What a change in the weather and fishing since my last report. Late May heat waves have come after a very cold and snowy April and early May. The wild brook trout streams have turned on big time in the lower elevations while the higher elevation streams have been choked with snowmelt and surprisingly cold water. If you choose to venture out know that any stream draining the Presidential range is still running in the 40’s despite the 80 degree daytime temps as of late.
Our maiden voyage in our new Stealth Craft Skinny Skiff resulted in this well fed brown trout.
A fine wild brook trout that exploded on a woods special streamer.
Earlier in May we had some good windows to chase large browns and rainbows from the boat. The big river fishing slowed down a bit with cold snowmelt and sunny high-pressure systems dominating. In those conditions’ persistence and nymphing through the day still produced some nice fish. Luckily the rivers are just about through this snowmelt phase. We saw a decent hatch of tan caddis yesterday along with a variety of mayfly species trickling off the water. While the fishing was slow, we caught a few handsome wild rainbows on a tan caddis pupa and one of my deadly pheasant tail variations. With moderating temps and river flows over the next few days the fishing on our bigger rivers is about explode.
Client Katrina Blumberg battling a wild brown trout from the Skinny Skiff last week.
Charlie Blumberg with a hard earned wild rainbow from last week.
We have been enjoying big river fishing out of our new Stealth Skinny skiff and 6hp mercury outboard, which has allowed us to avoid shuttling vehicles, to increase social distancing while still getting to the fish. We have also enjoyed guiding small streams for wild native brook trout. We have been catching some of the nicest wild brook trout we have seen in years !
Client Charlie Houghton with a small stream native brook trout caught on memorial day.
This sleak wild bow caught by client Dick Sargeant on yestedays float put up an unbelievable fight in fast water.
As waters drop and temps moderate expect fish to start feeding higher up in the water column. Low pressure systems over the next few weeks will provide some of the best opportunites of the year to target large alpha trout on streamers.
HCG guide Kevin Gordon holding a large brown trout caught while exploring a new stretch of water in our Stealth Skinny skiff.
We have had some recent cancellations for prime time dates so if you would like to get on the water safely give us a call or email and we will get you on the calendar ASAP!
Brian Boyle with an impressive specimen from this May.
We will give an updated fishing report very soon!
Tight lines,
Nate