Bitter sweet

A lot of action once salmon season started and the final sections of the rivers opened. Despite the nice fish caught in a little over an hour early in the morning, the season opener left me disgusted. A lot of fish in the river and a lot of fishermen. I got there at 5:30 AM just in time to see the first fish being pulled out of the water. Haven't seen another fly fisherman until my friend Dwayne came over. Shallow water and high fish density was matched by high density of fishermen. I think I saw 50-60 fish killed that morning in just one spot. Released? 2 + the 4 I caught. What worked for me that morning was a pink streamer that tricked the 4 fish, including the beauty below, probably 22-23 inch of pure energy. I hope she learned her lesson and went straight back tot the lake.

 It was a cold morning, and that reminded me why sometimes graphite reels are preferable to aluminum ones. My aluminum hardy kept freezing and getting stuck on me. Also had to clean my guides a few times. "Definitely not a good time to bring your little girl fishing, especially if she is not into fishing at all. But if this will justify some extra rods, why not, more food for the family. At least don't try to convince her that she caught the fish you just killed because she didn't touch the rod, she wasn't even looking at the river, because she was too busy shivering." I know the guy these thoughts are addressed to is less likely to read my post but I jut had to let it out.

 

The remaining of the day and the rest of the week went really well for fishing, except the fact that the water levels kept dropping. Salmon and rainbows were everywhere, hitting streamers like crazy and gorging on the nymphs.

Two friends, 2 simultaneous hook ups, one net is enough:

 

Dwayne was the king of the rainbows on the 1st, this old fat being the biggest rainbow I've seen that day.

 The biggest ones I've caught came later in the week.

Romanian readers, if you see the next one in a fishing magazine don't be surprised :))

Some fight pictures:

 And some releases:

Amazing fishing so far  this season, but I've seen a lot of fish being killed. I heard different reasons: "I 've got a fish fry this weekend and I'm supposed to bring the salmon", or  "I've only kept 2 so far" (it's only 6:30 AM in the first day of the season you idiot!!!!!) and so on, every reason more brilliant then others. What makes it even worse is that there are fly fishermen among them. Now I can't wait for the same people to complain about the lack of fish in NH waters. They actually got another month or so, to clean the freshly stocked rivers.

And the good thing: I got checked twice so far by Fish and Game, so they are out watching, hope they nail some poachers!

Fish on!

I keep getting complaints from my American friends that it's hard for them to understand what I write if it's in Romanian. So i decided that from now on I will have more posts in English, because most of my Romanian friends understand English pretty well.

I'm finally able to show some fish in my pictures. Yeah! I happened, first fish of the season. And it's not an April fools' joke. Despite the high water and swift current my new 4 wt10 footer had enough juice to land this ~ 18 in (over 45 cm) rainbow safely.





A few pictures taken by another fly fisherman that was in the area at the moment (THANKS!!!!) and the fish went back to fight another day.

Ce poti prinde intr-o ora in New Hampshire?

Am prins si eu o ora de pescuit in seara asta. Ma gandeam ca pe unul din lacurile din apropiere s-ar putea sa am parte de ceva actiune la uscate. Cam pe vremea asta smallmouth bass-ii se hranesc chiar dupa apus, la suprafatza, cu tot felul de musculitze si cand unul mai rasarit iti intra pe o musca de 14 distractia e maxima.
Ajuns la locul faptei am constatat ca nimic nu se misca la suprafatza. Ploile din ultimele zile ridicasera nivelul apei pana aproape de maxim, iar debitul raului la intrarea in lac era destul de mare. Cum in ultima vreme nu a fost prea cald, nici temperatura apei nu era prea ridicata, ceea ce m-a indreptatit sa sper la vreun pastrav-doi. De obicei apa mare si rece ii face sa urce pe rau.
Gradinitza era la mal, mii de alevini. Ma intreb cati dintre ei vor creste destul de mari ca sa guste din mustele mele? La cele 8-9 specii de pradatori din lacul respectiv, probabil n-o sa le fie prea usor.

Primul atac s-a soldat cu un rateu, am apucat doar sa vad pestele intorcandu-se pe o parte si scuipand nimfa.
Urmatorul nu a fost la fel de norocos: un curcubeu nazdravan. Nici n-a mai stat la poza finala, avea ceva de rezolvat.

Au urmat doi cleni bunicei.....

Si fratele mai mare al curcubeului dinainte:

Dupa asta s-au mai linistit, incepea sa se intunece. Brusc m-am trezit in mijlocul unei eclozari, ceva caddisuri micutze si negre. Pestii au inceput sa se hraneasca la suprafatza dar pareau mici, asa ca nu am trecut pe uscate. Liliecii erau si ei in al noualea cer, ma simteam ca intr-un film de groaza, inconjurat de un stol de vreo 25-30 de lilieci care nu se sfiau sa zboare la nici un metru de mine, pe sub batz. Ba unul chiar mi-a lovit firul cu aripa.
Intre timp s-au mai strecurat prin mainile mele niste bibanasi care nu m-au convins sa ies afara la poza cu ei si un clenutz mai mititel.
Ultimul peste al serii a fost o premiera la nimfa: un peste inrudit cu bibanul, caruia de fapt ii zice white perch, adica "biban alb", ca sa se deosebeasca de "yellow pearch", adica bibanul de pe la noi. Am mai prins la uscata si la vobler, dar de obicei sta in lac si nu urca pe rau, asa ca e mai greu de prins la nimfa. Oricum o surpriza placuta.

Toata tarasenia asta s-a petrecut in practic mai putin de o ora, practic de pe la 8:15 si 9:10. Pentru relaxarea de dupa cina a trebuit sa ma declar destul de multumit...