Dick and Jan on Vacation from Florida

 On the Charlemont stretch of the Deerfield with Dick and Jan. I call 'em the Floridians, but what a great couple to have in the boat.

 

The Fife Section is fishing good!

Wackin bows on the Swift all day!

February thaw and browns are feisty!

The last week is February brought unseasonably warm temperatures for the Northeast with highs reaching towards 50F. Of course, when your fishing the upper Deerfield, weather and temperatures are unpredictable. Morning sunny skies on rt. 2 in Greenfield quickly vanished once you hit Zoar Rd. Unexpected rain/snow/sleet showers delayed the morning bite, but once the sun burned through those clouds, the browns turned on!

We floated the upper stretch with float tubes and started to hook up with browns towards the end of the Upper C & R. The lack of snow was resulting in perfect flows, but expect their to be some runoff this week with the March 1 storm we received.

The forecast looks promising for this weekend! I've got openings this weekend and next week. The browns are eager and hungry.

Saco River, NH & Mixed Bag O' Trout

With recent reports from local guides of superb dry fly fishing in the North Country, I decided to venture into the White Mountains for the day. The early week brought a few thunder showers and downpours, but they were undoubtedly welcomed in the Northeast. Prior to this past week, above normal water temperatures and below average rainfall had left many trout in the northeast struggling for cool oxygenated water. With the re-energizing weather, I drove into the heart of New Hampshire with plans to fish the Saco and Ellis rivers located around North Conway, NH.

Both rivers provide fly anglers with fairly long stretches of "Fly Fishing Only" water that are unquestionably loaded with big fickle browns, football rainbows, and feisty brookies. I arrived at the 1st Bridge Pool parking area around 0700 and surprised to already see four other cars in the lot. Two anglers were already walking out, indicating success with brookies and bows on dries. I headed downriver, anticipating a few anglers to be fishing the closer pools and runs and ran into two anglers on the Rip-Rap Run and two below the Glade as I worked my way downstream. From that point on, I did not see another angler until 1700 when I hiked out. I slowly fished at my way down to Swallow Bank Pool without worries that another angler would slide in next to me. I fished at my own leisure and although the fishing started slow, the scenery on this stretch was beyond breathtaking. I nymphed runs, swung streamers through pools, and skirted dries against the shoreline slicks, but nothing took until around 1130, when I net my first rainbow.

Water temperature started off around 56 F, but as the river level quickly dropped from the previous nights rain, it coincidently rose to a perfect 60 F. It was as if a switch was turned on because I experienced NON-STOP action from 1300-1700. Rainbows and brookies filled the net on the lower stretch, but as I worked my way back upstream, I began to hook many feisty browns. Big wooly streamers seemed to do the trick as they were swung with an across and downstream presentation. Within that four hour period, 15 trout were brought to net and at least that many were lost. Nothing like a jolting strike a few dozen times! The river was fishing so well that I never made it over to the Ellis. I guess I'll leave that for a later post.

Deerfield River Float on the Fish Cats

Float fishing a river is a very efficient and exciting method in exploring larger sections of rivers. Floating down a stretch of secluded river offers anglers the experience of the local wilderness and fish over less pressured trout. This type of fishing can provide anglers with high fish count days especially when casting prospecting nymphs and streamers. As owner of Squaretail Anglers, I only provide wade-fishing trips for clients, but I made an exception this past weekend. I experimented with my Outcast Fish Cat float tubes that I normally use for remote New Hampshire trout ponds and put them down the Deerfield. The client had no previous experience with these belly boats, but with a little guidance, he got the "drift" after 10 minutes.

Weather was perfect with sunny skies, warming to 70F ambient temperature with a 52F water temp. Fish were beginning to take emergers right below the film, which helped in locating active trout. In order to critique this idea, I floated and fished the lower stretch of the river also to determine its probability of success and enjoyment for first timers. Fish were caught from within minutes of launching to minutes of docking. The catch comprised entirely of rainbows, a couple of which were holdovers from the previous fall. All rainbows were taken on modified hare's ear nymphs and woolly buggers. Flows were alittle slow for the floats, but soaring pairs of bald eagles entertained us during the "slow water" especially when we saw one dive bomb the water downstream, then fly way with a fish.

Fishing is only getting better everyday, with plenty of active trout chasing swinging nymphs and streamers during wade trips. It is an excellent opportunities for first timers to experience the jolting strikes and lighting fast surface splashes as trout attack at the end of the swing, mostly when your fly imitates an emerging insect as it rises in the water column. Remember to let your fly swing in the current and be stripped for a couple seconds after you swing it through your target zone. More often than not, fish will follow or be feeding on tail of the run waiting for hatching insects. Long line nymphing proved deadly this past weekend especially on sub-surface feeding fish.

