I fished the Gunpowder River this week and found a fly box along a trail. I didn’t see any other anglers on the path or in the water, so I assume they must have left the river. If you happened to lose your fly box or know the person who did, email me at: hello@troutandfly.com. Please include the appearance/brand of the fly box so that I can verify and get it back to you!

The fishing this week was fairly good at the Gunpowder until there was a dam release which clouded up the water. I’ve never fished it during a dam release, and it’s not something I’d like to do again. You wouldn’t believe the amount of silt and didymo that gets flushed down stream, and the trout became less active.

Prior to the water release, I had a fairly good day, catching around a dozen rainbows and browns. I caught more rainbows on this trip than I ever have. In the low water prior to the dam release, I also spotted a 12-15″ rainbow lurking behind a school of suckers. I’ve known rainbows to opportunistically position themselves below suckers to eat the eggs as they release them, so I thought I’d try an egg pattern. Unfortunately, I scared the rainbow with heavy footsteps and decided I’d fish for it on the way back down stream, which didn’t happen because of the dam release. Next time!

I managed to drive further south on the Gunpowder to explore new territory and try to get away from the clouded water. It worked like a charm, because I was able to fish clear water for another 2 hours before the silt cloud reached me again. I caught another handful of browns in that area, mostly in the 7″ size range. All of the fish took a black stonefly pattern or a gray scud tied with flashback.

Here’s a photo of one of the browns with a very active tail!