Some nights are just better than others. If you can stay late for the next couple weeks, your reward will be spinner falls and big pools to yourself. Pack a few Rusty Spinners and coffee for the ride home. Check out Matt Grobert and Tim Flagler’s Rusty spinners over at Caddis Chronicles. I like mine with an egg sack and a bit of orange foam on top.
Go get your feet wet!
You can’t help but have a great time when the sun is shining and the sulfurs are coming off the water on a nice afternoon. The fishing’s been great even with the higher flows. If you can stay late for the spinner fall, you’ll be rewarded with plenty of elbow room and bold trout. Give Knee Deep Fly Fishing a call today and we’ll get you out there. It’s a GREAT time to catch your first trout!
While the water is high and may get higher today, there are sunny skies in the future forecast. Here at Knee Deep Headquarters, we’ve got a day off the water tying Pheasant Tail nymphs and spinners for when things return to normal.
The prior week was filled with great fishing on The Big Gunpowder Falls. Sulfur emergers, wets, and dry + dropper combinations proved deadly right up until the latest front rolled through, when things slowed down.
If you’re headed out this week, be sure to check the river gauges before you head out. At close to 300 CFS the water is mighty fast. Fishing heavy streamers in the eddies is a great way to stay on the banks and hook up with some big fish. Don’t let stained water scare you away. If you can cast around the rapidly growing vegetation on the banks, you’ll find fish holding on the edges. By late this week, things should calm down.
Tight Lines,
The Knee Deep Team
A few folks in the know leave work a lttiel early to beat traffic and hit the Gunpowder Falls for that magic hour after the sun fades. It’s a time when I’ve made some great memories with family and friends, both old and new, and caught a lot of fish. The Sulfur hatch is on and it’s time to start bailing out early! E-mail us or call and set up an after-work outing in the next few weeks!
Spring seems to be here to stay and so are the hatches. Sunday’s outing provided plenty of sunshine and warm temps as well as mayflies and caddis. A mixed bag of insects keeps anglers busy changing flies but the action seems to continue throughout most of the day. As the sun rose higher during the day, the hatches changed, turning on and off but there always seemed to be some surface action. Forecasts for the week predict similar conditions and the fishing should be great. 80 degree weather feels pretty good!
Now’s the time to get on the calendar for an outing in June and there’s a few dates remaining open in May. If you’re headed out on your own, bring along some #14 elk hair caddis and a handful of #14 sulfur emergers. Snowshoe comparaduns are a favorite and float well in faster runs and tail-outs. Don’t forget lots of water and sunscreen!
Last Friday I got a chance to take out some folks for Backwater Angler and show them around on the Gunpowder. A few warm days got the fish excited before our outing and the stoneflies were keeping them busy in the slack-water and eddies. Friday was a little cooler and cloudier than it had been but any time I’m not shoveling snow in March, I’m not going to complain.
Theaux set us up with one of his 5pc Winston 4wts to try out (We brought it back in the original 5 pieces) and we had a great time putting it through its paces. With a few clouds overhead, the water temps flirted with 50 degrees, though it didn’t quite get there for us. Stoneflies and Blue Winged Olives provided the bulk of our action. The father and son duo were good company on the water and, as someone who treasures fishing-time with family, I had fun showing them around. They reminded me a lot of my brothers and I with some good laughs about casting and catching. We landed a few and, with the sunshine peeking out right at the end of the day, it felt like Spring was surely here. It reminds me that I need to put some days on the calender to fish with my own family.
(More below…)
If you’re headed out this week and weekend, check the weather and the gauges. This gauge has flows AND temps. When it heats up, fishing should be great. Pack some stoneflies, a few Hendricksons and a lunch – make a day of it! Don’t have flies or haven’t renewed your license yet this year? Swing by Backwater and talk to Theaux’s crew. There’s some gold out there (see photo below) and it’s hungry!
Tying your own flies? Knee Deep has some patterns for you. Check out our favorites for spring! Get signed up for the Knee Deep Fly Fishing Newsletter and keep up to date!
Keep your stick on the water!
-Micah
High water and crazy temperatures have made for interesting fishing this winter. I had one free morning before I was back to the grind and into holiday travel. So, despite a weather forecast of clear skies, I headed to the river anyhow.
I made it onto the water just at daybreak with no help from my coffee maker’s malfunctioning timer. The prediction of clear skies had me hoping to get some casts in before the sun hit the water. Things were slow and after only a few strikes on tandem nymph rigs I moved to a slower open section of river.
While the irresponsibly high water is carving out under-cut banks – that will surely be high and dry once the City of Baltimore tightens the vales this summer – it’s creating a temporary haven for reclusive brown trout seeking a refuge from the fast water. Employing 3” long heavy wooly-buggers I was able to create some activity by dropping them as close to the banks as possible. The skies stayed overcast and, while targeting any difference in flow rate along the banks, I had eager 12″ trout slashing at my flies while enjoying a deserted river.
Sometimes you have to head out even when the weather-guessers are telling you to stay home; they get it wrong more often than you think! Keep an eye on the USGS gauges if you’re headed out and don’t forget to get a new license before you hit the water and pick up some flies and fresh tippet.
Here’s a collection of shots from the last 2011 outing. Happy new year!
After all the Thanksgiving turkey, the family has cast off again and things quiet down, it’s nice to escape the house and get a line wet. This fall’s conditions have been erratic and fishing has been different every day. Today I hit the water just after 7:00am and was greeted by 26 degree air temps and water near 50 degrees creating a quiet fog on the water. The scene was quite different than July and August’s foggy days on the water when the air and water temperatures were reversed!
Focusing on seams in the high stained water produced fish this week and a mix of nymphs and streamers was the ticket. Fishing a tandem rig with lots of weight will get your flies to the bottom fast and with one fly higher allow you to cover the water column. If you’re not bouncing the bottom every few casts, you may not be getting deep enough.
Winter fishing brings its own special challenges like cold hands and iced up guides on your rod. If your guides freeze up while casting, dip your rod below the surface for a few seconds and the warmer temperature water will take care of the ice. Don’t try to pop the ice chunks out with your fingers. That’s a surefire way to break your rod. Good wool gloves will keep your hands warm and wearing lots of layers will ensure your core stays warm and there’s plenty of warm blood pumping to your finger-tips. If your gloves get wet you can slap them against your waders or jacket to shake the water out. Even wet, wool will continue to keep you warmer than no gloves at all.
Not sure how to outfit yourself to make the most of winter’s short days? Give Knee Deep Fly Fishing a call, we fill you in on how to layer up and keep warm.
Many anglers only think of dry-fly fishing during the Spring hatches though there are caddis and mayflies hatching even into late fall. The shot above was takes Tuesday, Nov 2nd. No that’s not snow, those are mayflies happily soaking up sunshine around 1:00 in the afternoon! There were tricos and blue-winged-olives mixed in one big swarm over this fast riffle.
While the flows are a little high for easy dry-fly fishing, they will surely drop. In the meantime those same high flows are making for some great streamer fishing. Flows around 200cfs still allow for easy wading and for the trout to move around finding lies and undercut banks where low water wouldn’t normally permit them to swim. Be sure to pack a few lead-eyed buggers in tan, white and brown and don’t forget to include your dry-fly box and a selection of nymphs for dredging the deeper runs. A Non-slip-loop knot will increase the action of your streamers and is worth practicing at home before you hit the water.
All of this sound like code to you? Give Knee Deep Fly Fishing a call and book a day on the water for November! We’ll help you sort out that box full of flies and get you on fish while learning a few new tricks.