March Madness
For a fishing guide March is a Chaotic, but productive month. A time of lengthening days and duties. The ice shelves on our rivers are still feet thick in places, but they are receding. This week I plan on getting the boat out of storage and on the water at the first possible opportunity.
Before then, there are many preparations to be made for this upcoming season. Half of my weekends have been filled with fishing shows. On March 6th and 7th I presented on Fly Fishing the White Mountains at The New Hampshire Fly Fishing Show in Pelham, NH. This was a solid event with standing room only during my Saturday seminar. During the show I had a great time trading flies with good friends and met some cool future clients who I look forward to guiding this season. This past weekend I attended the Western Maine Fly Fishing Expo in Bethel, ME. This was another great show with many familiar faces in attendance. I got to catch up with clients both new and old, and shared stories with Guides from Maine. Coming in April The Saco Valley Anglers will be hosting the first annual fly fishing show in North Conway. The New Hampshire Fly Tying symposium and F3T Film Tour will be held from 1pm- 8:30pm on Saturday April 11th at The Theater in The Woods in Intervale, NH. This event is open to all ages and will feature fifteen of the regions best fly tiers and authors. There will be a break between the tying symposium and film tour for pizza and a silent auction. I’m looking forward to this event more than any as it could be the birth of a very cool tradition.
When not attending shows I’ve been attacking other tasks. I recently put in an order to Orvis to completely refresh my fleet of waders and rods. Among the list of new gear are: Five weight recon outfits with access reels and lines, six weight recon outfits with access lines, reels, and spare spools coupled with fifteen foot sink tip lines, 3wt superfine glass outfits, silver sonic convertible waders (size medium to extra large), and new clearwater wading boots. If you took a trip with HCGS last season thank you for helping me pay for these upgrades! I look forward to outfitting many of you with this state of the art gear.
Other tasks include updates to the website. I’ve recently added photos from a shoot with professional photographer Matt Kalinowski www.mattkalinowski.com (look Under Trips and Androscoggin to see a full slide show). I’ve also added a paypal button to the rates page to make your booking experience much more efficient. Along with updates to the website HCGS will be updated as well with a new guide! Steve Bowman, of Wolfeboro, NH will be joining the Hill Country team. Steve has worked in the fly fishing industry for many years, in locations from Lee’s Ferry, Arizona to Madison, Maine. He is a true professional and I couldn’t be more excited to have him on the Hill Country team. With the addition of another guide the company name will be changing to Hill Country Guides. With this we have new HCG hats, business cards and brochures on order. I’ve already got a prototype of the hat and it looks slick.
Between all of these preparations I have been booking trips like crazy. IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO BOOK A TRIP IN 2015 LET ME KNOW ASAP. There are still dates available throughout the season but they are filling fast, especially in June. As for the fishing, my first explorations will be on the Androscoggin in late March and early April and then onto the Lakes region tributaries to target lake run rainbow trout and salmon. From there the brook trout ponds and streams should light up in May. Then, in June, the Saco, Ellis, and Androscoggin will really turn on with the first mayfly hatches of the year. Look for an early season fishing report soon! Until then enjoy these photos from early last season!
