May flies fast - pun intended

It seems like yesterday that we fished the Hendrickson hatch on the Farmington River. That hatch is long gone. Since then, there have been a lot of new new fly anglers initiated in the way of the gentle art.
Yesterday my buddy/guiding partner Jim and I hauled a new (to us) old boat up to northern NH and dragged it on a one-way trip into a trout pond.  We bought the boat early last winter, patched it up this spring and now it resides alongside a few other dilapidated craft, waiting for a few hours of glory called the evening hatch. This particular pond is one we had fished in September from a couple of the forlorn pondside craft.  We caught so many fish that we immediately decided to find a craft large enough to provide a fishing platform for two people with a third rowing.  I can hardly wait for our initial voyage in a couple weeks.  After lugging the boat into the pond, we ran into another friend/fishing guide Dave in Errol. Having fished (and lived) for such a long time, it no longer surprises us when we run into somebody on a river 185 miles from home. It has become rare that I DON'T run into a friend, former client, student, reader of this blog or subscriber to my YouTube channel when I am fishing.
How about a fishing update?  The story I hear from a ot of people is that the fishing this spring in New Hampshire has been pretty underwhelming.  Not as many fish and smaller fish than in past years. Massachusetts streams seem to have more and larger fish.  My experience has paralleled this, with a few exceptions.  I fished the Pemigewasset River in Woodstock/Lincoln area in early and mid-May with poor results.  Also fished the Newfound River a couple times with only one decent smallmouth bass to show for all the time and effort expended. We had three Northeast Fly Fishing School classes since my last report and all the classes caught some fish, but fewer than in past seasons.  The good news is that plenty of fish are now stocked in the central and southern NH rivers and the recent rains and cooler nights bode well for June to be an improvement over May fishing. Or maybe I am just being the eternal optimist. Probably.
I have topped off my fly boxes with Alder Fly and hex mayfly patterns. Made sure my Frogs Fanny bottles are full and stocked up on 4X and 5X tippet.  I have worked on the menu and started the shopping list.  We hauled the boat into the pond and are ready to pack the car, load the canoe on top and head north next Thursday for a couple weeks on the Androscoggin River in Errol.  We have a couple spots open on June 24 and 27th, so if you find yourself jonesing for dry fly action,  check the website and get ready for epic topwater trout action. We are also starting to book dates for the September trip, too. 
For May fishing reports, scan through my YouTube channel. 

Newfound Newbies

Fishing has been holding up on the Newfound River.  Lots of people and not a whole lot of fish at the usual spots near the dam, but if you are willing to expand your horizon and fish pocket water and other non-frequented locations, you will find fish.  Yesterday I took the old friends of my old friends (what a great bunch of guys!) to teach them to fly fish in anticipation of a trip north to fish the Alder Fly hatch on the Androscoggin River. Everybody caught fish (once again, many "firsts" were experienced.)  Fish caught were brookies and rainbows, mostly fooled by skittered caddis and Stimulators in the pocket water - and a few took the every-faithful woolly bugger.With the skills you learned, you guys are well-prepared for your upcoming trip.  I look forward to seeing you up there!

Androscoggin Trip Openings and many river reports

Before getting into the fishing report, I wanted to let you know that we still have some openings for our Androscoggin Special Package Trips starting next Thursday and going through July 1.  We are now accepting one-day, as well as two-day trips, and we also have some openings for singles, offering the maximum in flexibility. Details including videos and pictures of past trips are found here. River flow levels are great and the Alder Fly hatch should be epic this year!

