Gunpowder River, Baltimore County, Maryland 10/30/16

[ryansheehan]

Fished the GP today near the bunker hill access point from around 7 am until 1. The flows were a steady 90 cfs with water temps in the mid 50's. There were some sporadic rises but nothing consistent and I didnt see any insect activity. Landed around 20 fish, all browns, most of them in the 4-7 inch range. Most of the fish were caught on small midge patterns. I did catch two fish that were a little bigger, one was 10 and another was 13. I did see one or two redds in some of the slower water but
they're not quite ready yet. Here are a couple of pics of the better fish.

 

[BrooksAndHooks]

Nice report and thanks for sharing man. Fish were starting to spawn here about a month ago for brookies and in the last 2 weeks for the browns, so it should getting close down there.

 

[ryansheehan]

Had a little free time today and went back out. Caught my biggest gp brown in recent memory, taped at 17 inches, caught a couple other nice fish too.

 

[redietz]

Nice! October is definitely the time for larger browns in the GP.

 

[ryansheehan]

Hey red,
Ran into a guy who said they stocked 2000 fingerlings in the gp above falls road 2 years ago. Is that true? Why the hell would they do that, already too many fish in there.

 

[redietz]

Yes, they stocked fingerling rainbows. They did so again this year. We had a guy from DNR address our chapter of TU, and the only reason he gave was "to introduce some variety". He also admitted that the only real result was to give the browns something to eat.

I heard an interesting statistic last week. It seem that the browns in Beaver Creek are from stock out of the Gunpowder. However, a 12" inch fish in the GP is 5 years old; a 12" fish in Beaver is 2 years old. The difference is the amount of food available. The water is just too cold.

There is zero point of stocking yet more fish. I wish they would stop, but not everyone, even in TU, feels the same way.

The lower in the river you fish, if the water is still cool enough to support trout, the better chance you have of catching a large fish. Below Little Falls there's a lot more food in the form of baitfish. This time of year, some of those fish move upstream for the spawn and there are good fish throughout.

 

[ryansheehan]

Yes, I knew about the rainbows but I failed to mention in my post he said they were brown trout fingerlings. He said he helped put them in.

 

[Flyinglion]

Ryan,

That is a nice chunky Gunpowder brown!! Great fish!

 

[SeaSickSailor]

During the last year above Falls I have scored 3-1 Bows vs Brownies which blew my mind but makes sense now. Some pools seem to be nothing but Bows. Very strange tactic given the wild/stream bred population density there.

Congrats on the awesome Brownies recently! I'm either on it there or get skunked but I also am not much of a nymph guy.

Cheers.

 

[ryansheehan]

Ive definitely caught my fair share of bows there through the years but it does seem like more and more of them are around. I emailed Backwater Angler to see if they had any info on stocking brown trout fingerlings, it sounds very strange to me.

 

[midgeman]

The state stocked fingerling Bows for years above Falls Rd. The Bows would grow quickly to a large size and were incredible fighters. After the 2006 flood, the section above Falls Road lost most of the log jams and I believe the fishery suffered because of this. The introduction of Bows won't hurt the wild browns and IMO, will increase the fishing quality. Browns have been wild in the GP since the early 80's.

 

[redietz]

midgeman wrote:
The state stocked fingerling Bows for years above Falls Rd. The Bows would grow quickly to a large size and were incredible fighters. After the 2006 flood, the section above Falls Road lost most of the log jams and I believe the fishery suffered because of this. The introduction of Bows won't hurt the wild browns and IMO, will increase the fishing quality. Browns have been wild in the GP since the early 80's.

That's not what he's talking about, however. He's saying that someone stock brown trout fingerlings.

 

[ryansheehan]

redietz wrote:

midgeman wrote:
The state stocked fingerling Bows for years above Falls Rd. The Bows would grow quickly to a large size and were incredible fighters. After the 2006 flood, the section above Falls Road lost most of the log jams and I believe the fishery suffered because of this. The introduction of Bows won't hurt the wild browns and IMO, will increase the fishing quality. Browns have been wild in the GP since the early 80's.

That's not what he's talking about, however. He's saying that someone stock brown trout fingerlings.

I'm looking into it as soon as I have some answers I will let you know. The gentleman I spoke to was very confident they were stocking browns above falls, which if true is mind blowing. Like red said earlier the growth rate is already so slow and the number of fish per mile is so high.

 

[smm717]

Backwater Anglers had advised on their website 5000 rainbows?
http://www.backwaterangler.com/2016/07/21/5-000-new-rainbows-in-the-catch-and-release-section-of-the-gunpowder/

 

[ryansheehan]

Yes, I know, they've been stocking kamloops for decades now, not what I was talking about. I was told they stocked fingerling Brown trout, which if true would create future issues with spawning fish. I'm still looking for answers on if it's true or not. But yes they stock fingerling rainbows yearly.

 

[ryansheehan]

Fished the gunpowder again today, the flows are perfect at 95 cfs. Lots of midges around very few rising fish however . Got into lots of fish and landed another good one. They were very eager to eat baetis and small midge nymphs. I've been lucky to make it out 3 times in a week that's what I normally get in a month!

 

[redietz]

I wish I could get three times in a week. Any more signs of spawning?

 

[ryansheehan]

Yeah that has happened in a while, two boys and a wife changes things, brings me back to the days of my youth when I would make the hour and a half trip up there 3-5 days a week. No signs of spawning at all near falls rd area.. I did see what looked like the start of two redds earlier in the week down past bunker hill. You been out at all red?

 

[redietz]

You been out at all red?

Yeah, but up to Big Spring yesterday. I usually hold off the Gunpowder during November and December. Probably overly conservative on my part.

Last weekend, though, I was out below Little Falls and did OK. Nine that I had to unhook, and at least that many LDR'd. Of the nine landed, three were over 12 inches and most of the others between 10 and 12. Definitely a better overall average than most of the year, but nothing as big as you've been taking.

 

[smm717]

Sorry I was expressing known facts not rumors.