Thank you all for making 2020 bearable!
What a year it has been. From the stress of the pandemic to the surprisingly busy guiding season. We are very thankful to all of you who cautiously made it up to fish with us this season. Thank you for helping keep us afloat through these unpredictable times. We also want to thank those who planned to fish with us but could not due to health risks. We hope you stayed healthy this year and look forward to seeing you in 2021! We want to let you know that Hill Country Guides will remain open year round for guiding through the winter months and early spring. We’ve spent the past few years exploring fishing options for late fall, winter and early spring. With our knowledge and help of our StealthCraft skinny skiff these colder months provide us opportunities to guide you over some very large fish. Speaking of which…on to the December report!
Kevin Brandon with a hard earned pike. We lost a few early in the day and finally landed one in the last hour!
We have spent the months of November and December researching New Hampshire’s pike fisheries. We took this year to really dial in this fishing because our new Stealth Skinny skiff is the perfect craft to explore these waters. The challenge of pike fishing lies in finding the best holding water for these Apex predators and being in that zone when the bite turns on. Like all apex predators pike don’t eat all the time but when they do it is some of the most intense fishing we have found. It is common to go from catching nothing for hours to landing multiple fish over 30” in a matter of minutes. Pike prefer to ambush prey and when water is cold their prey are slow moving. Fishing neutrally buoyant fallfish, trout and perch imitations with a slow strip and pause retrieve is most effective. When pike strike you will often simply feel a subtle bump as the fish inhales your fly. At this time the key is to pause before striking with a strong strip set. Once a pike is hooked strip as hard as you can until the pike is in the net. I write this advice in hopes that some of you will read it and begin to mentally prepare for your first pike trip with us. It is a challenging, exhilarating and rewarding pursuit.
HCG Guide Kevin Gordon with a fine December specimen.
As waters cool pike remain active but bite during even more specific time periods. While the fishing can be slow, we were able to land at least one pike on all of our trips through mid-December. The best fishing we’ve had this fall was last week. This bite coincided specifically with the new moon and when we saw ideal conditions emerge for Monday, December 13th we reached out to interested clients and booked the day with Chris Piatek and his son Sabin. Chis and Sabin landed 5 pike in the first hour of fishing with two fish at 34” and 36” respectively. While smaller pike are often quick to surrender, fish over 30” will put an 11wt to the test. Luckily both Chris and Sabin had experience fighting large fish and were able to keep the pressure on. The bite lasted from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm and then the fish shut off. We probably could have hit a bite right at dark but we were all satisfied with the day.
Sabin Piatek with a 36 “ beast caught on December 14th.
While many view fishing in the winter as a crazy endeavor I’ve fallen in love with these short but adrenaline filled days. Hitting the water during these colder months can be an incredible experience as long as you prepare for the day. Since we fish from the boat, waders are not required but heavy pants and boots are a must along with nitrile gloves to keep your hands dry and fingerless wool gloves to keep hands warm. This is a great time of the year to keep a close eye on the forecast and book days last minute that are on the warmer side. A calm day in the mid-30’s is quite comfortable if you dress correctly. We have the ability to guide on most days this winter so let us know if you see a day that looks good. We’ll keep you posted for ideal days on our Instagram page.
Chris Piatek with a girthy specimen that shreded his 10 inch fly (note the material hanging from this fish’s lip).
Looking forward:
We have one more pike trip this Tuesday December 20th. We will be out tomorrow scouting to make sure we can navigate the boat around or through any ice that has formed this week. We will probably have too much ice to target pike shortly but we will be prepared to hit pike water any time we have a thaw. That being said trout season opens on January 1st for ALL waters in the state. Last year we found some very large trout willing to eat in January. We plan to spend the first two weeks of January scouting trout water and will begin offering winter trips starting mid-January. We have a high level of confidence in this fishing and want to test out some theories before we begin guiding. We will keep you all posted as we explore winter fishing options and we recommend following our Instagram page @HillCountryGuides for even more up to date reports.
Winter is a great time to target trout that are measured in pounds rather than inches.
Gift Certificates:
We are currently offering gift certificates for the 2021 season. We can send gift certificates via pdf so if you are looking for a last minute gift that will arrive before Christmas we’ve got you covered!
Happy Holidays! Hope to see many of you in 2021!
Tight lines,
Nate