Presentation next week

Next Tuesday at the Merrimack River Valley TU meeting in Manchester,NH I'll present my trip to Labrador this summer. Dealing with the power outage and snow has been a challenge to get the presentation together. Of course, like all things I waited too long to get started on it.If you want to attend, admission is free and it will be at 7pm at the Sweeney American Legion Post 251 Maple St Manchester, NH.
Locally, I went out to the Nissitissit River yesterday with my buddies Jim and Dick. Got a few rainbows to the net on nymphs. The water was a little high but very fishable. Afterwards we stopped into Evening Sun flyshop to stock up on some tying supplies. Charlie got in some new materials that look pretty interesting.
Hope to see a couple of you Tuesday.
Ps still no cable or internet so I am composing this on the Droid tablet I got for my wife. Truly painfull on the tiny screen and touchscreen keyboard.

What happened to fall?

It seems like we went directly from summer to the edge of winter. The local rivers are still fishing really well.  I was on the Nissitissit River quite a few times over the last few weeks and the month of October was a lot of fun.  The late foliage and late leaf-fall means that the fishing has been good and the catching has also been good.  Find the pocket water and you will find the fish.  The Isinglass fished well, too, but not so much the Lamprey, which is usually one of the best for late-season fishing.  The Wiswall dam area is closed off, due to work on the dam and abutters posting their land.  This meant that area could not be stocked.
Tuesday I stopped in Riverton, CT to check out the Farmington River.  Water temp was 60F, but it was windy and the water was loaded with leaves.  I only fished about a half hour in a couple different places and caught mostly leaves.  It was supposed to rain yesterday, so Stan and I cancelled our plans to fish there, but once again the weather man screwed-up.  The weather next week looks pretty reasonable, so maybe the Swift River will be worth the drive.   Lots of choices, so let's hope winter holds off a little longer.
BTW, thanks to the Boston TU chapter for hosting our presentation Monday night.  We had a great turn-out, lots of questions and lots of interest from the members.  Thanks!

Salmon and Rainbow on the Pemi

Today I took some time away from guiding and treated myself to a couple hours fishing. Saturday I had guided on the Squannacook and Nissitissit Rivers and found a few fish in the slightly high water. Then Monday and Tuesday it was off to the Isinglass and Cocheco Rivers for some SE NH rainbows (and a brook trout!)  My client is from Australia, near Perth, and attended a conference in Ottawa.  He loved the foliage, the river and the fish. The trip for today was rescheduled for a couple weeks to let the water settle down and because it was forecasted to be mostly rainy.  Well, the water was at a wadable level and 54F (perfect!)  I only fished one spot in Bristol and found a salmon and a surprisingly large rainbow trout.  The salmon took the Black Ghost streamer and the rainbow fell for the Mickey Finn. Take a look at the rainbow.

Tomorrow we pick up a couple grand-kids (and a grand-dog) in CT, while my oldest daughter and her husband visit Colorado for a week. I hope to be able to sneak away next week for a day of fishing on the Farmington River - stay tuned.
Also, my guiding partner Jim and I will be the featured presenters at the Boston TU meeting next Monday evening at Drumlin Farm in Lincoln, MA. Info and directions at:Greater Boston TU We will be doing our Fly Fishing in NH presentation that covers just about the entire state of NH. Hope to see you there.

Autumn splendor

Last week we had our Autumn all-inclusive Sporting Lodge trip  to  the Androscoggin River in and around Errol, NH.  Nine days in a row with maximum capacity every day have Jim and I ready to take a break.  Jim and Duchess (his English setter) are waiting out the rain to go bird hunting.  I am busy booking trips for tomorrow, Friday, Sunday and next week!  The Androscoggin was running high and warm - 2,710CFS, versus a normal 1,500CFS and 64F to 68F versus 55F to 60F normally.  Either because of the real hot summer, or the high water from Irene and other unnamed storms, the fish were spread out.  Also due to high water, I couldn't get to all my good wading spots.  That being said, we still had a great time and some pretty good fishing. Everybody got some fish and a few (that means you Kevin and George) got a lot of fish and some real nice ones, too! Here is Susan from Pepperell with the largest trout she has caught on a fly, a beautiful 14-inch rainbow caught on a soft-hackle as a dropper behind a Stimulator.  She landed a 12-inch rainbow about 10-minutes later - nice job Susan!  Earlier in the trip, Kevin and Mike got into some nice fish, including this nice brookie that Mike is holding in the photo above. As usual, we had quite a few beginners and novices
with us and it was gratifying to see the progression in their skill.  There were quite a few "first fish on a fly; first on a dry fly; first brookie" so the excitement level was always high.  Fun for the clients and fun for Jim and I. We had a few clients that are experienced and have fished out west and around the world.  They enjoyed the beautiful river, foliage and NH fish.  Here is Shawn having a great time with a NH brook trout.
We caught a lot of fish using soft-hackle droppers off the bend of dries or streamers.  Others took the dry or streamer.  On the boat, Jim also had quite a few on nymph rigs with indicators. I took dozens of pictures that I will send to the clients, but these should give the flavor of the river, the fish and the foliage.
The MA rivers are receiving their fall stocking this week and the SE NH rivers will get their fall load of trout on Oct 15 and 16.  They should also be putting in the broodstock Atlantic salmon soon.  NH Fish and Game biologist Matt Carpenter said that since returns of sea-run fish was so good this year, there would probably be extra fish stocked.  I can't wait to get one of them on and hear the drag singing!  Tight lines!

