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...

Atlantic salmon vs flyline

As I was saying a few posts ago, the area below Eastman Falls Dam in Franklin is now fly fishing only. But guess what, wormdunkers are among us, they don't just break the law, but they litter too. I would love to here that one of this guys is paying a fine. So if you here about it, give me a sign, it will make my day.

Now back to fishing: first victim of the day was actually fall fish or chub as it's called in Europe. It took a decent size streamer.

The salmon came a little later, probably one of those stocked recently by Fish and Game. Nice fish, great fighter, 22"+. Untagged, and if they decided not to tag the fish anymore, I agree with it. Less harm to the fish.

After I released it, I noticed something weird to my line. At a closer look, I realized that the connector loop was actually destroyed in the fight. Now that is how an atlantic salmon fights!

Connecticut river (english)

This fishing trip occurred sometimes at the end of May but I had so many going on at that time, that I just forgot about these pictures. I kept looking for a river that had wild trout and I decided to try Connecticut river in northern NH. It's a well known river especially for its trophy stretch, in Pittsburg, but it takes more than 2 hrs to drive there, so we stopped around 35 miles downstream, in North Strafford. The river is on NH border with Vermont, and the NH resident license allows me to fish the river on both sides. this particularly area is a non-kill flyfishing only, and you have to use barbless hooks. I didn't have any barbless hooks, so I had to pinch the barbs on the flies I used.
It didn't start the way I wanted. The Hendrickson hatch I thought it's going to be on at that time was already gone, and the fish were only raising sporadicly for some small sedges. In the first half an hour I've only seen 3 fish sipping flies from the surface, so it's obvious that my first choices were the nymphs. Heavy tungsten bead headed, to get them on the bottom. It took 10 min to get the first strike, I thought it's a nice brown, but it ended up to be a fall fish ( Semotilus corporalis). I was wondering what's the name of this fish here, and each person I've asked gave me a different version. Some people would call it chub, same as it's very close relative in Europe (Leuciscus cephalis). Other people call it shiner, roach or sand roach. And finally I've found this name on the Fish and Game website. For me it looks and behaves exactly like its cousin from Europe. I managed to catch it here with spinners, crankbaits and flies, in Winnipesauke, Merrimack, Pemigewasset and now in Connecticut rivers. It puts up a good fight and I don't dislike when I catch it.


By the time I let it go, I noticed on the other side a couple of people that started to fish a few hundreds feet upstream from my location. I was curious to see what kind of flies they were using so i wadded there to say hi. They were really nice, gave me tips, flies, even got in the water with me to help with my casting. It was basically the first time I was fishing a river that wide, and my casting wasn't good enough to reach across. And I never had anybody around me to tell me what am I doing wrong. Anyway, Pep was really helpful and I thank him one more time.

After this I managed to catch a few trouts. The first one, a brown, took advantage of my lack of experience in fishing with barbless hooks, and escaped before reaching my net. But the next three, all rainbows, took a short stop out of the water, before returning to their place.











Overall it was a wonderful day, until the mosquitoes and black flies made it impossible to feel comfortable outside. It was getting late anyway, and I had two hours of driving ahead, so we decided to pack and go, but not without promising in my mind that I'll be back.