Androscoggin River Trip - end of June

Well, I finally got around to uploading, compiling, editing and publishing some of the pictures and videos of our two weeks on the Androscoggin River.  The Alder Fly hatch was almost two weeks earlier than the usual emergence, so many of our clients saw only the very end of the hatch.  The water level in the river was great and at a perfect temperature and the fish were really active.  As the trip went on the fish became more and more selective, but we were able to fool a lot of fish.  We mostly caught brook trout, but also got quite a few salmon and some rainbows, too.  Here is a video of Rob (a frequent visitor here) and his dad Joe catching some fish and having a great time.

Brothers David and Alan (frequent visitors/participants in this blog) also spent some time with us on their way to Grant's Kennebago Camps. Here is a picture of Alan with a really nice alligator-jaw landlocked salmon he caught on an Alder Fly pattern. They also had a great time fishing the hex hatch, but no pictures from that evening excursion have surfaced. 

You often hear/read about the Alder Fly hatch on the Androscoggin, and it is hard to describe what it is like, unless you are there at the beginning of the peak emergence.  Here is a video I took on the first day I guided the Androscoggin on this trip (June 18.) It shows the mats of spent caddis floating in an eddy. 

This is probably 5+ days into the hatch and the fish have gorged themselves. A couple days earlier the fish would literally be hurtling out of the water, eating zebra caddis, but now tens of thousands of flies are available for them to eat at their leisure.  Surprisingly, most of the rises on naturals and our flies was to ovipositing (egg-laying) females as they danced on the water.  No way for me to tell for sure, but my theory is that the females with eggs taste better to the fish than the spent flies that are dead on the water.  Anybody want to volunteer to eat them and let me know which taste better?

New Fly Fishing Expose' now available

Yes, I tried to keep it under wraps, but wouldn't you know it - My guiding partner Jim Norton just published a book titled "Granite Lines." He portrays it as over 20 years of articles he has written in the Manchester Union Leader and other rags, but in reality it is over 20 years of secret fishing information about trips we have taken together (and some he took on his own). It is available in local stores like the Evening Sun Fly Shop in Pepperell, MA and on-line, as well. Complete information about the book and where to buy it is found on our website. After you read the book, see me and I will fill in all the juicy details that couldn't be put into print.
I think it is pretty good, but I might be a little biased.  Maybe some of you folks that already read it can comment?

Brookie on an Alder Fly Dry Fly

I had a couple hours off to scout some "fresh water" on Saturday morning. I shot this video of a NH brookie that succumbed to the charms of a skated Alder Fly dry in the FFO section of the Androscoggin River in Errol.  This is right across the road from our "virtual fishing lodge" where I will be for the next 10 days.

Perfect timing, for once

That's what client John A. said about his trip with us to northern NH to fish the Androscoggin River and the trout ponds.  He hit the daily double with both the hex hatch on the ponds and the Alder fly hatch on the river at their finest.  The warm dry spring weather had the river at a great wadeable level and the caddis were hatching in epic proportions.  And the hatch on the ponds was really cranking, too.  Here is a video of the second-largest wild brooktrout he caught.
(The biggest one got away as I was netting it.) Every time I net one of these beauties it makes we wonder what it will take to have wild brooktrout like these in ponds and rivers throughout New Hampshire. John also fooled a lot of brooktrout and a few salmon skating Alder fly and Stimulator patterns on the river. When we booked the trip I thought it would be a little early for the Alder flies, but John hit it dead-on.  He remarked that when he goes on a fishing trip people usually tell him, "You should have been here last week.  The fish were really biting then!"  I think the fish will be biting next week too, but it was fun helping John enjoy a special time on one of my favorite rivers.  Glad you enjoyed being with us "Last week!"
PS. we still have a few spots open for the Alder fly and hex hatch now until July 1

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.

First among many

Many times I have remarked (both here and in the "real world") how lucky I am to share so many "firsts."  Yesterday was one among many, with each one even more special than the last. Sometimes it is a first fish, or a first trout, other times it is a first brown, etc. Yesterday it was all of those and more - the first fly fishing trip of many, many more to come between old friends.  Jeffrey, a long-time follower of this blog, wanted to spend a day on the water with me, but his real motive was to get his friend Matt hooked on fly fishing.  Mission accomplished! I won't bore you with all the details, but suffice to say Matt is a convert to the gentle art of the long rod.  Way to go, guys! 
The Hendrickson hatch is now history.  Now we have a few March browns; some BWO; plenty of brown, tan, black and green caddis; and one Eastern drake.  Most dry fly action is late afternoon, into the evening.  I hit the Farmington River in CT on Friday.  Another one where a regular client of mine wanted to indoctrinate his friend in the way of the long rod.  Mission accomplished, and after they went their way, it was time for the guide to take a few minutes to fish on his own time. 
Nice brown on a dry at dusk. Enjoy!
Now it is off to the Contoocook River with four more converts to indoctrinate! Tight Lines!
PS Here is one of the "converts to the long rod" with his first fish on a fly/first trout/first rainbow caught on a size 18 softhackle cast to a rising fish.  Way to go Tom!