Now appearing . . .

Just a quick heads-up - my guiding partner Jim and I will be presenting our "New England Fly Box" presentation at the Central Mass TU meeting tomorrow night in Worcester.  Click the blog title to access their website with directions.  Hope to see you there!

Also, we had the September session of our Northeast Fly Fishing School this past weekend.  On Sunday we did the on-stream instruction portion of the school on the Squannacook River.  Guess what?  Yes! Some of our students actually caught trout!  The river had been as low as about 25CFS this summer and then we had a tropical storm and still there were trout willing to eat a fly.  A brookie and rainbow were landed by students and last night I stopped by for an hour and got a nice brown on a dry fly (Royal bomber.)  In a couple weeks the fall stocking will top-off the tank with a fresh crop of trout, boding well for fall fishing.

Opportunity Knocks

Guys, some may be aware that our all-inclusive trip (lodging, meals, gear and guided fishing) to the Androscoggin River in the Great North Woods of NH has been sold out for over a month.  Today we had a cancellation, so we now have an opening for three people to arrive September 27 in the afternoon and fish with us all day September 28.  This is the only day we have an opening for the last week of September and beginning of October.  You can find the details here. The water has cooled and the fish are still there, since the Androscoggin didn't experience the high water from Irene and also fared better over the summer than did a lot of rivers in the hot/dry summer.  This is prime time in the north country on one of the premiere rivers of the northeast.  Some of the regulars on this blog have fish the Andro with us and none came away disappointed! Here are a couple pictures from last September. NOTE: ALL SPOTS ARE NOW FILLED ! Thanks!

Right before Irene came rolling through I fished the Sugar and the Pemigewasset Rivers and found fish in each.  I also found a couple fish in the mainstem Pemi AFTER Irene, but unfortunately, I think most south/central rivers will need a visit from the stocking truck before we see fishing return to optimum conditions.

The proverbial calm after the storm

Irene came and went. Luckily for NH she stayed to the west over VT.  Even so, there was unbelievable flooding of the Pemigewasset, Ellis and Saco Rivers.  You can check out some of these YouTube videos to see what happened:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU1I6A1zkM0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap3VqsC2HPM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLNTJ7J3KF8&feature=related

Yesterday I made the rounds of some spots on the Pemigewasset River in Franklin, Bristol and North Woodstock.  It is still real high, but the further upriver you go, the better current conditions.  I am certain the Pemi in North Woodstock is fishable today (don't expect to find a lot of fish though!)  I imagine I'll have to learn the new contours of the riverbed, too.  At least the ponds were not affected.  There were fish rising on Sky Pond, Profile and Echo lakes.
As the nights get short and cooler, the fishing in some of the rivers should pick up. In particular the upper and lower Androscoggin, CT river from Pittsburg down through North Stratford and the Contoocook and Sugar Rivers.  Hopefull NH Fish and Game still has a few fish they can put out to sweeten the fall fishing.

Reality sets in

Since returning from Labrador I have taken out four different beginner clients.  One to the Swift River and three to the Saco and Ellis Rivers.  Now I know what sports commentators mean when they say, "[insert name of all-time great star]____________ plays a different game than the rest of us."  Well, Labrador is different brook trout fishing than anything I have previously experienced.  Am I "ruined" for local fishing?  I don't think so.  It is still fun and rewarding, but definitely different.  There are contrasts in the size of fish, the remoteness and "pristineness" of the rivers, but after you get past the scale of things, it is still fly fishing. Still fun. Still connects you to the environment and still done in beautiful places.  Also, the folks that learned how to fly fish and caught their first trout on a fly were just as excited (maybe more so!) than I was catching 5+ pound brook trout in Labrador.
And just like I was out of my familiar locale in Labrador, these folks were far from their homes in Frankfurt, Germany, Brooklyn, NY and Cleveland, OH.  To them, our New England trout streams are  exotic, pristine and beautiful, and their enthusiasm and wonder are contagious.  Not a bad version of reality, huh?

