Hi all, it has been a great season here in the Whites. We’ve enjoyed guiding many of you and have had some great trips with some fun and memorable fishing. We have had some real fall weather the past two weeks and the fishing has been really good as of late with many good sized rainbows, salmon, browns and brookies taken on nymphs and streamers.
A 19” wild rainbow caught while nymphing a deep run last week!
Recent observations:
Right now the name of the game has been throwing streamers and nymphing larger food items like pink worms, prince nymphs, stoneflies, and mops. We have been doing well throwing kreelix streamers just about every day. All species seem to like the gold flash of this fly and we have had some very aggressive eats! We’ve also been seeing some BWO hatches in the afternoons with fish keying on the nymphs especially on the warmer days. We’ve seen a few fish rising but have had too much wind for a consistent dry fly bite the last week or so. I predict any days from now through the end of the month with little wind will have the wild rainbows looking up for BWO’s. While the regular trout season closed yesterday we still have four stretches of the Androscoggin open year round. We fished one of those sections yesterday and did well landing a few rainbows and browns see the fish of the day below! This past monday I took advantage of a last minute cancellation to scout for some upcoming pike trips. The weather was a bit spicy with heavy rain and an air temp in the mid 40’s so basically great pike fishing weather. We were able to land two pike on a 9” perch goophead perch fly tied by myself but designed by musky legend Joe Goodspeed. We are gaining a lot of confidence in these flies for their ability to suspend, push water and move laterally through the water column. These are key fly characteristings to entice pike as they are ambush predators that like a vulnerable easy meal. The most exciting part of the day was watching a couple of pike smash this fly as it landed on the surface. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get the hookset on either of these but we will surely be ready for those quick eats next time out! If you are interested in hunting these apex predators we have dates available through November.
Large brown caught 10/15/24 on the Androscoggin section open to fishing year round!
Pike on a goodhead style fly caught 10/14/24
Looking Forward
With warmer weather in the forecast the trout fishing should be very good for the next two weeks. Expect streamers and nymphs to work well in the mornings with potential for good blue winged olive hatches in the afternoons. Don’t neglet the slower water this time of the year as a lot of the trout are holding in tailouts and slower edges of the bigger pools. Habitat that is usually bass and fallfish water is now holding some of the biggest trout. The pike fishing should be good the next few days as cold overnight lows transition to warmer days. Expect the best bites to occur as waters warm in the mornings and right as the sun begins to set. We try to make sure we are fishing over our confidence water at these prime times of the day and it usually pays off with a few opportunities. Look for low pressure days to provide longer bite windows through the middle of the day.
One of many salmon caught streamer fishing last week.
While winter will be here before we know it we still have availability for both trout and Pike trips from now through November. The weather over the next two weeks looks to be near perfect with highs in the 50’s and 60’s nearly every day in the extended forecast. We have this saturday open as well as plenty of dates in the coming weeks so please let us know if you want to get out before the snow really starts to fly.
Tight lines,
Nate