Will fortune follow fame?

A couple days ago I was checking my webstats to see where people were coming from to visit my guiding website and I noticed hits coming from boston.com.  I hadn't placed any ads or directory listings there and had no idea why hits should be coming from that site.  I clicked the inbound link to see where it led and low and behold, we have been "discovered" as one of the top 20 adventure trips to take this summer in New England.  Pretty cool!

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!

Typical spring?

Just when you thought we were having an early spring (early ice-out on the lakes; no nor'easters, etc) it up and snows almost 2-feet in the Whites! That should help the June fishing up there, maybe delay the May hatches a little. Around here the water levels are great and the bugs are starting to show, and although water temps are still in the 40s, we should see them go into the 50s this weekend.
Last weekend we held the April session of the Northeast Fly Fishing School. On Sunday we did the on-the-water guiding session on the Squannacook and Nissitissit Rivers. Our students were able to fool a few fish - MANY "firsts" - first fish; first fish on a fly; first trout on a fly, etc. Here is a link to the pictures: Northeast FF School You notice there were four women in the class - three of them landed at least one trout. Also a couple young folks attended, all of which bodes well for the sport. We have two more classes (both full) in May. Now we are booking on-the-water private and semi-private lessons and guide trips.
Monday I took a family to the Contoocook River for lesson/fishing - water still a little high and cold. One fish caught in a couple hours of fishing. Not many insects around (the Squannacook was loaded with Quill Gordons and a few small caddis) but things should begin to pop as the water warms a bit. See you on the water!

Springtime landlocks

My buddy/guiding partner Jim and I gave a presentation at the Pemigewasset TU chapter meeting in Plymouth, NH Tuesday night and afterward drove north to fish the CT River in Pittsburg, NH. We spent a few hours each at the inlet to First CT Lake and inlet to Lake Francis. We hooked into a few fish at each place. Overall I was 1/5, 5 on and 1 landed. Jim was about the same, but his fish was a real nice (17-18 inch) fish. Here is a video.

Also, we have Jim's drift boat for sale on E-bay. in case anybody is interested. His new low-profile Hyde is a beauty, but the Tatum he has for sale is a sweet ride too, and a good price. eBay listing

Tuesday we stopped by the Contoocook in Henniker where I got a nice brown - the first on the bamboo rod Joanne got me for Christmas. Sweet!

Announcements of interest

The fly fishing entertainment opportunities continue:
Tonight (Tuesday April 13) at the Merrimack River Valley TU chapter meeting in Manchester, NH, we have Bill Thompson, proprietor of North Country Angler in North Conway and a friend of mine, who will be presenting on fishing the Saco and Ellis Rivers. www.merrimacktu.org

Thursday April 15 I'll be presenting Fly Fishing in New Hampshire at 7PM at the Salem NH Public Library. If you attend, please introduce yourself.

Thursday April 22nd at 7PM, in Concord, NH the NH Guides Association (of which I am a member)will be sponsoring a showing of "The Good Life" by Gray Ghost Productions. This is Gray Ghost Production's third film in as many years. Advanced tickets can be obtain from the Red River Theatre on line at http://www.redrivertheatres.org/ or they can be purchased at the door. Admission will be $10 per person. If you want to look at the trailer you can go to http://www.ggpfilms.com/ and take a look. This film is about fishing on the East Coast from Labrador to the Keys. Come and take a look at some great fishing. This is to benefit the NHGA scholorship fund. Come and enjoy "The Good Life".

The rivers are getting down to a very fishable level. Jim and I scouted a spots yesterday prior to the NHGA general membership meeting. We found a few mayflies hatches and a few sporadically rising trout on the Merrymeeting River in Alton, NH. We had a couple follows, but no hookups.

Passing of a great guy

It saddens me to have to report the passing of Dan Duggan of Pepperell, MA last Saturday. Dan was a great guy, bamboo rod builder par excellence and a good friend. Dan was River Stix Custom Rods. Email me if you want to know of the viewing/funeral arrangements.

On a happier note, Dick and I made the rounds of the local brooks and rivers yesterday. All are still a little high, very clear and within a day of so of optimum levels. Water temperature was a balmy 55F, which is ideal for trout. In my local wild brook trout stream the honey-hole was full of yellow perch who have ascended from the Nashua River for their spawning run. They probably ate every young of the year brook trout in their path, but will be leaving a load of eggs and fry for the wild brookies to feast on. The Nissitissit and Squannacook Rivers should receive their first visit from the hatchery trucks this week. Stay tuned. I'll soon be out christening the River Stix bamboo rod Joanne got me for Christmas.

Rivers flow and stocking trucks roll

Well, I got back to sunny New England in time for the rites of spring - floods and stocking trucks. Just as the rivers were starting to warm up and settle down to good flow levels and receive their annual planting of rubber-rainbows the skies have opened and put things on hold for a while. While you are waiting for things to settle down, you might want to check out some of the latest technology to enhance your spring fishing. There's an app for that!