To-do list for 2011

I have been wrapping up stuff I have been putting off since the "busy-season" ended in October.  I cleaned out a lot of ratty-looking flies from my fly boxes.  Then I took inventory of what was left and began tying to fill in the blanks.  I tied a lot of girdle-bugs, which worked real well for me on the Androscoggin in September.  My buddies Jim and Dick spent a couple weeks in Montana in July and swore by the pattern, so I tied up a few and they worked like a charm where ever there are large stone fly nymphs.  Then I tied up a bunch of caddis dries (Alder fly pattern) and even a few hex in my favorite parachute pattern with the antron trailing shuck. Then I added a few various colored wooly buggers - a lot of rootbeer, a few olive, a few chartreuse for the early season stockers, and then a couple yellow/olive.  Right in the middle of taking inventory and tying, my guiding partner Jim and I began working on our new fly fishing presentation.  We usually do presentations about specific rivers and/or areas, such as Large rivers of NH, the Moosehead Lake area, or Rangeley Lakes, Androscoggin, SW Montana, etc. We decided to take a different approach.  We looked at a typical season in New England and picked out our "go-to"  flies - ones that we seemed to always be successful with.  Then we looked at where and when we used them and put together a presentation we call "The New England Fly Box - Fly Patterns and the Hatches they Match." We just finished it yesterday and will probably tweak a bit here and there. This brings up another point about the "To-do list" title of this post. Time to update the calendar for 2011.  Jim is going to be giving our new presentation at a few shows/events starting in a couple weeks, including the mega-fly-fishing-show in Marlboro. MA the weekend of January 14-16. Here is a link to our current schedule.  (If you have a club looking for speakers let me know.)
While you have your calendar out, take a look at your fishing plans for the year.  We are well on our way to booking our Androscoggin River All-inclusive Special Package for the last two weeks of June. If that is something you have been thinking about, better check the open dates. Also, if you start getting a bad case of the shack-nasties this winter, you can go to that page to look at some pictures and videos of previous trips with Alder fly swarms, big brook trout, etc.
Next on the "To-do list" is pack for Florida.
Flats booties - check
8-wt rod - check
saltwater reel - check
saltwater fly box - check
sun block - check
30-pound fluoro leader material - check

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy 2011!

One LAST time

Well, Dick and I squeezed another day out of the fishing year. The weather was too nice to pass up.  We spent most of the morning below route 9 in the area from the USGS gage down past the hatchery pipe.  Seemed like fewer fish - George thinks they have gone up the pipe and every now and then come back down to frolic and feed and get caught.  They better enjoy their time while they can, because come 1/1/11 they will be fair game to move into the category of food.   Speaking of food, after a quick sandwich we fished above route 9 (permanent catch and release area.)  Dick has not had much success in the past in that area, but today he landed the nice rainbow pictured here.  Congrats Dick!  I hit a couple of my usual spots with only a few small brookies to show for it.  Then I worked my way downstream a couple hundred yards and picked up a few nice rainbows.  One in particular is notable, in that I was fishing a shallow run where I could see some feeding fish. My usual rig of a small BHPT with a softhackle dropper was too heavy.  So I took off the nymph and tied on a size 20 parachute BWO as an indicator fly for the size 24 softhackle dropper.  After making about 20 drifts over a nice rainbow, he suddenly sipped the dry and the fight was on.  A nice way to cap a great season.  Stay tuned for news from Florida!

Fly fishing crack

The Swift River should be a controlled substance.  Couldn't resist going again yesterday and might go tomorrow. Air was almost 40F and water was 46F.   Didn't see more than a couple tiny insects and very few rises (stray pellets?) but a size 20 BHPT with a size 20 and smaller softhackle dropper did the trick.  When they got tired of the red SH I took a couple on the olive and one on a small pink egg. This is one of my small soft hackles.  It is nothing more than appropriately colored (red, black, olive, yellow, etc.) thread, thin gold wire and two wraps or less of partridge hackle. The hackle is a little longer than ideal, but on a 20 or smaller fly, it is a challenge to find and wrap a proportionate soft hackle.  The fish don't seem to mind.
For a Serendipty, I substitute elk hair tips. For a midge pupa I don't use hackle, just a couple wraps of peacock herl or ostrich herl.  A quick tie and effective.  I tie the soft hackles in slightly larger sizes (16 and 18) to use as droppers throughout the season.

