Big Hunting Creek and Gunpowder Falls reports?

[Bob Richey]

Does anyone know if Big Hunting or Gunpowder Falls are fishable right now?  With all the snow melt and rain, I didn't know if the water was still too high and muddy. Thanks for any info.

[Jeffrey Silvan]

Check out Backwater Angler for Gunpowder updates. It flooded on 3/11, but the gauge height is down below the levels preceding the flood. Backwater Angler says they don't guide it above 285 CFS flow, and it's currently at 230-240 CFS. Still on the higher/faster side, but fishable.

On Tue, Mar 17, 2015 at 9:02 AM, Bob Richey <bob.r...@gmail.com> wrote:

Does anyone know if Big Hunting or Gunpowder Falls are fishable right now?  With all the snow melt and rain, I didn't know if the water was still too high and muddy. Thanks for any info.

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[Bob Richey]

Thanks, Jeff.

 

[Misha Gill]

Agreed, I usually don't like fishing the gunpowder above 200 though. And most of my best spots are only accessible under 150.

Big Hunting should be at fishable flows right now. Use the Upper Patuxent (Bowie gauge) as a clue going forward. 

[Bob Richey]

Misha, I'm kind of new to fly fishing, can you help me interpret the gauge?  What is the range of levels I'm looking for?  Thanks.

[Misha Gill]

The little yellow triangles at the bottom show what the average flow for a day would be. The solid blue line is the actual water flow. Each horizontal line will be either 10 or 100 cfs, but I'm afraid you sort of have to figure that out from the context of the Y axis. Basically, you want the blue line to be near or slightly above the yellow triangles. Otherwise you're dealing with abnormal conditions. 

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/md/nwis/uv?site_no=01591000

And my bad, near Bowie was the wrong gauge to give you. The above gauge is near Unity, MD, which is much closer to Frederick and a much more analogous graph for Big Hunting. 

I wish more of these gauges gave temperature readings. Now that the weather is warm it's not such a big deal, but I know that I will never fish the Gunpowder if the water temp is going to be 39 degrees or below. I believe that you can catch fish in those conditions but it is hard freaking work and seldom worth it, IMO. 

[Andy Thomas]

Bob,

The gauge reads water in cubic feet per second (CFS).  What's fishable and what's not depends on the river and, in some cases, what part of the river.  For instance, the Gunpowder's optimal level is around 85-100 cfs in the upper portions of the catch and release section but is 150-180 or so in the lower portions of the Catch and release near Bluemount Rd.  If you look at the usgs page, http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/rt, it will show you the average cfs for different time periods over the past year.  You can then see what the average level for the river should be.  As another example, the North Branch of the Potomac at Barnum, WV has an optimal of about 250-300 cfs.  As mentioned, that would make the Gunpowder unfishable. 

[TurbineBlade]

+1 to the cold water thing ^^.  I've definitely (often) been the 'idiot' out there fighting for the nothing>>2-3 fish in cold water, but the longer I'm at it the less inclined I am to do it.  It's kind of a waste of gas and there are better birding locations closer to home (usually with migratory waterfowl during the same period).  

Sometimes there's a reason you 'have the place to yourself'.  

Gene

[Andy Thomas]

Also, there's a great app called "River Data" that provides easy access to this info for each state.

On Tuesday, March 17, 2015 at 9:02:54 AM UTC-4, Bob Richey wrote:

[Andrew Wiggins]

With the high cold water, I've been fishing small native brook trout streams near big hunting creek for to good effect. These have been running quite cool and surprisingly clear (36-40 deg), with patches of snow still on the ground in some areas (shaded canyons ) as of Sunday. I scoped out big/little hunting creek, and fishing creek ( closed) and these all looked borderline fishable with water levels dropping. It may that these freestone streams seem super "low" to my eye for much of the year.

[Houli]

Hey Andrew,

I know brookie water is a sacred and protected topic. Big Hunting is my closest trout water and have never found/fished brookie streams in that area. Not asking for spots but a general direction to explore. I usually hit lower/canyon section of BH ...... are the blue lines you hit tribs that flow into BH?  Catoctin Mtn Park ..... Cunningham Falls State Park?

Thanks for any and all help.

Ryan (rphou...@gmail.com)

[Terry C]

I fished Gun Powder yesterday. Water a great levels but got skunked 😞. Still cold. Sun didn't come out till late in the day. I was hoping to get into some dry fly fishing.

[Rob Snowhite]

Check a topo map for Catocrins above BHC. If you see a blue line in public land, fish it. Watch for bears.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 27, 2015, at 11:11 AM, Terry C <flycs...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I fished Gun Powder yesterday. Water a great levels but got skunked 😞. Still cold. Sun didn't come out till late in the day. I was hoping to get into some dry fly fishing.
>

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[Houli]

Thanks ... headed that way sunday.

On Friday, March 27, 2015 at 11:14:00 AM UTC-4, Rob Snowhite wrote:

Check a topo map for Catocrins above BHC. If you see a blue line in public land, fish it. Watch for bears.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 27, 2015, at 11:11 AM, Terry C <flycs...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I fished Gun Powder yesterday. Water a great levels but got skunked 😞.   Still cold. Sun didn't come out till late in the day. I was hoping to get into some dry fly fishing.
>
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[Andrew Wiggins]

There are some great blue-lining spots near bhc, little hunting creek, and fishing creek ( and apparently some just north in pa). I just started exploring that area with a fellow tpfr member in the fall and am stoked that I can get my brookie fix without the drive to Shenandoah. As a companion to a topo map, I recommend taking a look at the state Brook trout inventory to help one narrow down potential streams.
http://dnr2.maryland.gov/fisheries/Documents/MD_Brook_Trout_management_plan.pdf. ( I believe there is a newer one with estimated trout densities). Feel free to PM me with more detailed questions.

[TurbineBlade]

This is the best posting I've read since the DGIF report that the SF Shenandoah is supposed to have few (if any) big smallies this coming year!  

Lol -- yes, everyone please read this and go get your fix over in MD instead of the SNP.  There's nothing to see there but little 6" fish and tons of rattlesnakes and bears.  I hear that people die hiking around in there all the time actually.  It sucks.  Maryland is better!

Gene

[TurbineBlade]

To clarify:  I'm totally kidding and am sure all of the above are great places to fish.  ;)

[Andrew Wiggins]

Ha! I'm glad I can provide this valuable public service (back to plotting my next trip to Shenandoah)

[namfos]

ROFLMAO!