After learning two new patterns at the Annual Saco Valley Trout meeting at Hobbs’s Brewery, Bridget and I tied up a few.
But having the correct material made all the difference.
Small Streamers
trout
Until the end.
Trout season in New Hampshire closes on October 15 on most streams and rivers. I am going out as much as I can up until the end.
I hit a mountain stream that I really have fallen in love with. The water is quite a bit lower than just four days ago. I picked up a few nice wild brookies and half a dozen little tiny ones. I am amazed at how aggressive these little fish are. A beautiful fall day in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
Finally
I got a little fishing in this evening. My first trip. After dinner I went across the street to the East Branch of the Saco. I have not done well here, but I that I’d give it a try. I didn’t even put on waders. I got 7 brookies in about a hour. Most were caught on a pheasant tail jig fly with a pink collar. One took a larger Pat’s rubber legs stone fly nymph. The water was about 55 degrees. I fished until I could not see to untangle my leader. A good night.
Squirrel and Herl Bugger
Tying up some streamers tonight. I hope to swing some of these through some of the deeper holes in the Saco River. Until now, I would have needed snowshoes to get to the river. Warmer temps and some rain are doing a good job melting the snow.
This is the Squirrel and Herl Bugger. It is basically a wooly bugger with a pine squirrel zonker strip wing in place of the marabou tail. This is a size 8, 3x long streamer hook, peacock herl, and an olive-dyed grizzly hackle. I use an olive-dyed pine squirrel zonker strip for the wing. you could use a natural-colored strip as well. The squirrel strip has just the right length fibers for this size fly. This is an easy fly-to-tie so you can tie up quite a few before you finish your beer.
I think this should look like the sculpin and minnows that swim around the rocking bottom of the Saco. Wish me luck.
Soft Hackle Streamers
Here is another sample of what we tied at Bugs and Brews. Steve Angers from North Country Angler led the class, and we tied a Jack Gartside Soft Hackle Streamer. We tied this pattern before we tied the Game Changer, which is also tied in the round. I am really enjoying these streamers tied in the round. I had become so stuck tying traditional streamers with a tinsel body and a hair wing, like the Black Nose Dace and Mickey Finn. The Soft Hackle Streamer is a much easier fly to tie than the Game Changer. I think I will tie a bunch up in different colors and sizes to fill my boxes.
Game Changer
At the Monday Night “Bugs and Brews” at Ledge Brewery here in Intervale, we learn to tie a fly pattern based on the “Game Changer” Justin Laffin a local guide in southern New Hampshire, walked us through his version of the pattern. It is a complicated fly only because there are so many sections and steps. However, the steps are just repeated so once you know the routine it’s not that difficult. I don’t know whether I’ll tie this fly on a regular basis but it certainly was fun to learn to tie it.
The original “Game Changer” was first tied by Blane Chocklett. It is an articulating streamer pattern. Basically, when you tie this pattern it’s four separate flies hooked together with shank sections. Two hooks and two shank sections. It has become more of a style of fly rather than a single pattern. My example here is a bit rough but I got the idea. In a mini version in olive and brown should match the small bait fish in my local mountain streams.
Summer Trout
Unlike New Jersey trout season really never shuts down for the summer. Some rivers may get warm, but you just have to move upstream. Most rivers have their source up in the mountains. I never found water warmer than 64º. The reason I did not fish on hot days was that I was uncomfortable.
When I hit the mountain streams, the Ellis River being my favorite so far, I mainly caught wild brook trout. They are not big, but they are plentiful.
The Ammonoosuc River up by the Mount Washington hotel and downstream by Lower Falls, I did well drifting a big Royal Wulff dry flies or swinging a streamer. I had several double-digit days. When I say days I mean 2 hours after work.
Mainly fairly big stocked brookies with a few rainbows peppered in. I understand the state had a shortage of rainbow trout to stock this year. But I’m very happy with what I caught.
I am mainly a catch and release fly fisherman. However, I did take two home for the grill this year. One big stocked Brookie one big stocked rainbow.
Summer is over in New Hampshire!
I went out to fish today. Probably one of my last days in the official trout season. Just a couple more weeks left. It seems that weather and schedules conspire against me.
After a full day of downpours, which we need, fishing was tough. First I went and checked out the Ammonoosuc River up in Bretton woods. Checked a few places where I had done well though out the summer. All washed out. So I moved on to a new location in the Zealand Camp ground area in the White Mountain National Forest. The Zealand River is much smaller than the Ammo and a river I wanted to check out all summer but “you don’t leave fish to find fish”.
This is a beautiful area. I would love to camp here next spring. No fish. The water was still high for a small stream. I was battling high winds and temps in the low 40s. I tried my hand at a very small stream that comes down off the Presidential Range in Jefferson Notch. Mount Jefferson to be exact, Jefferson Brook. The weather had gotten worse. Fog or light rain the dirt road Jefferson Notch Road seemed to be getting slick. The stream is a high gradient pocket waterand water fall stream. I fished a few pockets. It was hard to get any kind of drift in the fast water. The weather got the best of me and I decided to move on and find some fishable water.
I move over to the East side of the Presidentials to Pinkham Notch. The weather was much better on this side of the mountains. Sunny scattered clouds, no rain or fog. It was like the mountains squeezed the rain out of the clouds on the west side. it was still a bit cold and the wind was gusting hard. I did really well here all summer, so I was optimistic. I started fishing where the New River comes into the Ellis River. The water did not seem as high and I could get some good drifts with a heavy tandem nymph rig. I fished down the river for about a quarter of a mile. Drifting my rig through every slot, pocket, and run I could. Not a tap. I tied on a Mickey Finn streamer and worked my way back upstream swinging that streamer through some of the pools and runs. No Luck. I decided to call it a day.
Finished up my day with a local Coffee porter watching the clouds drift by. Hopefully, I’ll be out again next week.
First fish of the year!
I find it amazing how different the Fisheries are here in New Hampshire compared to New Jersey. My buddies down in New Jersey have been posting tons of fish porn for about the last month and a half.
Things are just popping off here now as if someone flipped a switch. I hooked this beautiful brookie on about my second cast.
First day out this year!
I got out on the water for the first time this year. No fish, but I felt like I was fishing on a postcard card.
Tap 'n' Trout 