Lake Ontario tribs - a fishing gold mine!

Most of us have read about and many New Englanders have made the drive west on I-90 to partake of the fishing in the Lake Ontario tributaries, the Salmon River around Pulaski, NY being one of the the most famous. FFNE regular Matt lives in the Rochester, NY area and sent me an email with commentary and pictures about fishing some of the smaller tribs. Here is an extract of his report. (The name of this tributary is not mentioned to avoid "spot-burning" but there are probably 20 or more rivers that fit this description.

"In years like this one, where there is enough water, the fish disburse throughout the system and will stay in the creek all winter. We will catch them again in the Spring when they drop back to the Lake. It is mostly big brown trout and fall run rainbows, which in the spring will be augmented with steelhead coming in to spawn. The season begins in late October when the Chinook run and spawn, creating an orgy of salmon eggs. The browns and rainbows come in following the salmon eating the eggs. We catch fish on small egg patterns (10-14s) usually under a strike indicator with a little weight added. It is mostly sight fishing to specific fish or pods of fish. The male browns show up first and we see them fighting for territory on gravel. The fishing is best when the females come in to spawn. Spawning is unsuccessful for the salmon and the browns, but the rainbows and steelhead that get up to the cooler headwaters do successfully reproduce. The Atlantics are quite new—seeing more of them each year for the past 4 years. The theory is that they are from Ontario, which is now stocking solely Atlantic salmon on their side of the Lake. The charter captains will never let NY stock only atlantics because their business is dependent upon trolling for big pacific salmon in the Lake in the summer—but we do stock some Atlantics as well.

Once the spawn is over-usually about Thanksgiving—we catch these fish with big streamers either dead drifted or on the swing (much more fun). No subtle takes but a lot more prospecting in deeper pools."
Matt, thanks for the reports and pictures.  You might see me out there next November!

A rut? Or tenacity?

Well, you must be as tired of reading as I am about writing about ventures to the Swift River. Sorry, but I did it again. Tuesday, once again was another of those late fall days that made for an irresistible urge to feel the tug, so off to the Swift again. This time was different in a number of ways. Although I have known him for a number of years and he is a good friend and we have a lot of common interests, I had never fished with Charlie Shadan, owner of the Evening Sun Fly Shop in Pepperell. We decided to fish above route 9 until lunch and then below route 9 in the afternoon. There was only one car at the route 9 bridge when we arrived a little after 9AM. That was quickly remedied, as a number of people showed up as we got rigged up and started the short trek up to the Y-pool and bubbler. We noted a few fish at all the likely spots on our walk upstream. The thought was to start at the top and work down. Since I rigged up a little quicker, I had first choice, so I stepped into the bubbler arm. I stood studying the water for a few minutes, picking out a likely subject for my attention. Then one cast, one fish - must have been beginners luck. I caught 5 more fish out of that spot, before moving downstream a couple hundred yards and picking off a few more nice rainbows. Charlie had quite a few hookups too. After lunch we moved down to the hatchery pipe area and picked up a few more fish, before calling it a day. Last time it was the hatchery pipe that paid off, and this time it was the upper river. Go figure. Once again, it was the red softhackle, size 20 and smaller that was the heavy favorite. Also a few on the size 20 BHPT and olive softhackle. None on eggs this time. I need to sit down at the tying bench and whip out some more softhackles in case I get the urge for another tug before heading south to Florida after Christmas. Overall, it was a great day on the water and I really enjoyed fishing with Charlie. We swapped some fish tales and agreed to do it again ASAP. Drop by Evening Sun and get the straight scoop from Charlie.

The real "last best" day?

