Gunpowder River Fall Fishing

This week finally brought some decent water flows to the Gunpowder.  Recent rains prompted the City to bump up flows to keep up with spillover, and we saw flows as high as 365 cfs.  It has since moderated and we have been fishing around 150cfs.

Higher flows almost always improve the fishing. Streamer fishing improves on the lower river, and some nice browns can be caught fishing undercut banks and logjams. Nymphing also improves  streamwide.  On recent trips we have had some good fishing in pocket water sections of the river above Falls Rd. Dropper nymph rigs fished deep with an attractor on top and a small nymph behind have taken alot of fish.  Our best patterns have been green weenies, san juan worms and other bright attractors. Behind them I like a size 18 or 20 phesant tail, which usually ends up catching the fish. Caddis pupa imitations in size 18 or 20 have also been effective.

There has also been some good fishing with dries, especially midges.  In slower water glides and back eddies fish can be seen rising to small midges most days.  An occasional caddis or trico will also draw a rise.  For fishermen looking to fish dries, griffith's gnats, tricos, and other midge and olive patterns in size 20 or 22 will take fish.  We did catch a few fish on beetles to this week, and a caddis with midge dropper is also a good bet.  Hopefully we will keep good flows for the rest of the fall and fishing will remain consistent.