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November 22, 2006. The outing scheduled for NOvember 11, 2006, went well attended, well fished, and well advised. As promised (the outing organizer, Alfredo Suescum, always keeps his word) the weather was perfect, fish were rising, and the company was great.The group, consisting of Ed Felker, Eric Bowman, James Ferstl, Mark Binsted, and Alfredo, took up Theaux LeGardeur's generous offer to meet over breakfast at the Wagon Wheel in Hereford, before heading to the stream. Time spent with Theaux is always valuable and enjoyable. After a brief general orientation on the Gunpowder and the fishing, Theaux joined the group streamside at Falls Road as well, before we waded off. Not only that, but he provided each group member with a packet of the flies du jour. These were much appreciated, and productive. The stream was running at about 35 cfs, and the fish were very spooky in this low flow. Still, everyone caught fish, and had a few more rises and hookups. No monsters were reported. All fish seem to have been standard issue Gunpowder browns -- 6-10 inches, beautiful and leapers. Insect hatches were sporadic. Fishers in the group relied primarily on attractor patterns in the appropriate tiny sizes. Most of the bugs looked like pale tiny caddis or stoneflies. Fish took a variety of flies -- Streamers, nymphs and dries. Alfredo's fish, 4 total, with a few other rises, were caught on dries -- #18 adams parachute, #22 midges midge. One hit an indicator (yellow #10) and several hit a #14 yellow humpy. Mark took a fall into rosa bushes sometime before noon. He met Ed and Alfredo at Whale Rock with a bleeding hand, punctured waders, and broken rod. Thankfully, only the rod was broken. This was the first day Mark had used that particular rod, but at least he managed to land a brown on it before his fall. Mark and Alfredo shared the latter's rod after that, landing a couple more browns and getting some heart stopping hits and refusals. One of the two would fish, the other would take pictures, spot fish, and watch the fish's reaction to the drift. This is a great way to learn a stream, by the way, and pick up new techniques from watching the other fisher. Most in the group started off the stream around 4 p.m., when the air started to cool down. Mark and Alfredo ran into Ed throwing some beautiful loops in a big pool. Ed had landed a stream-bred brown, and tempted a few more rises before heading back. Eric had left a bit earlier, according to a note on Mark's windshield. He did well downstream of the bridge, hiking clear past Masemore, where we did not run into him. 2 browns, one long distance release (LDR, for the jargon- prone), and a couple of other hits. James headed upstream of the bridge early on, and the rest of the group never caught up with him. He reports that he got back to the car at 4:45, having had some good hits, lost a few, and landed a couple. James did not get to the dam, but almost. By the way, Backwater Angler, Theaux's shop has a new look to its website . Looks good, Theaux. < ... Back to News Page. |
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