Since the last report I made a couple more trips to the Swift River; each time, figuring it was going to be the last trip of the year before winter conditions set in.  The first trip was divided fairly evenly between the below route 9/hatchery pipe run and the above route 9 catch and release area.  Plenty of fish were available in both locations, so the fishing was good everywhere, but the catching was better below route 9.  The water is a good bit faster there, so the fish have less time to study potential food from all angles and need to make the "food or not-food" decision more quickly.  The second (last?) trip was a couple days ago when the temperature peaked over 60F. That day was spent in the hatchery pipe run area.  Dick and I got there around 8AM and there were a couple guys in the "prime real estate" location, so Dick and I settled in above the fallen tree.  Dick and I both had rigged our rods the night before in the prime visibility environs of our respective man-caves.  My green copper john (18) with a red softhackle (24) dropper quickly fooled a nice rainbow, who stayed buttoned to the end of my tippet for all of 5 seconds before coming unbuttoned.  Then  it was something of a dry spell until some midges started to hatch around 9:30.  I switched to a dry set-up and after a few hundred casts, I started to have fish actual come up to inspect my  size 22 BWO dry before settling back to take the size 38 naturals.  I finally got one on a size 24 olive softhackle that I repeatedly brushed with Frog's Fanny desiccant.  After taking a walk upstream and having a bite of lunch, I was able to share the pipe run with George and Don.  My supply of sub-20 sized red softhackles began to take their toll on the heavily fished rainbows.  I got one fish on the size 20 BHPT I was using to sink the softhackle dropper, but all the rest were on the red softhackle.  Every now and then I switched to a black or olive softhackle, but tying on a red one was money in the bank.  Other flies that took a fish or two included the white diamond braid egg cluster and a pink egg.  Dick caught a few fish from the area below the crib dam down to just above the hatchery intake.  Overall, a day that will hold me until I break out the 7-wt down in Florida about a month from now.
One final comment about the fishing at the Swift.  I think I have mentioned before about how fish will quickly associate a strike indicator as something to be avoided. They will swim out of their feeding lane to avoid the pink, orange or yellow indicator after a couple of their buddies have been hooked.  Dick loaned me his tiny white Thingamabobber and not once did I see a fish swim away from it.  I need to stop by Evening Sun and pick up a couple little white indicators for next April when the Swift is the only river at a fishable level during the run-off.
Tight Lines and Happy Thanksgiving!

Yesterday I took George for a tour/fishing trip to the Swift River.  We got to the gage station parking lot by 8:00AM and there was only one person at the hatchery pipe run.  We had a brief chat. He had caught a few fish already and moved down toward the fallen tree pool.  We lost count of how many fish George fooled.  After losing a few fish on the small flies he was using, George got the hang of setting the hook and then letting the fish run a bit before bringing them in for the release. One of our objectives was to show George the various fishing areas/access points, so after an hour or so we took a walk down to Cady Lane, spotting fish and pointing out some pools and runs to fish on subsequent trips on his own.  Then after a streamside lunch at the goose-pen pool we parked near the route 9 bridge and fished the upper river in the afternoon.  There were lots of fishermen in the Y-pool, so we fished a couple spots in the bubbler run.  George fooled a couple fish and landed this nice rainbow. There were lots of big fish in the run, but with the low water, they were real difficult to approach with any kind of presentation.
The Y-pool continued to be crowded, so we hit a couple other spots on the way downstream back to route 9.  George got a nice male brooktrout at the hemlocks and then fooled a few rainbows at Stan's favorite nymphing spot.   Overall, the best flies were the soft hackles (red, black, olive.) Other successful flies were the green copper John, and pheasant tail nymph - size 20.
The water was about 53F and the air was over 60F - a really great day. Can't be too many days like this left in 2010!

Veteran's Day Trout on the Squannacook River

Yesterday I paid a visit to the Squannacook River in West Groton.  I ran into some good friends there and took this video of their fishing exploits. I am sure many of you will recognize their handsome faces.  Enjoy!




Today I took George (of broodstock salmon fame - see the earlier report) to the Swift River. He had a fantastic day there.  Report and pictures in process.

