One thing I often say to myself on the Gunpowder or elsewhere is ‘take what the river gives you’. By this I mean I believe you will have the most success in flyfishing if you adapt your approach to weather, flow, hatches, etc. rather than trying to make one technique work all the time*. That has been especially important on the Gunpowder recently, as there is great fishing to be had, but a technique that is lights out one day will leave you skunked the next…
One day you can have great success on dries (caddis, olives and/or tricos depending on when and where), only to have your offerings routinely snubbed the next. Standard nymphs–my go-to is a black zebra midge–have been more consistent. If you see these guys, though, you will still see fish coming to the surface in pretty good numbers:
Fish are still rising, the leaves have mostly cleared out, and the weather is about as good as it gets for fishing.
*I still always want to fish dries, regardless of my own advice…
James Kibler 