The fishing here in the White Mountains has really taken off over the last week. On last Tuesday I guided client Bob Norton over wild brook trout and I lost track of how many we landed. Fish were crushing a stripped herron fly and stripped mayfly emergers. Then on Wednesday I took a peak at the Androscoggin in the afternoon. I was pleased to see trout crushing caddis up and down the river. I went back to the car and grabbed my rod. I fished until I landed a large rainbow and then went back to the car to call Bob Norton. He had me booked for another trip on Thursday. I convinced Bob to upgrade to a half day float and I know we are both glad that he did. We had rainbows and brookies eating dries for the majority of the float with the last fish landed right at dark. Bob lost a few good fish but made up for it with a couple of gorgeous wild rainbows over a foot long.

On Friday I donated a trip to our graduating senior at the Enriched Learning Center in Berlin NH. Mikey has been fly fishing for his entire life but hasn't gone out much since his father passed away. At our first anchor point I took a cast to demonstrate how to nymph the water and promptly hooked and lost a large rainbow. Mikey grabbed the rod from my hands and began hooking fish. He lost the first few before landing a nice rainbow on the swing. Then, at our second pool, he hooked six rainbows, landing half of them with the others lost in the fast water right at the boat. Mikey was even gracious enough to let me take a few casts and I was able to land a solid wild rainbow that was rising in the slick at the end of our float.

On Saturday morning I guided Juan Loveluck on the Saco. For a first time fly fisherman Juan was a natural and landed three brook trout on both dries and nymphs. The spinner fall was heavy and fish were coming to the surface in numbers until about 8am when the hatch died down and the fish began feeding subsurface. That evening I guided Peter Mcbride on the Andro and while the fishing was slow in the heat of the day we did manage a few small wild rainbows and had one jarring streamer strike in one of the deeper pools. Then the fish came alive as the sun set. We had a few strikes and landed one, before we ran out of daylight.

The next morning Peter got his fill of fish with over ten landed on dry flies in the Saco. With the rain over the next few days the fishing will become a streamer game, with big fish on the move to take advantage of the hapless baitfish and smaller trout being tossed about. I've always done well fishing slump busters, zoocougers, and any white or dark streamers when the water is up. I'll be out on the Saco in the boat on Wednesday searching for some predators. When the warm weather returns we can look forward to cool water for some time with hatches resuming as the water temps and levels even out again. This should happen just in time for Monday June 8th when I will be filming with WMUR, ELC Outdoors, and Client Charlie Houghton for the show NH Chronicle. I'll keep you all posted on the air date! It is shaping up to be a banner year!

Tight lines!

Nate