Gunpowder River, MD, 06/30/07

[jhguster23]

Fished the Gunpowder from about 6:00 this morning until around noon. What a beautiful location. Water was extremely low and extremely clear which required a 12 foot tippet tapered to 7x. Water temperature was in the low 50s. Saw a lot of sulfurs and caddis (tan) in the air and on the water, but the trout were rising only sporadically. The amount of fish in that stream is mindblowing. Wild browns everywhere. We fished upstream from the bridge at Falls Road to the dam at Prettyjohn Resevoir. Beautiful gorge with amazing scenery.

Picked up four browns, all under ten inches, all wild. Caught all four in fast water where I was able to approach unnoticed. Caught three on a beadhead Prince nymph and one on a tan elkhair caddis.

Spoke to the guys at Back Water Angler before heading down. They were extremely helpful even over the phone. Can't wait to get back there when the water is a little higher and the fish a little more approachable. What a fishery.

The water there is cold enough so that the fishing should be fantastic throughout the summer.

 

[Daren]

Sweet stream huh? :-D :-D
ive been fishing there alot lately... it has actually slowed down a bit but a few weeks ago the sulphur hatch was really, really mindblowing :lol:
one night i probably caught about thirty trout and lost almost as many... most coming in about the last half hour after sundown.
i have been fishing the section you were in.. but the guys at the shop say that there is alot more good water on down stream. maybe not quite the concentrations but much bigger fish.

that stream really does have a lot to offer
:-D

 

[jhguster23]

I got the impression from looking at their website that there might be bigger fish downstream. I drove out Masemore (sp?) Road while I was waiting for my buddies to show this morning, and the stream looked a lot narrower and I didn't see any places to park. For future reference, what are the good access points downstream of Falls Road? I think there are big fish above Falls Road, just not a very high concentration of them. One of the little browns I caught had a rather large fish chase it towards my feet. I didn't get a good look at it, but it certainly had the profile of a trout.

I'm a PA resident, but I actually ended up buying a Maryland license for the entire season. It's less than an hour from my house door to door, and you can fish there in the dog days of summer and not worry about killing fish.

On the streams that I fish around here, Lititz, Donegal, etc., I worry that a fight in warm July water will be the end of a beautiful fish. Down on the Gunpowder, you're good to go all season.

I can't wait to get back there.

 

[sight_nymph_17109]

hey guys, how far off of RT 83 is the special reg section and how much is a Md non-resident license? More importantly, where do I get one. I tried last year to do some checking online for price and locations but the websites weren't very easy to navigate (or I'm just a dummy). My buddy lives near Germantown and I have tried to get him to get information and we'd spend some time exploring MD trout waters. Yough looked impressive. I've always wanted to check out the Gunpowder, Casselmans and Savage.

 

[PaulG]

The reg section is not far off 83, I go there from Camp hill and it's a very easy drive, darn if I can think of the exit you take. The lic fees are the same as Pa's non resident lic, I think I payed around 40 some bucks for the yearly lic. You can get you lic at the Backwater flyshop in the town of Monkton.

Great stream!

Paul

 

[jhguster23]

Special regs section is only 10-15 minutes off of 83. You can buy a MD license on-line:

https://www3.wildlifelicense.com/md/

$57 for the year which includes trout stamp or $31 for a three-day license.

Here is an easy map...you want to fish upstream of Falls Road:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=39.60463,-76.699162&spn=0.058194,0.11673&z=13&om=1&pw=2