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!

Maine

Last weekend: trip to Maine. Armed with directions from my friend Lee (thanks!) and with the GPS, I took the final step and I finally got behind the wheel for a long wanted expedition to one of Maine's magic spots. A short stop in a state park to glance at a couple of waterfalls and satisfy my wife's camera thirst...

After more than 150 miles on asphalt and 8 miles on logging roads, we made it: dead end. Except for a sign addressed to anglers and referring to the special rules governing "those waters" and a mild roar, barely perceptible, it was just a regular spot, in the middle of nowhere. A short hike, and the view opened up.

Beside the beauty of the river rolling in to the lake, the first think that hit me was a swarm of Alder flies. I've never seen something like this before and they were everywhere. And the whole ecosystem was taking benefits out of them. Birds, fish, ants, even minuscule carnivore plants, they were all feeding on them. And believe me, they were plenty for everybody!

The fish were there, waiting for me and I made contact in the first minutes, with a beautiful brook trout, followed by landlocks, lots of them!








Although I regularly use a lot of nymphs, when the fish are raising, I don't feel bad at all to switch on dries. My 4 wt proved once again to be the extremely versatile rod I've been looking for. (I really have to e-mail Dan to thank him for the blank he built.)


And the winning fly was not too hard to find. It just had to be as close as possible to an alder fly.


I bet stonefly nymphs were working, but i didn't bother since i didn't have any in my flybox.



I'll just let you enjoy the pictures and I'll return to dreaming that sometimes I'll be back....

P.S. There is a darker side of the story: smallmouth bass, which is not native to this waters and was introduced illegally, is taking a toll on the wild brook trout population. So I took a little time to participate in cleaning up the river. And I have to say I had a little fun too, watching this fish hitting my streamer was quite enjoyable. And for a couple of hours I was able to forget about catch and release, for a more important cause.




P.P.S. I do need o buy a waterproof camera; despite the fact that I'm becoming an expert in drying it and making it work after a bath, i don't think my little sony will ever learn to swim. This was the second time I dipped it and immediately after that I caught the most beautiful fish of the trip. Which did not get a picture....Well, another reason to go back!

Smallies week

This week I had a few quick fishing sessions, after work, one and a half hour each, and I focused on smallmouth bass. I had fun with them on dries, they will take violently a sedge that's making a lot of noise on the surface, but the most prolific way was fishing with streamers. I got some angel hair streamers that smallmouth bass cannot resist (thanks Jed and WS HUNTER for showing me this amaizing material). And if there is trout around they may find it tasty too.
I mainly fished Winnipesaukee and Merrimack rivers in Franklin area, with Winni having more fish, but the ones the ones I've caught in the Merrimack were bigger. A pleasant surprise was the chance to watch a snapping turtle hunting. It floates on her belly, like a log in shallow water next to the shore and with a quick move grabs little fish that get too close.