A report from Jin for mikescatchreport.com
(Editor’s Note: His wife deserves sainthood. She let him go fishing on Mother's Day.)
I made it to the Gunpowder River around noon and started fishing from York Road up to the big elbow pool. The air temperature was 64 degrees when I arrived but it warmed to a high of around the mid-70s as the day went on.
Water was flowing around 100 CFS however it was slightly stained and its temperature was in the 60s. I couldn't tell if the dam was overflowing, hence the high water temperature (Prettyboy Dam is bottom release--usually ice cold water. Water overflowing from the top would be warmer).
The fishing basically sucked. I got three strikes on top and landed two fish. Both were in the five inch range. I tied on a nymph with a couple of pounds of lead and dredged the bottom of some deep pools and managed to get a couple of solid strikes, but no fish. I had the Mike Complex, the seeming inability to set the hook despite the fish grabbing your fly and just waiting for you to set the hook (Editor's Note: This syndrome was named after a fisherman who missed eight trout in a row on the upper Gunpowder River a few years ago).
There were sporadic hatches of Caddis (size 16), some smaller mayflies that looked like Blue Quills (size 16 to 18) and one Sulphur. Might have seen one rise all day, other than the three I managed to rustle up on my size 16 para-nymph. I also tried different x-caddis patterns, para-nymphs down to a size 20, and assorted nymphs (serendipity, baetis emerger, and lightning bug). Generally not a good day when number of flies used exceeds fish caught by a factor of two.
I spoke to other fishermen that were all asking the same question, "Where's the @@#$%## hatch?"
I did have a deer cross the stream next to me. Generally this is a bad omen for fishermen. I bugged out around 3pm...defeated.
DIRECTIONS: Take I-95 towards Baltimore then left onto I-695 to Towson. Take Exit 24 and merge onto I-83 Timonium/York, PA. Take Exit 27 Mt. Carmel Rd/MD-137 toward Hereford. You will see a gas station at the top of the ramp. Keep right, follow sign for E. Hereford and merge onto MD-137 Mt. Carmel Rd. The road comes to a T intersection in town. Go left and follow the signs to Bunker Hill Rd. and Gunpowder Falls State Park.