Gunpowder, Maryland 8/4-8/5

[jayL]

Fished the Gunpowder with Ian over the last two days. It was my first time there, so I didn't realize how unusually high it was running due to the really high release rate.

Talked to a semi-local and he said in the hundreds of trips hes taken there, he'd never seen it running at that clip.

Either way, we started Saturday morning in the lower area and spotted a few tricos. I missed a few and Ian caught two (I think) and then another later on while deep fishing buggers. I went fishless for the first half of the day, but finally got a brownie nymphing the upper section. The high water was blamed for putting the fish down and killing the hatch action by most we talked to, but saw a few on the caddis before dark.

Got back out this morning and managed to get 4 on tricos in some large glassy pools followed by each of us landing fish on nymphs behind log jams.

It was a beautiful stream, and I fully plan on checking it out again when it's hopefully a tad lower.

Thanks to all that helped us to get down there and get in to the fish, as well as the guys at backwater angler. I'd recommend that shop to anyone who makes the trip down there.

 

[jhguster23]

Glad to hear you enjoyed it. It really is a great stream.

In the future, anytime you want to check the stream flows, there is a link on the Backwater Angler site to the USGS stream gauge for the Gunpowder River that will give you up to the minute flow information.

Just to put the stream in perspective for you, when I fished it earlier in the summer, it seemed a little low, and it was flowing at that point around 30 CFS. This weekend when you fished, it was running around 160 CFS, more than 5x the flow.

Was it hard to wade when it was running that high? I'm heading down this weekend and want to make sure I'm prepared.

 

[jayL]

Haha... about the wading.

I forgot my wading boots, among other things... That's what happens when you leave at 4 AM. Anyway, I waded the lower section at first in a pair of vans sneakers and it was miserable. I was slipping everywhere, and the current was strong. Luckily, the lower section is much more silty and there are less big rocks.

I got a loaner pair of boots from backwater angler for later in the day and Sunday and am very lucky I did so. The rocky tough to wade water at the upper end would have surely done me in without them. If you're going to fish the upper section I'd go as far as to recommend a wading staff. The worst parts were when there was a deadfall at the bank which forced you to go out farther toward the middle. I almost floated away once or twice.


Now, if you ask Ian how the wading was you should get some real horror stories! 😛 We both had a tough time on those rocks with so much water around, but he got the worst of it.