Guide Posts

One of the cool things about fishing out of Three Rivers Lodge was the "Newfie" guides.  They ranged from mid-20s to early 50s in age.  Some had guided there 7 or 8 years, a couple only 3 or 4 weeks.  All were good natured and real outdoorsmen.  They had different personalities, but all enjoyed good conversation (mostly about hunting and fishing) and a good quip or joke.  All came from Newfoundland and all were professional guides - although most spent more time over the years guiding bear and moose hunts than ferrying brook trout sports.  Byron is a guide with minimal experience guiding for large brook trout, but is accomplished in the way of the woods and water.  He was pretty quiet until we got him talking about his family, especially his son who is taking up fly fishing.  One of my buddies Jerry was guided by Byron and he quipped that he had read that the guides in camp were accomplished outdoorsmen and were capable of carrying out a client on their back if necessary. He asked Byron if he thought he could carry him out.  Byron thought for a minute and slowly replied, "I believe I could, but I would have to quarter you first!"  A comedian is born.
These are the two fish I caught on consecutive casts at 2nd Rapids about an hour before I got "The Big One."

 I spend nearly a hundred days a year on the water and I had a hard time keeping up with our guides.   On our last day of fishing at the Fifth Rapids fly-out camp Jerry and Harry were guided by Quinton and Randy and I had Byron.  Quinton is a big strapping guy in his 20s - probably 6' 2" and over 200 pounds and he can wade those rivers like a walk on the beach.  He thought nothing of quickly wading across the river to help Byron net one of our fish and after weighing, measuring and tagging it, hustle back across to help Jerry or Harry land a fish. Here is Jerry with a nice fish at Fifth Rapids being helped by Quinton.
In addition to being all around great guys, some of the guides had other talents. One of the guides we enjoyed most was young Jordan Locke. He was probably the most accomplished fly fishing guide, hardest working (although all of them worked hard) and best singer. Best singer?!? After dinner on our last night we gathered in the lodge great room for some entertainment.
I guess I'll have to take guitar lessons to keep my clients entertained!

Camp life

I know, I know - all you want is a little fish porn, but a lot more goes on between actually catching something. Here is a little scene as everybody gets their gear together, loads the boats and heads out for a day of fishing. Note the head-nets.  These became our best friend.  Don't even think of going to Labrador without one.  I wore my total coverage bug shirt, but the $1.97 head net we bought at WalMart was just as effective and easier to see through.

I thought you might also be interested to see something of the cabins, lodge and camp life.  Everybody, clients, guides, and staff, ate together in the lodge dining room.  In the morning coffee (and the generator) was on at 6AM, breakfast at 7 and planes and boats leave the dock at 8.  Return to the lodge around 5 to 6PM, dinner at 7.  Sunset (and generator off) was around 10PM and it stayed light until around 11PM- in fact it never got totally pitch dark. We could have fished after dinner, but after a long day on the water, I don't think anybody did. The most impressive thing about the lodge (other than the 8 and 9 lb brook trout adorning the walls) was the fact that everything had to be brought in by plane or snowmobile.  The cooks were sisters and one of them matter-of-factly mentioned coming into the camp in winter on a three or four day snowmobile trip of 150 miles from Labrador City.  Hardier than most of the gals I hang with!

Well, if you have hung in there through the camp BS, here is a little fish porn.  In addition to the giant brook trout, there were white fish (sort of like a fallfish, but with a smaller mouth), lake trout, and northern pike.  We caught pike as by-catch a couple times while fishing for brook trout, but there were pike all over the lakes and we targeted them a couple times. 

 One afternoon Randy and I told our guide Byron that we would knock off the trout fishing a little early and get some pike on the way back to camp.  We tied on wire tippet and some big saltwater streamers and fished for pike for an hour or so.  We had fast action and caught about a dozen, some to almost 4 feet long.  Here is Byron with an average size pike.  The pike cull the brook trout and assure that they are not over run with small fish.  Many of even the larger trout had evidence of run-ins with predators, most likely pike. I didn't take any pictures of the white fish, but I caught 4 or 5 of them over the course of the week, and a couple weighed in at around 3 pounds. They take the same flies as the brook trout, and give you that same rush when they strike, but not too many folks would make the trek to Labrador for the promise of a strong bite from white fish. H-m-m-m, on second thought I can think of a couple people that would be happy to catch a nice white fish or two as a change from their normal catch of chubs!

