Finally feels like spring

There is still snow in the woods and a few vestigial plow-drifts at the shady end of a few driveways, but today it finally felt like spring. My guiding partner Jim and friend Dick and I scouted a couple rivers today for our upcoming Northeast Fly Fishing School classes.   Last week the Squannacook and Nissitissit River in Massachusetts and the Souhegan River in New Hampshire were stocked.  Stone flies and a couple mayflies were buzzing around on the Squannacook River.  We all stung a few fish and some were even landed.  We ran into to David (Hi David!) who had been fishing since early morning.  He probably caught every fish in the river at least twice!  David attended our Fly Fishing School a few years ago and then we guided him on the Androscoggin River at our lodge.  Our prize student!
The water temp in the Squannacook was 47F and the flow was about 200CFS. If you got deep and bounced a fly on their nose, they would take, but weren't in the mood to chase anything.  After hitting a few spots on the Squannacook we hopped over the border to fish the Souhegan DHZ in Greenville. Water was 48F and the flow reported for Milford was 560CFS, although up in Greenville it would have been a lot less. Stocking occurred the week of April 1, but no fish were evident in the two spots we hit.
Next Monday, April 22, my partner Jim and I will be on the program at the Boston TU Chapter April meeting.  We will be presenting our New England Fly Box presentation, which describes our favorite flies, the hatches they target and some rivers to fish them. The meeting is at Drumlin Farm on Rte. 117, Lincoln MA. Doors open at 6:30PM.  We hope to see you there!

Local trout rivers are finally . . . Trout Rivers!

I had heard that the trucks would be rolling this week to the Squannacook and Nissitissit Rivers.  I couldn't find any evidence of trout on the Squannacook River yet.  It was running quite high, and there were no anglers at any of the early stocking locations in Townsend.  Either it hasn't been stocked or the locals are holding off until the water level drops a bit.  On the other hand, the Nissitissit was stocked yesterday, April 10.  There were plenty of people and trout at the Prescott Street bridge and the oil company.  I walked into Gilman's Pool in the FFO section and saw no trout or fly fishermen.  The only place I actually fished was the run downstream of the 111 bridge, along with four other guys.  I was too lazy to put on the waders, so that is a spot where I could cover a little water without wading.  Using a white clouser-bugger, I found a slot that yielded 6 strikes, with four landed - all nice, colorful, chunky rainbows.  The biggest was over 12 inches and the smallest probably 10.  Hopefully there will be a few fish still left in the water when it warms up next week.
Last week the Souhegan and Piscataquog Rivers were stocked. Both are running VERY high.  They should also drop by next week.  Finally, we will have lots of choices of where to fish.  In a couple weeks we should start to see some quill gordons and that will mark the real beginning of the fly fishing season on local waters. Get out there and educate those fish before they all get taken home as table-fare.
We still have a couple spots open in our May 4/5 fly fishing school as well as the Intermediate class. 

Sorry for the gap!

Gang, the good weather has turned on the early hatches and it seems like everybody has been anxious to get out on the water. Since my last posting in April I have taken more than 30 people out on the streams of northeast MA and southern NH to practice the art of the limber rod. If I count the 44 people we gave a casting lesson to on May 1 at the culmination of TU Learn to FF classes, the tally jumps to almost 80. And this week I start to get busy! So what has been happening?
The bad news first: I went to the Sugar River once on a scouting trip and once (foolishly for about an hour) with a client and did not see evidence of any fish. Beautiful water level, terrific hatch activity and not a fish to be seen. What the hell is NH Fish and Game thinking? They have a beautiful 2.5 mile FFO section in Newport and they don't stock it once as of late May?
Now you might realize why I took so many people to the Squannacook and Nissitissit Rivers in MA. There have been two stockings of really nice trout in those rivers, while the Sugar is a river waiting for occupants. There is decent insect activity and the FFO section of the Nissitissit should hold fish well into June if we get a little rain in the next week or so. There were Quill Gordons a couple weeks ago and now we have Hendricksons and caddis. Bring your rusty spinners for evening and early morning dry fly fishing. But the meat anglers are out in force, so you better hit the Squannacook while there are still some trout to be had. Over half of the people I had out were via the Northeast Fly Fishing School that we operate in Pepperell, and those anglers had a blast learning to fly fish, identifying the bugs and hooking some fish in the process. Here are links to some of their exploits for May 8-9 and May 15-16.
I have also fished/guided on the Souhegan River and the Piscataquog River in the last couple weeks. We caught fish all over both rivers, except the Delayed Harvest Zone of the Piscataquog River in New Boston.  H-m-m-m-m, is there some kind of pattern here?  You have two of the best stretches of river with special regulations in southern New Hampshire and neither the FFO section of the Sugar nor the Delayed Harvest Zone of the Piscataquog have been stocked and it is beyond the middle of May.  No floods or other lame excuses can be blamed.  If this was the first year it happened, you could call it a fluke, but this is a pattern that has repeated itself for the last few years. No, this doesn't appear to be mere incompetence, as you might suspect.  Could there be some motive behind it?  What do you think it could be?  "Stick it to the elitists?" "Save the hatchery fish for the hook-and-cook crowd?"   If any of you happen to talk to those that call the shots in NH F&G in Concord, NH, ask them what the devil is going on.   Tell them that the sound they hear is the cha-ching of people buying a fishing license in MA to be able to fish for decent fish while the water is still cool and insects are still hatching.
The rest of this week I'll be guiding on local waters and then take a quick trip to the Farmington River.  I have been itching to get down there all spring, but other priorities have prevailed until now.

Let me know how you have been doing.  Matt gave me a call from Upstate NY with tales of great fishing on the W. Br. of the Delaware, some spring creeks and the Salmon River for resident trout, as well as some spring steelhead.  Feel free to email, call, or use the Comments feature of this blog.  Tight lines!

Prime time on local waters

The high water is rapidly receding and the hatches are starting to pop and the stocking trucks have made their appointed rounds. What are you waiting for?!?! The Squannacook River got a good load of fish last week and the Nissitissit should get theirs this week. Water levels are great on both rivers. Monday I made my rounds scouting water for upcoming guide trips and caught quite a few in the Souhegan River in Wilton and Greenville. Woolly-buggers with a soft hackle dropper did the trick - about 50/50 on each fly. Fished right where the fast water dropped into the pools. Need some weight to get the flies down to the fish in fast water. Contoocook and Pemigewasset Rivers are still a bit high for safe wading. Smith River has been producing along route 104. Probably the best bet is still the ponds. Jim and Dick reported fast action on Willard and Stonehouse Ponds. Ron's ant pattern has also been scoring some good fish on the ponds. Still no word from anybody getting any broodstock salmon. Looks like another dud spring season on the Pemi. Word is that they dumped them in at Sewalls Falls again, rather than Bristol, where the best fishing spots are. Get out and enjoy the season and let me/us know how you are doing!