4/11/10 Well Spring fishing for 2010 is in full swing now! The local rivers like the Exeter and Lamprey have been stocked and the big Salmon & Rainbows are being caught further north on the inlets to the bigger lakes. The water levels on my local rivers are still a bit high, but looking ahead, I see no rain for a week. If you are out before the levels drop, work the edges and banks. If you can safely get out towards the middle of a river, fish the big pockets and pools. The trout will be in those spots, watching for food being brought down in the swifter current. As always, feel free to call me or email me with any questions. I start guiding later this week and have 4 guys who’ve never fly fished before. I take a lot of joy in teaching someone to catch fish on a fly rod and can’t wait to see the smiles on their faces!
4/18/10 And we got more rain again! Raised the Lamprey & Exeter about a foot each.,. still my clients are able to catch fish. The Exeter is fishing best west of Exeter and the Lamprey is doing well in the upper parts. Today when I was out, I thought to myself..we are pretty lucky here in New Hampshire. Even when you stop at a VERY accessible place, you can find yourself lost in the sounds of one our seacoast rivers... and while it might not be secluded... it can be very serene.
4/25/10 This morning, I headed out early to scout for this weeks three clients.
We all have places that we are almost sure will hold fish this time of year. Well, today I was checking out what I consider to be one of the most beautiful, but not so hidden gems of a river. The hits were few and this fish landed fewer..still I thought everyone would enjoy a video of this spot.
5/15/10 Well I’ve been out fishing for the broodstock several times this week and it has been FANTASTIC!! I’ve never caught as many as big as these bad boys! Everything from yellow streamers to black wollys and white clouser (no eyes) type flies have been working. I tried to videotape myself landing a fish and here’s what happened...
5/26/10 OK A LOT TO REPORT! First, the Broodstock went in the Pemi 2 weeks ago today. I’ve had great success there over the last two weeks. I know some other fisherman have been skunked, more than once. For me, the fishing has been great each outing. Over the course of the two weeks, I’ve been up there 5 times and caught probably 20 Broodstock ranging from 20” to 32” and one 22” RAINBOW! The bad news is, each time I’ve been up there, I also tried the Newfound and haven’t caught one trout! Yesterday, I did catch two large Bass right up against the dam... but with this type of Caddis Hatch, I expected to do a lot better. If anyone knows if there will be fish put in, let me know. I suspect it won’t happen due to our lack of rain. I also fished the back waters of the Hampton River last night. Pat, his cousin Weston and I worked the incoming tide from 5 to 8pm, and didn’t see a fish. I’ve also fished the Exeter a lot of the last two weeks. I was doing well till about three days ago. Again, we need more rain. And finally, Sunday I leave for 3 days of guiding in Pittsburg. I’ll try to post from up there. Everyone have a safe, fun Memorial Day weekend!
6/19/10 Most of my recent fishing has been up in Pittsburg. The flows are finally ideal now with First Lake releasing 200 CFS. The Connecticut is getting stocked heavily now with nice rainbows and some LARGe brookies. Salmon, to my delight, are still plentiful in the river. My favorite flies are a size 18 BWO parachute, my serendipity, size 14 tan body elk hair caddis and of course buggers.
If you haven’t been up there this year, you be surprised to see a lot of new downed tress in the river from our wind storms this past winter. It changes the dynamics of some of your favorite holes, but creates new places to hold fish as well.
I’ll be up there guiding June 21-24th. If you see my stonefly guiding van, hard to miss with my PVC kayak rack, please say hi. I SWEAR, I’ll to to get some photos of the clients and their fish and post them here and FFINNH. Happy father’s day to all the dads out there!
Myself & my fishing daughter 6 years ago.
7/05/10 I’ve been out the last two mornings on the back waters of the Hampton River catching LOTS of smaller stripers. They averaged 14-16 inches with 2 this morning closer to 18 inches. What’s been so fun is that they have ALL been on top water flies... gurglers. I’ve been getting on the water at first light, which means 4:40 this time of year. Look for jumping bait (you don’t need to see stripers busting) and throw your gurler into that moving bait. Give it a few twitches and POW, YOUR KAYAK WILL BE PULLED ACROSS RIVER BY THESE GUYS :-)
7/11/2010 Well, as I was packing to head up to Pittsburg, I realized I hadn’t posted the striper report from two days ago. Jerry, a great guy and awesome client has been waiting for months to explore the back waters of the Hampton River with me. We started out about 4:30 am. Immediately we saw and spooked a couple of nice fish..then things slowed down.. a LOT. We searched and searched. Just before his half day was up, I told Jerry “I know there're fish in here. I want to paddle back to where we tried this morning, do you mind. It will put us over the 1/2 day trip.. but I really want you to get into some fish”. Obviously Jerry was game. WELL some 40 top water strikes later and my EARLIEST BLUE back in the estuaries, Jerry’s smile and tired arms said it all!
7/25/2010 Two very different reports to share today. First... The STRIPERS are in full swing back in the estuaries. Unfortunately, they’ve stopped hitting my flies, including gurgerlers. But they have been HAMMERING top water plugs. Some days the first few hours of incoming seem to be the best..other times the first few hours of outgoing. The key is to find to a tide you like either at first light or on a cloudy day. Now, head 2000 feet up, as in sea level, and to Crawford State Park, where I was this weekend and you’ll be catching very small, but beautiful Brook Trout. My wife and I stayed at Ethan Pond the other night. Here’s a cute video. I’m headed back to Pittsburg next week after my family does a vacation on Lower Beech Pond.