More Lab stuff

Our drive from southern NH to Labrador City took over 20 hours.  The first half was pretty uneventful.  Then when we headed north from Baie Comeau on the St, Lawrence River things got interesting.  We pretty much left civilization behind, other than a blighted landscape of high tension power lines, huge dams destroying entire watersheds and huge mines scraping off mountains and filling lakes with rust-red effluent.  All necessary(?), but unfortunate by-products of modern life. Anybody following events in NH has heard of the Northern Pass project that would run high tension towers/cables across northern NH to bring "green" power to the northeast urban corridor.  At least 40 additional miles of towers would be built around Pittsburg, NH and additional high towers would be built on existing right-of-ways.  This video is a sample of the swath of destruction that would be cut across northern NH. From our float plane you can also see some of the huge mines that have leveled mountains and filled lakes in northern Quebec and southwestern Labrador.

Enough depressing stuff - on to the the fun stuff:  In Labrador City we stayed in a nice motel and made our last visit to a WalMart where we wisely bought bug nets - the best $1.97 I ever spent! The 150-mile float plane trip to the lodge showed us that where we were going to fish was unlike any other place I have ever fished.  The landscape made Minnesota's Land-of-Lakes look like a desert! Water everywhere and probably fish everywhere, too. In addition to water, we saw patches of snow both on the July 8th flight in and the flight out on the 15th.

The trees were quite a bit smaller, due to lack of nutrients and shorter growing season.  And the ground cover was white lichens, or caribou moss.  It was soft and fluffy and blanketed the ground, covering boulders. In past years the caribou would migrate through here and we hiked along their trails to reach some of the areas we fished.
Each evening after dinner Kevin, camp manager and head guide, would discuss plans for the following day.  We were assigned an area to fish and our guide for the day.  Each area was like having your own private river.  Some days we would get in a boat with our guide and motor across to an inlet or outlet of the lake.  The inlets were rivers and we would fish a few hundred yards or a mile or more of river. Some areas required a hike around lower rapids and then another boat ride and another hike. 

  My best day of fishing with a lot of fish caught was one of those ride, hike, ride, hike trips.  That is where I caught the lake trout pictured in the previous blog and this 5+ pound brook trout. It is also where I stood on a flat boulder and caught 8 brooktrout - smallest 2 pounds and largest a little over 3 pounds.  What a rock! These fish were caught on woolybuggers and woodduck orange streamers, but the water was so clear and the pool so deep that I saw the take on almost every fish.  In addition to landing 8, a couple others got off the hook. That day I was fishing with Dave from another group of anglers from Maine and guide Anthony.  Here is a video of Dave with our guide Anthony landing a fish in the middle of the rapids on the next boulder down from "my rock."

Unlike the rivers in NH and ME and other northeast states, these rivers were not dammed or channelized for log-drive purposes or to harness the water power for industry.  It really gave a flavor of what the rivers, lakes and fishing would have been like in New England before our European ancestors "tamed" it.  That's it for now.  Stay tuned for the next installment of "The BSC goes to Labrador."

Labrador Rocks!

Just got back Saturday night from a week at Three Rivers Lodge in the wilds of Labrador.  Five of us caravaned almost 1,000 miles north, then took a float plane another 150 miles to the lodge on the Wood River system.  Short synopsis: wild country, many black flies and mosquitoes and many LARGE brook trout.
Here is a video of my fishing buddy Randy landing a "small one" of about 2 pounds.

A 2-pounder was what we called a "tagger" as a couple of the guides would weigh, measure and tag any untagged fish over about a pound-and-a-half.  Most fish over 3 pounds had already been tagged and they would record the tag number in their log.  We caught some fish that had been tagged three years ago (this was the third year of a three year tagging effort.)  We didn't catch many fish that were too small to tag.  Most were probably about three pounds.  My biggest brook trout was 25.5 inches long and about eight pounds, caught on a size 12 Royal Wulff.

Quite a few were in the 5 to 6 pound class.  About an hour before I landed the one pictured, I caught a five pounder and on the next cast got a six pounder.  That was pretty unusual, but very memorable.  My biggest fish was a 12-pound lake trout caught on a Woodduck Orange streamer.

