and preventing potential poachers, and I applaud you for that, but what made you think they were going to poach? Maybe the one was going to respool his reel and happened to go and read the sign with the spool still in his hand(and rods/reels still in vehicle). I assume since you said ALO spin fishing is legal, and you didn't mention they had bait. Just throwing it out there. Of course I wasn't there to see for myself, but if they were obviously possible potential poachers again I applaud you for your efforts. Better to be safe than sorry and make the call about any suspicious behavior.

And nice report. That's happened to me too when your fly just dangles in the current while you're doing something else and a fish its. You never know when a fish is going to hit!

 

[BelAirSteve]

streamerguy wrote:
I'm all for busting and preventing potential poachers, and I applaud you for that, but what made you think they were going to poach? Maybe the one was going to respool his reel and happened to go and read the sign with the spool still in his hand(and rods/reels still in vehicle). I assume since you said ALO spin fishing is legal, and you didn't mention they had bait. Just throwing it out there. Of course I wasn't there to see for myself, but if they were obviously possible potential poachers again I applaud you for your efforts. Better to be safe than sorry and make the call about any suspicious behavior.

Streamerguy,

I have seen poachers that fit the exact profile on other streams, and their actions were suspicious as I said - hid the spool by his side, then slipped it in the trunk when I stuck my head in my car to get my gear. I saw no other gear, and they were not dressed the part of a spin fisherman one would expect to see on the Gunpowder. If I was wrong, and way off base about them, no harm done in a DNR truck driving by. If they were up to no good, that would have been enough to scare them off.

Midgeman,

I have found bait containers along the Big Falls road stretch, and even on some of the big boulders up toward the dam. Regarding the friendly conversation, based on what I overhead, there would have been a language barrier I would not have been able to overcome.

 

[LongWader]

From time to time I see poachers on the CR section of the GP and they use small spin outfits or spools just like the one you saw. They stash the fish into a convenience store bag and then run a long the trail back to their cars. If you confront them they just run faster, however they are not the biggest poachers. There are a whole bunch of kayakers that stash telescoping spinning rods and bait into the kayaks and fish bait in the CR section, stash the fish in their kayaks and then paddle down to the wild trout section or lower and take the fish out there. It is very hard to catch them because they generally stop fishing and head down stream in their Kayaks as soon as they see another fisherman. I ran into a bunch of them at a local REI store and played dumb and they started bragging about all the fish they take out of the CR sections and how they have indoctrinated a bunch of other kayakers into the practice. They told me exactly what I would need to do it and warned me to pack up and head downstream if I saw another fisherman without a kayak. I told the DNR and they said that there was very little they could do about it since the take out places downstream are in areas where you can keep fish. While it has been a battle with the canoe and kayak folks to stop them from chain sawing apart the brush piles this is an even greater problem. They think the have outsmarted the DNR and the other fisherman and think of the GP C&R section as their own private trout grocery store. So far they are right because they take all the fish they want with total impunity. The Maryland DNR simply does not have the resources or the will to stop them.