I hope you were able to get out over the long weekend, because conditions are about as bad as they get on the Gunpowder this week. The recent storm and ensuing cold snap have rendered the river mostly unfishable. Not only are water temps newly in the 36 degree range (and it’s my belief that trout are more put off by newly cold water than consistently cold water), the snow, ice and extremely cold air temps make fishing most parts of the Gunpowder downright dangerous.
This week is a good week to patch up your waders or sit down and tie some flies.
If you are looking for ideas on what to tie, I have 2 suggestions for you… Over the weekend I had a great day on the river. I was fishing a standard 2 nymph rig with a yarn indicator. I wanted to eliminate adding split shot because I just wasn’t in the mood for tangles, so I tied on this as my point fly:
It’s a clumsily tied (by me), heavily weighted size 14 tungsten bead head hare’s ear nymph. In one day, I caught more trout (5) on my point fly than I had for the rest of the winter combined. My dropper, a size 20 zebra midge, continued to be productive as well, thus leading to an excellent day.
If you are looking for other ideas, check out Tightline Productions’ set of videos. I like both the fly selection and the teaching style. I’ve tied a bunch of these patterns this week.
Let me know in the comments section what you have been using for a point fly this winter, and how it’s worked out for you.
James Kibler 