Next stop: Farmington River

Today Stan and I made the run down to Riverton/New Hartford, CT to fish the Farmington, one of my (many) favorite rivers in New England.  After a few days of rainy, blustery weather, the skies began to clear and it was great to be out on the water.  As the day began to warm a bit (air temp 59F and water 50F) we saw a few BWO hatching and one solitary tan caddis in mid-afternoon.  Very few rises, and so sporadic that we couldn't target any particular fish. We made the rounds of many of our usual haunts: Beaver pool, Whittemore, Church Pool, Greenwoods, Central Riffle, Boneyard and Ovation.  After all that we each had a couple strikes with missed hook-ups and we each landed a fish.  Stan got a nice rainbow pictured below and I got about a 15 inch brown.  Stan got his on a white sparkle softhackle and I got mine on a white diamond-braid egg cluster.

George called me to have me take him and a friend fishing this Friday. We haven't totally dialed it in yet, but we'll probably do a tour/lesson/fishing of the Swift River.  Tomorrow, I'll be somewhere, but haven't decided where yet.  Any suggestions or requests?

NH seacoast bonanza

Yesterday Stan and I paid a visit to the "Three Rivers" of the NH seacoast area - the Lamprey, Cocheco, and Isinglas.  The Three Rivers Stocking Association raises money to buy fish from a private hatchery and stocks the Lamprey and Cocheco rivers in October.  Waste Management Inc has large facilities that abut the Isinglas River and they stocked it last week. You won't find a lot (or any!) dry fly action, but a well-drifted nymph or egg pattern, or a skillfully stripped woolly-buggerish pattern can be deadly.  We caught fish on each river, with the Lamprey tops in both quantity and quality of fish. Of course, the next time it could be the Cocheco or Isinglas that comes out on top.  I think one key is to find a seam, slot, or depression that has not been pounded by anybody else for a few hours or a day or so.  At this time of year that often means being first into a pool or run.  In summer, it is good to get out early to take advantage of cooler water temps, but at this time of year, cool water (or air) temperature isn't an issue, but fishing pressure is. 

Another key tactic is to show them something they haven't seen before.  For the first few days after stocking, trout are "testing for food" - meaning that they will bite almost anything to see if it is good to eat.  After getting caught by olive woolly-buggers and prince nymphs, they pretty soon take those off their preferred menu.  Sometimes something as simple as going smaller or bigger, or using a weird color is enough to arouse curiosity.  Trigger colors like red or chartreuse often will bring a strike, when brown and gray flies are ignored.  Yesterday I had success with red serendipities and white diamond braid egg clusters, but tomorrow those could be forsaken in favor of yellow softhackles or chartreuse/black woolly buggers.  Get creative at the tying bench and you might get lucky on the river.

More salmon - Pictures!

By popular demand, I have added this post with pictures of the salmon featured in the previous post.  George sent me the pictures taken with his camera, which do more justice to the fine salmon he caught than my poorly executed video.  I guess after we landed the fish it was easier to focus our attention on taking good pictures, rather than being concerned about losing the big salmon.
Thanks for your patience, I hope you agree it was worth the wait.

George, thanks for sending the pictures and allowing me to post them on the blog!

More salmon!

My last post said I was going with Stan to fish the Swift River - wrong!  Thursday night a new client called about going salmon fishing.  George is an experience salt water angler, and does some freshwater fly fishing, but very little in New England.  He saw my broodstock Atlantic salmon video on my guiding website and thought that it would be fun. I recommended against it, since the water was a little high from the rain we had last Tuesday/Wednesday.  But George really wanted to try it, so I agreed to take him to the Pemi, and depending on the water level, possibly go to the Lamprey or Cocheco Rivers in the afternoon.  We started out below the Ayers Island dam in Bristol.  It was a little high (about 2300CFS, while I prefer 2,000 or less.)  We got one salmon there on a hair-wing Black Ghost streamer.  It was his first salmon, and we were both glad not to be skunked.  After a little while we moved down river to the Coolidge Woods Road section.  The wading was a bit tough and we weren't able to get to some of my favorite spots, but after many casts and many fly changes, we saw a small salmon jump.  George cast his fly in that direction and almost immediately he hooked a good fish.

