C. Boyd Pfeiffer: Some tips on trout fishing

Maryland trout streams are in good shape this spring. Streams were clear from little rain in March (good), although that caused them to drop (bad), according to fisheries specialist Susan Rivers, who is based at the Hagerstown Albert Powell Fish Hatchery.

The “bad” is that fish get crowded with smaller pools and less water. Too little water and trout get scared to death and spooky. This applies whether trout are native or stocked during scheduled periods (posted on-line – www.dnr.state.md.us ). //www.dnr.state.md.us/>

And while warming trends are nice, rising water temperatures put more stress on trout if we don?t get enough gentle rain to keep streams filled.

That changed with April precipitation that raised stream levels, according to director of inland fisheries Bob Lunsford.

Right now, fishing is good and should remain so. Out on the Gunpowder Monday, water levels were good and the stream clear ? not too low to be alarming and definitely not Yoo Hoo cloudy.

One past problem with the Gunpowder is that cold water from the Prettyboy Dam low-gate release kept the water chilly. That?s good for trout but also lowers the insect-growing season to keep bugs small.

Small insects mean that local (Monkton Road) Backwater Angler owner Theaux LeGardeur and clerk Rocky Cox point anglers toward size 18 and smaller flies. These are fished with 7X tippets on 12-foot leaders to coax a look at imitations of small insects that are the main groceries for stream trout.

This year, new valves and mixing systems at the dam allow tweaking ? and slightly raising ? water temperatures to increase the bug-growing season and create bigger insects. Late season or next year this will allow fishing larger flies.

Another change this year is that the lower Gunpowder with a stocked five-fish-per-day limit ? bait and lures ? has been slightly reduced from last year to the area from Loch Raven to the red gas line (below Corbett Road) ? a little over a mile-and-a-half less water.

This increased the two-fish-per-day area, no stocking, from the red gas line to Bluemount Road. No change occurred in the catch-and-release area from Bluemount to the dam, where only flies and artificials are allowed.

A new trout ruling this year prohibits “culling.” If you catch a trout in a “keep” area, make an immediate decision to release or keep it. In the past, some anglers have been “trading up” in size with each subsequent catch, a practice that is now illegal.

C. Boyd Pfeiffer is an internationally-known sportsman and award-winning writer on hunting, fishing and the outdoors, and he has more than 20 books to his credit. He can be reached at [email protected]

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