I probably caught the most fish on large black woolly-buggers, but also quite a few on Royal Wulff, Royal Bomber, Prince nymph, red brassie, Alder Fly dry, and Woodduck Orange streamer.  I hooked and lost what was probably my biggest brook trout on a Wood Special streamer.  I had been trying to catch that fish all afternoon and when I finally hooked him he swam to the surface, turned and slowly swam away and when I put pressure on him he came unbuttoned. Drat!!  My last fish of the trip was caught on my Black Ghost Clouser fly, that is also deadly on LLS in ME and NH.  I'll be adding a few pictures and videos over the next few days.  Wow, what a trip!

Hexamania

Our trip up north wouldn't be complete without sampling the hex hatch on a wild trout pond.  This year we not only had a wild time with the Alder Flies, but the hex were popping like popcorn.  Nothing like gliding along a beautiful north country pond with the warblers warbling and the plaintive call of the white throated sparrow echoing through the pines interrupted only by the explosive rises of wild brook trout. 

If you haven't fished the hexagenia hatch, you are missing a real treat.  Tie up some size 8 Stimulators with yellow body and white wing and white hackle. Then head to Echo Lake or Profile Lake in Franconia Notch.  Both are easily waded and have real good hatches of these big juicy may flies.  Just toss out your fly and give it the occasional twitch and hold on!  Better be quick though, since the trout want to get their high-value calories and head back down to cooler water real fast.  This time of year, the flies emerge just as the evening starts to cool - about a half hour before dark, so the action can be intense but short-lived.  What a way to relax and end the day.

Well. I am off for Labrador for a week.  Stay tuned for some (hopefully) giant brook trout.

Alder Fly Bonanza

Our 14-day Androscoggin Adventure is complete and fishing AND catching was great.  We had some epic days at the beginning of the hatch from June 19 through 23 and very good fishing through the end of the trip.  In fact, the biggest fish of the trip were caught the last day, July 1.  The fish were leaping out of the water at the beginning of the hatch, but were getting a lot more selective as the hatch progressed, so we had to work for them.  The hatch came out down-river below Pontook dam on June 18 and got to our HQ on the FFO area in Errol on June 22.  Before the hatch got going the fishing was excellent, and at the beginning of the hatch ranged from phenomenal to unbelievable. I don't like hype and maybe some of the folks who were there can back me up on this.   FFNE fans, brothers Alan and David had an epic couple days at the beginning of the hatch.  Matt and his gang from upstate NY had a great time until some rain put a damper on things.  Overall, rain was not a factor, other than keeping the flies in the Alders until the sun peeked through.  As always, the big golden stone flies were out along with the caddis and many fish succumbed to the charms of a size 8 Stimulator.  We are already booking our September trip when the foliage is bright, the water is cold and the fish are hungry.  Next up a report on the hex hatch on the ponds.

Get ready to rumble

We have had it all this spring - rain, heat, back to cool weather and now almost normal, whatever that is.  The rivers have really settled down, so let's hope the stifling heat stays away for a while.  The Souhegan River has been fishing really well, which is somewhat a pleasant surprise.  It was well-stocked in the DHZ in Greenville and a few days later we got the heat wave.  The fish seem to have abandoned the DHZ and settled in some of the deeper pools, such as those downstream of Blood Brook.  I have had a few guide trips to the Souhegan in the last 10 days and got plenty on various caddis patterns and small stimulators.  It also continues to fish pretty good below the dams in downtown Milford.  I wish the same could be said for the Newfound River.  I found a few fish there, but not in the quantities or quality that I have seen in past years.  Many of our rivers really warm up in summer and it is sad to see stocking delayed so long that the peak conditions of the season are gone before many fish get a chance to play with us fly anglers. At long last I am getting good reports from the Sugar River, while the Contoocook seems to be past prime and will be a late evening destination until it gets too warm for trout fishing.
I have been watching the weather, river flows and stocking reports for the Androscoggin River and it looks like everything is in maximum alignment for an epic trip starting tomorrow.  This is our third year running our "virtual fishing lodge" in Errol and we have totally sold-out with a waiting list.  We also have a good jump on bookings for September on the Andro. We have a nice mix of beginners and experienced anglers, which keeps things interesting.  My good friend Dick was kind enough to tie a bunch of flies for me while I was goofing off in Florida. I can hardly wait to spring those tasty Alder Fly and Woodduck Orange on the big brookies and acrobatic landlocks of the upper Andro.  I have all the memory cleared from my Flip video and Olympus Stylus Tough digital camera and will be sure to share some with you guys.  Although the zebra caddis is the prime attraction, I expect that plenty of hexagenia mayflies and golden stoneflies will also tempting the trout of the Great Northwoods of NH.