Since my last post I have been all over the southern and central part of NH and parts of MA, as well.  They say that the definition of insanity is repeating the same action over and over and expecting different results.  Well, the Sugar River is driving me insane.  I went there again last week with the same results.  This time I only wasted an hour there before pulling out. "They MUST have stocked it by now," goes through my mind, but then I get proven wrong each time.  Well, I can report that the Mascoma River FFO section held some fish - browns, rainbows and wild brookies - all of which were caught on a Stimulator skated through all the likely looking runs, pools and pocket water. From the Mascoma, I went across route 4 and then 104 to Bristol to fish the Newfound River.  This entire trip was a "scouting expedition" to prep for a couple client trips.  The Newfound was hard fishing, but I got 3 landlocked salmon, a rainbow and a brookie in the white water run immediately below the dam.  (I don't consider this spot-burning, since I fished it hard for two hours and that is all I could dredge-up.) I got nothing in the dam pool or any other spot in the upper river on this trip.  When I took the clients out, we also got fish in the runs and pocket water down-river from the upper section.  Those fish were caught on green caddis larva under an indicator, woolly bugger, woodduck-orange, and elkhair caddis skated through the plunge-pools in the pocket water.  It was tough fishing, but the fish are there if you can get a fly in front of their nose.  We also hit the Contoocook River for a couple hours and were able to fool, but not hook a number of rising trout.  Then last night I went over the the Bertozzi WMA on the Nissitissit River and got a nice rainbow on a dry.  Also tough fishing, since when the water is low they have a lot of time to inspect your fly before biting. I'll be guiding the next couple days in the White Mountains.

One that got away

Sunday my youngest daughter got married and it is hard to say who was happier - her or her dad.  Great reception at Atkinson CC, and then back to work on Tuesday. 
Took out another beginner, solo this time - it was a birthday gift from her sister.  She finally caught on that you don 't have to overpower the cast to get the fly out to where the fish are. After sending her on her way in between a few raindrops, I checked out the FFO section below the lake dam on the Newfound River.  Got two LL salmon, about 10 inches, a brooktrout, rainbow and a smallmouth, all on nymphs.  Plenty of caddis, but no rises.  Hopefully the rain showers will cool things off and the hatchery truck will pay a visit this week.  Water temp was 66F, and should go a little lower with cool nights and rain in the forecast, although the water level is very low.

End of the season Rush

What a rush - big browns on dry flies! Stan and I hit the Farmington River yesterday in the upper TMA. We hit the usual spots: Hitchcock Chair, Whittemore, Church (just to look and have lunch in the sun), central riffle and Ovation. Stan got a couple nice browns in the run into Whittemore on softhackles, while I had to work hard for a couple salmon parr (big ones about 9-10 inches.) As we moved down river things picked up even more - I think the warming sun had something to do with it, as we saw more insects as the day wore on. There were BWO, a couple different caddis and a few of what looked like Isonychias, although I couldn't catch one to verify. We finished up at my favorite pool and found some large, hungry browns. Some were more interested in spawning than food, but quite a few were willing to take a well-presented dry. I caught most on a gray parachute Adams, about a size 12. Pretty exciting to see a 16+ inch brown slowly suck-in your dry fly and then go berserk when it realizes it is hooked. Probably not too many days like that left in the calendar.
Last weekend and early this week I had clients out wading on some ponds (a few rising brookies); the Newfound River (nice rainbow on a heron fly); the Contocook River (afternoon hatch of black caddis, tan caddis and BWO brought some nice browns to hand.) The biggest disappointment continues to be the broodstock salmon - small, scarce and heavily pounded by anglers.
Get out there and enjoy the end of the season fishing. The water is cool, still some hatches and the foliage is spectacular.

Cool mountain waters

I took four trips to the north country in the past week. One trip included my four and six-year-old grandkids, who enjoyed their trip to Santa's Village and Storyland in the scorching heat. The others were with clients. Finding cool water and trout was a tough order to fill, but the Ellis River and Pemigewasset River came through once again. Trout were seen, fooled and landed in both rivers. Water temps are climbing towards 70F. The Ellis was 63F and the Pemi in No. Woodstock was 69F. Hopefuly this hot weather will break and we get a little cooling rain before the weekend. I stopped by the Newfound River on the way back from the Pemi and took the water temp at 81F at 4:30PM on August 18. I doubt if there will be anything left in there but SMB after this heat wave. At least the White Mountains tribs run cool enough to holdover fish until the water cools in late August and September. Hopefully the rain we had in July and early August was enough to provide some refuge in the southern tier of rivers. We got the regs changed to keep the Sugar and Contoocook Rivers open until November 30. Maybe there will even be some fish left in them.
We saw some brooktrout in the brook at Sata's Village. Should have smuggled in my 6-ft 2-wt rod. It was nice and shady and would have been a good diversion from the rides and shows. Maybe next time.