Smelt Running in Pittsburg, NH 4/30-5/2

The alarm went off at 4 am Friday morning, but the much awaiting anticipation for the first 2010 trip to Pittsburg, NH already found me in the shower and roasting a pot of coffee. Usually at this time of the morning during this time of the year, I would be sitting on the edge of a field clucking to gobblers that I roosted the night before, but I was fortunate enough to harvest a mature 21 lb, 9" beard, 3/4" spur gobbler in MA during opening day. With an unexpected ice-out on 1st Connecticut Lake of April 11th, it was sure to be an early smelt run in the north country, which of course would be followed by many hungry salmon.

I arrived at Lopstick Lodge at 8:30am, checked the daily flows (151 CFS 1st, 152 CFS 2nd, 759 CFS Murhpy) and bought some favorite local patterns. The smelt were in full swing with the water temperature hovering ~45 degrees. By 9:15, I was whipping a size 6 gray ghost cross current on the inlet to Lake Francis. Bright sunny skies and howling winds didn't make for ideal fly fishing conditions, but I was too optimistic for those salmon. Only 1 other spin angler was casting below be, catching 4 salmon, during the unproductive hour I was there. I journeyed up to Megalloway Road bridge, and fished the inlet to 1st lake where salmon were sporadically rising to BWO's along the shore. Using a double nymph rig with an indicator, I quickly hooked up on a beautiful 15" leaping salmon. For the next 1.5 hrs it was slow with the wind gusting soo fast that the fly line ended up in the trees more than on the water Positioning yourself for a downwind cast made casting efforts more efficient. The bite was slow, but a clear sunny day with no one else on the river except a fly fisherman in a canoe, and song birds singing the most beautiful melodies I ever heard, I was in heaven. However, there is a point where one can only go so long on a river without hearing the drag spinning from a fresh salmon swimming like a torpedo upriver.

After enjoying a quick salami and provalone sandwich on the shore, I ventured back to the Trophy Stretch to fish Junction Pool. After nymphing both seams on either side of the current with no prevail, I started swinging streamers. Second cast with a black ghost, I hooked and lost a fish stripping the pattern upriver. A repeated process proved successful the next time and actually 2 more times after that. Three brilliantly colored brookies with sharp healthy fins were brought to net, all in the range of 12 inches. With a fishless count on the Francis inlet during my first stop, I made the short trek downriver to hopefully redeem myself. The current in this section is hard for a fly angler to reach from shore. A small craft is almost indefinitely helpful for this short stretch. I was able to trick a few salmon to chase a Magog smelt close to shore, but unexpected hits resulted in poor hook sets. In hopes to work more manageable water, I headed back to the section below Magalloway road, where I saw Bill (guide from Lopstick) guiding a first timer, who looked to be having some success. He was excited non the less, which made for excellent attitudes on the river when he landed a salmon. Most salmon appeared to be in the slower water right down to the lake, but I managed a short-lived fight with a nice salmon in the upper currents. Temperatures dropped quickly around 6:30, so I headed back to Mountain View to set up camp and cook some beef stew. I considered it a successful first day.

Saturday morning, I was casting a fly on the inlet to 1st by 5:30am. Action was slow with only 2 hook-ups, but many fish were rising in the river and the lake to BWO's. The weekend warriors wandered to the river around 8:30, so both inlets became quite crowded by late morning. With above normal temperatures, I was expecting weekend crowds so I explored stretches of the river "in between" the popular pools. I caught no fish, but I found pockets of water and feeding lanes that I will revisit later in the season. I ended the evening where I started in the morning, and luckily had one salmon take a BWO parachute but my dry fly hook sets are unpracticed, thus slow to respond. The sun quickly disappeared with a dense cloud cover, and the bite began. Five hook-ups in 15 minutes brought 3 quality salmon to net.

Here is a strategic, but simple approach towards fishing popular water:

Fish the popular and easily accessible spots early. Prospect throughout that stretch of water trying to pick up fish within the vicinity. When crowds begin to trickle in, they are probably fishing spots that you have already probed which either provided you with or without action. Unless you enjoy combat fishing, this is the time to explore new or hard-to-reach areas, where the last place a weekend warrior would want to hike in to after he drank all night at the bar and woke up late only to eat a beyond imaginable "everything omelet". He's looking for the closest place from his truck to roll down the path to the river. Too bad he doesn't know you already caught those fish at 5am that morning. In all seriousness, these couple hours leading up to lunch time before those "anglers" head in for their afternoon cocktail and rib-eye steak enable you to explore the secluded stretches of river. If I plan to fish a popular spot for the evening feeding frenzy, I arrive early just in case I have to "claim" my stretch of river as unfortunate as that may sound. However, I have never run across any irresponsible anglers on the Upper Connecticut and would consider most of them respectable sportsmen/women. Sometimes, the bite won't happen until minutes before dark, so don't let the conversations of grey goose martinis persuade you to leave the river early.

With only Sunday morning to fish, I obviously hit the river early landed 2 of the 3 hookups. All fish were caught on double nymph systems floated under an indicator. Best salmon of the trip came that morning, measuring around ~18 inches, although the smaller fish were just as exciting with their leaping acrobatics. Looking forward to the next trip north when the salmon are further upriver!