It turned out to be the biggest salmon I have seen in at least 3 years.  I estimate 25+ inches and 6 pounds or so. Welcome to fly fishing in NH!  (Just don't expect this result every time!) We fished a little longer and then at lunch we discussed options.  Since the water was too high to enable us to fish some of my best spots and it was totally unfishable in Franklin (they were releasing about 5,500CFS) we decided to hit one of the rivers in SE NH that have been stocked since the first of October.  We only had time to fish one river, so we went to the Lamprey River.  We proceeded to hook into about a dozen trout on a variety of nymph patterns - caddis larva, small Zug bugs, copper john, soft hackles, etc.  It turned out to be a great day with both quantity and quality of fish exceeding expectations. A day to remember when the snow is flying and our thoughts turn to the fly tying table and fishing next season.
This week I might try the Swift, the SE NH rivers or maybe somewhere else. Stay tuned !
 

Fishy October

Since my last update, I have hit the water in quite a few places and have a couple more trips planned.  Fished the Pemi a couple times - once with a few salmon to show for it, and once with a couple salmon hooked and one nice rainbow landed - at Bristol and Franklin.  Also fished the Lamprey and Cocheco again, with a few average rainbows and browns and one really fat 17+ inch rainbow.  Also fished the Swift below the route 9 bridge and at the hatchery pipe.

Got a nice rainbow on a size 20 parachute Adams in the pool below the route 9 bridge and a whole bunch of rainbows and one brown at the pipe - mostly on Shadan softhackles, but also on white sparkle egg clusters, caddis larva and one hit-and-quick-release on the parachute Adams.
I plan to hit the local rivers (Squannacook and Nissitissit) this afternoon and the Swift tomorrow with Stan.

Also, here is a video I recently put up on Youtube from an early October trip on the Androscoggin River and CT rivers. 

SE NH trout

Today Dick and I fished the Lamprey and Cocheco Rivers.  They were stocked with small rainbows and browns a couple weeks ago by the NH Fish and Game dept and yesterday by a private stocking group - Three Rivers Stocking Association.  We had the Lamprey at Packer Falls to ourselves and some 14-16-inch rainbows and a couple smaller 'bows and browns were given a little exercise.  We then went to Wiswall Dam on the Lamprey River and each got a couple smaller rainbows.  Hundreds of really big rainbows were recently stocked, but they must still be digesting hatchery pellets, since we only got smaller fish there.  We then went to the Cocheco River at Watson Dam and got a couple more feisty rainbows.  Great day to be out. Next weekend the Isinglass River is scheduled to be stocked, making this once again one of the few places for late-season fishing in southern NH and handy to the greater Boston fly anglers. If you fish there, be sure to send a check or online donation to Three Rivers, so they can continue their stocking activities.

Also, I saw a strange bird at the Cocheco River. I swear it was a snowy egret! Take a look and tell me what you think!  It looked like it was shivering and it was definitely not an albino heron. I think it was a Florida bird that had a hankerin' for trout!

Many choices (In MASS)

Since the last report I've fished the Pemigewasset in Woodstock. Swift River in a couple different spots, Squannacook, Nissitissit and Millers Rivers.  All rivers in MASS have a lot of fish.  NH doesn't seem to get with the program.  Water temps are perfect, flows are decent and people are anxious to get out and enjoy the nice fall weather.  I heard there are some fish in the Lamprey now, but it would be nice if the Piscataquog, Souhegan, Contoocook, Sugar and Pemigewasset Rivers were topped off with a few fish.  It seems that the hatchery trucks rolled up to Errol and Pittsburg every week all summer with nothing left for the rest of NH when the waters cooled.  Enough whining - get your MASS license and enjoy the good fishing there.  I highly recommend the book that MASS TU published that gives info about virtually every trout pond, stream and river in the state.  Stop in at Evening Sun fly shop in Pepperell to pick up your copy.  Since MASS has no closed season, it is useful for finding where to fish in the early spring, fall, mid-summer and even mid-winter.  (Hint: the Swift River fits all those categories, but so do a number of others.) I plan to hit the Pemi tomorrow to sample the broodstock salmon fishing. 
Oh yeah, last night at the TU meeting in Manchester there was a real good presentation about renting an RV and fishing/touring around Alaska on your own.  Lots of info about costs, locations, fishing, and planning the logistics. In November we will have a similar topic about Wyoming.