Trip Report: Gunpowder River 7/1...Its So Good to be Back!

So Z and I hit up the GP last Sunday and boy did we crush it. In the first 2 hours, I had landed 18 Fallfish, all on a Green Weenie. It was a good hike up to Zach's new secret spot so by the time we actually got in the water, with the air temp lingering in the mid 80's (at 8am), we were already wet. We put in after I snapped a few photos and vids and began our journey hitting up the banks and holes back to the car. The water was around 70cfs, really low, and the fish were pretty spooky. Using long leaders, we hit every bend and nook with only Fallfish to show for it. Finally, after being disturbed by some pretty obnoxious kids in a canoe, Zach tightened his line on a 5" Brownie with a Olive Wooly Bugger. Mokey was off our backs...finally. We waded a bit more and saw quite a few more fish but just couldn't get them to bite. We filmed a bit more, enjoyed our new Allen Trout 2 reels, and kept cool in the 53 deg F water.

We headed up to Backwater Angler where we ate lunch and picked up a bit of this and that. We talked to Theaux a bit and found out the shop will be moving in the next week or so. Not too far, actually back to their old location (which I'm honestly not quite sure of yet, but its close to the current store). After some good conversation about conservation on the GP, we headed up to the Trophy C&R section off of Falls Rd. We hopped in at the big bend where we spotted somewhere around a dozen Browns. We had quite a few follows but no lovin'. So we headed down to the pools. We spotted so many fish, I mean, big and small. Zach landed a nice Brown again, somewhere in the 6" range. I jumped two fish on a Green Weenie but lost both...I was hot to trot.  Zach eased down to the next pool where he landed two more Browns, a 6" and 7" on a tandem rig (a Pheasant Tail as the anchor and a size 16 Copper Nymph as the dropper, one fish taken on each). I threw on the same rig and finally, after Zach's 5th Brown (around 6"), landed a nice 7" Brown in the last pool before Whale Rock. We waded some more, past the Falls Rd bridge, where we fished the small pools and I landed a 5" Brown, bringing us to a total of 7 for the day.

I landed one more Fallfish and a White Sucker in the 9" range when we decided it was time to call it a day. Drenched in sweat and slightly dehydrated, we loaded up, ate a quick snack, recapped the day and made the 45 minute drive home. Overall, for our first time in almost 3 months to the GP, we called it a great day. I would love to get some of you guys up there to fish, I know a few of our followers have expressed interest. Contact us at tightlinedtalesofaflyfisherman@gmail.com for info and we'll see what we can piece together.

Boom...Morgan

Trip Reports...Waterworks and The Gunpowder

So I've been fishing Waterworks as often as I can recently with some not so good luck on the bass tally. I've pulled in maybe 3 Largemouth in the last 4-5 visits. I haven't caught a good sized one since my 3.27 lb-er over a week and a half ago. Warning, anything with the colors of a Yellow Perch (orange, yellow, white, black, green) will get torn apart. I've probably caught about 100 Bluegill, great, awesome, but not what I'm going for. A few Chain Pickerel have been brought in as well but nothing too impressive recently.  Needless to say, I have a lot of fishing karma build up. Ive found, based on my experience, the biggest bass are in the second largest reservoir, the one to the right when in the handicapped fishing area, the biggest Pickerel are in the smallest back pond, and the prettiest pond, with the largest number of fish, is the main reservoir. Enough said, heres some pictures...I'll try and post some pictures of flies that are working when I get some to work...

These are some of this years catfish spawn under the Waterworks dam.

Z has been tearing it up, he's a real bass fisherman, dude knows his shit. Thats exactly why I took him to the Gunpowder for his birthday this past Saturday, where he showed me up on Trout fishing as well. We fished the stretch between the Pretty Boy Dam down to Falls Rd. I caught my first Brown on a size 12 Green Weenie in the first 20 minutes with nothing but bumps, rises, and follows the rest of the day. Z on the other hand, was consistent throughout the day by pulling in 4 or 5 Browns almost entirely on Green Weenies. My bumps and follows came from Green Weenies, Beetles, and Caddis patterns. The River has TOTALLY changed from all the rain we got after Irene and learning the river again was kind of fun/a challenge. Check the pics and enjoy...

Tight Lines...Morgan

Quickie But Goodie on the Gunpowder

So my pops had his first experience with fly fishing today...radical. It took him a little bit to get the casting down and figure out how to do the shiz but he got it, like us men in the family always do. We raged till noon and called it due to heat and tacos not agreeing with our bellies. But, before heading out, dad got his first fish/trout on a fly rod...Green Weenie style. A beautiful 11" Brown that just about swallowed his fly. All that was left was a small trace of chenille, the hook, and some lead I had wrapped around it (under the chenille) to give it a little sink action. Check it out...

I did well also, 4 in the bag, including this one, a gnarly 13" Brown caught on a foam hopper tossed in front of a log jam. The other 3 consisted of a little 4" 'Bow and 2 7" Browns. Gunpowder was low, about 35 FPS and water temperature around 55 F. I was awesome, great trip with the pops, a big success. #Winning.

Our fly rods...

Tight Lines...Morgan