Sunday, January 15, 2012

2011: Canada trip

Back to 2011 until the temperatures get back to being fishing friendly...

The trip to Canada was intended to be a stealheading trip and everything looked so good until a week before. Then a wave of hot air brought abrupt summer into the southern Ontario. The water warmed up quickly and the remaining steelheads ran back to the lakes in a hurry. The bass were pushing upstream in high numbers and only 2 weeks after the season opener we were forced to fish for bass because the steelhead were not to be found.
But that doesn't mean we didn't have fun. The best technique was using my 8 weight to push a 7 wt floating line combined with a short sink tip, that allowed me to whip heavier, bushier flies to the other side of the river. The transition between the shallow water next to the bank and the deep middle channel was quite sudden and that's where the bad guys were waiting to ambush the little baitfish that were venturing out of the relative safety of the shore.

Soon we found the right speed, depth, fly colors and the show began.





Hari got the bass of the day:


My biggest fish of the day was actually a white sucker that gave me some thrills (I thought for a second I was hooked onto my first steelhead).



The second day we opted for some wilder nature and we headed to the Credit river. Gorgeous water, very similar to the rivers I used to fish in Romania. Wild fish, not as abundant, but making you work hard before you landed them. The only drawback was the rain that did not stop all day long.






And an interesting discovery, a scene i haven't seen before: lampreys spawning. They were not shy at all, I was actually sticking my camera down into the water right between them. All they were focused on was fulfilling the call of the nature. I know they are technically a pest but I was just sat down and watched them for a minute and left them undisturbed.



The champion was Sotto with this beautiful brown:


Water everywhere:


Sunday, January 8, 2012

Winter fishing

Mild winter in New Hampshire. Last year at this time we already had 2 feet of snow and the lakes were completely frozen. This winter we still have negligible amounts of snow and rain is on the forecast for next week. But if there's no skiing, I prefer to go fishing. And the fish are still around...This weekend was new water, different conditions, different winning fly... But the beauty of the nature continues to amaze the eye of my camera. Life is beautiful!
















Wednesday, January 4, 2012

2012: RAINBOW ALERT!!!!

I have to interrupt the 2011 retrospective after my first day of fishing in 2012. This is the story:

I was joking on the New Years Day saying that I will call in sick the next day and go fishing instead. But once I got to work and I saw that I have a chance to catch an hour of good light, nothing stood in my way... left work at 2:00 had my license printed at 2:22 and I was in the water by 3:30. The fish were there and they were waiting for me. Seven. All rainbows, in the 37-43 cm range (roughly 15-17 inches), very aggressive for this time of the year. I was expecting to have little nibs but instead I got angry hits.




















All of them returned to the water to fight another day. By 5 pm the only light available was coming from the moon and the tears were starting to freeze on my face...Time to head back.

I could say this was a pretty good start for the season, I hope it stays that way!!!