gunpowder access where to go?

[robert mills]

Hi Guys, 

Looking at hitting gunpowder tomorrow, but where do I go? Never been up there and am not familiar with the area, any suggestions?

[tperkins]

Stop into either Great Feathers or Backwater angler and they can point to you in the right direction. Water is still high, so it will probably be a streamer game. I personally like the area around Masemore or Bunker Hill road. If you do the Bunker Hill road make sure you come in from the north side otherwise you'll have a long walk. 

[tperkins]

And looking at the gauges right now, the gunpowder is running at 300 CFS right now. Which can make wading tricky. Just an FYI 

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=01581920

[Worapong Soodsamai]

what time are you going? I was thinking of going this weekend as well. I'm from DC

On Friday, August 24, 2018 at 1:14:53 PM UTC-4, robert mills wrote:

[robert mills]

sorry didn't see this, we went saturday, something like 1000-1730.

 stopped by backwater and got the scoop, good shop. We had fun but caught very little, seemed like nobody was really catching anything except I ran across a guy as I was leaving and saw him have two takes on a caddis in less than five minutes. I think we had one 12in brown and three or four small brookies landed.

The water was at something like 250cfs, so it was fast for the GP. The 12inch brown was caught on a 3wt single hand spey rig tossing a size 4 weighted sculpin pattern with a medium sink t head, We were using it to get across the stream and fish the other bank, then swing downstream and fish below on the bank I was on. The brookies we caught two on a red copper john using a tenkara rod set up for sighter nymphing. My wife hooked a few on a gummy worm on the tenkara rig then we swapped to a grey mop fly when she lost the worm and had similar luck.

[Worapong Soodsamai]

Going to go this Wednesday afternoon instead. I rode the bike out to pond of giants area on the C&O yesterday. I am new to fly fishing in general and have opted to start with Tenkara and yesterday was my 2nd time using it. Caught a handful of bluegill. Could you tell me what access area you used at Big Gunpowder? I chose Tenkara for my travels which are mainly by motorcycle as well as bicycle and for car trips like this Wednesday because I am taking a friend as well its a none issue as it fits in a 4runner just fine. I'll monitor the water levels hopefully it is not as much in a few days. I also hear that Big Gunpowder can get crowded especially on the weekends and have found suggestions that Little Falls and Little Gunpowder are a good alternative.

Art

[robert mills]

 yeah we went to the masemore water trail (where there is a parking lot), and went up river from there. You may want to stop into backwater, Theo was great, and the shop has all the flies you'll need. I'd offer to meet you there, but I think I have something planned but I may blow it off, will let you know if that changes.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Masemore+Water+Trail/@39.6113473,-76.6850242,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x89c86dd20a102059:0xe148ea6acc8c31e9!8m2!3d39.6113473!4d-76.6828302

 I've fished tenkara all over the world and I think you'll find its simplicity enjoyable, although they are not as versatile as a western fly rod and the casting technique is entirely different. a western fly rod can do everything a tenkara rod can, a tenkara rod just does the things it can do better, pack really small and have an ultra delicate presentation for example.

You'll be dead drifting weighted nymphs mostly, treat your tenkara rod like a euro nymphing rig and you should have fun, plenty of videos on youtube about that technique. You may want to also try trowing dry flies in riffles, but talking with a buddy who guides up there (and who I completely forgot to call before going up there) most of the bugs have been washed out with the high current so you may also want to try streamer fishing, although that is better done with a traditional rod.

What rod did you go with? I'm a big fan of the Tenkara USA Sato as an all arounder but I left mine with a guide in Argentina a few years back and picked up a dragontail hellbender and a komodo. I've landed some 18in+ fish with the hellbender, and the komodo seems to be a good all arounder, although a bit over powering for 4-6in fish. I've also got a little 6ft diawa micro fishing rod that is about the size of a wizards wand when packed, great for tossing in my nathan's running pack. I used to run 7miles to lake needwood and fish the outflow there while I cooled down, and then run back after fishing for a bit.

[Sean Beck]

You managed 3-4 brookies?! I know guys that go there anywhere from two to four times a week and never catch a brookie the entire year. That's quite impressive.

[Worapong Soodsamai]

Hi Rob,

It looks like Backwater is closed Wednesdays. I think we will stop into Great Feathers to get a license etc. Yes, I heard of the Masemore section as well as Bunker hill spot as well. We are leaving DC around noon so should be in the area around 1pm today. This will be my 3rd outing with the Tenkara rod. As I am new to the sport altogether and after researching for my needs for travel I chose Tenkara and it so happens at the time I was finalizing my research and decision, a bicycle bag brand Swift Industries was doing a pack/rod collaboration with Tenkara Rod Co. With the purchase, it included the pack that can be worn around the waste or strapped onto a bicycle handlebar. The rod is the Sawtooth which I understand is a 5:5 rod but I see most people use a 6:4. This is my first rod so I don't know any difference. Also included is 5x tippet, a 10.5" furled line and 3 starter flies. I have not bought any supplemental equipment but I think some more flies, tippet and lines should be on order. 

Art

[Andrew Sarcinello]

I was wondering the same thing. When MDNR biologists do electroshocking surveys, they usually only find one or two...betting they were actually small browns. However with all the floods lately I guess it's possible that a bunch washed out of a tributary somewhere, though the ones I know that have brookies are so small it is hard to imagine flooding so bad that they couldn't stay put...

[robert mills]

these guys were ~4inch fish, I didn't catch them my wife and my dad did. I lost two fish that were definitely small browns. My dad is used to west coast fish (he lives within a stones throw of the sandy and heads to the descutes/white almost every week, to him anything smaller than 12 inches automatically becomes a brookie, otherwise its not worth saying he caught it.

[robert mills]

sorry I couldn't make it out, work took over and it was the last summer WNR here in annapolis and I had a boat begging me to come out. I'm thinking about heading out this afternoon or saturday.

[robert mills]

I went out yesterday after work, managed to catch quite a few browns on elk hair caddis and a foam hopper. water level is down about two feet from saturday, 155cfs

[robert mills]

So I made it out again yesterday, flow and river are way down, I've been fishing working my way up from masemore rd, but I finally made it above falls road and can tell I've been screwing up, I will be heading north of falls road next time.

As an FYI I fished a large hopper as there were quite a few cicadas falling from the trees and I had a few takes on that but no sets. I also had a few takes on a caddis but no good sets. I fished a size 6 trash can stream from my 3wt with no success but I've recently tried these Diawa 0.4g micro spoons and managed to get quite a few fish, I got a few browns around 8in and one nice 12 in brown, was very surprised by this fish, though I was snagged on a rock at first.