Northbound

Monday and Tuesday I guided a couple clients in the White Mountains. The Ellis River fished pretty good, but the Pemi in North Woodstock/Lincoln continues to be a bust for me so far this season. Thank goodness for the Newfound River, even if they have been releasing high volumes of water from the lake. I stayed at the AMC Highland Center in Crawford Notch Monday night. What a deal! For $40 I got a comfortable bunk and a terrific breakfast with a fantastic view of the mist rising on the mountains. One of my clients stayed at the MT. Washington hotel, and I doubt if he slept any better or had a better view than I did. Tomorrow I throw the canoe on the truck and head north for a couple weeks guiding the Androscoggin River in the Thirteen Miles Woods section. Hopefully the river will remain at a fishable level, unlike last year when it was running at near flood levels from mid-June to late July. I have a whole box of Alder Fly patterns and another of hex. The hatches are sure to emerge and I'll be ready when it does. Stay tuned for the report when I get back on the 4th of July.

Grin and bear it

Funny how sometimes things just fall into place. Yesterday the young lady shown below with her first trout had asked me if I ever saw wildlife in my travels, specifically bears. I said, yes a couple times, but usually it is just a brief glance as they go diving into the bushes to get away from you. Well, after today I have a different answer. Yes, I have seen a bear up close and personal! I was with a couple clients today fishing the area around Lincoln, NH. We were going to have lunch near Canon Mt. and then head down to fish the Newfound River after not finding any fish on the Pemigewasset River. As we drove through the parking lot of the Canon Mt. tramway station, I was looking up at the ski slopes to see if there were any bears grazing. In the morning and evening you can usually see them grazing the sweet new grass high above you. I didn't see any bears on the slopes, but as we approached the lunch spot I had selected I saw a bear grazing on grass and flowers. This was a full-grown bear probably 3+ feet at the shoulder. We looked at it from about 30 or 40 feet away and it just kept munching on the grass, totally ignoring us. We drove up the road a few hundred feet near the Echo Lake boat launch area, parked and ate lunch. As we were eating, one of the guys exclaimed, holy cow, look at that! The bear must have smelled our lunch and was heading towards us, but suddenly it stopped, having recognized the sight, sound or smell of humans and took off into the woods. Luckily there were no cubs in sight - just a curious hungry bruin.
We finished our lunch and proceeded to the Newfound River where we found plenty of willing fish. . . but no bears!

So many fish, so little time . . .

Sorry for the gap in updating the blog, but you can guess where I have been. Right! Many days on the water assisting clients get into the sport of fly fishing and/or helping experienced folks find some fish to target. Mission accomplished. A good bit of time was spent with some FFNE blog regulars.Here is Matt with his second-largest rainbow of the day. He and friend Patrick caught MANY nice rainbows on dries (everything from elkhair caddis, spentwing caddis, and various spinners, to Alder Fly patterns) and some brook trout, too.

Jeff and Mike also caught a lot of fish, mostly on dries, too. Here is a nice rainbow that Mike fooled. Although we spent a lot of time fishing the tremendous caddis hatch on the Newfound River, I also hit the Pemigewasset, Smith and Contoocook Rivers last week. The Contoocook has been something of a disappointment this year. The Hendrickson hatch was weak compared to past years. The fish are still there, but spread out and require a bit of leg work to find. Fortunately, the Newfound River has fish and hatches for now, and the Smith gave up some brook trout at Profile Falls if you can find the right fly and presentation. Beginner Josh and his dad came back for another on-the-stream lesson and both caught some nice fish. Here is Josh' first brook trout on a fly (Alder fly dry.)