Mid- July Report

Well it has been a long time since we have updated this report. As always that is not because the fishing has been slow but because we have been on the water 24-7.

Androscoggin River:

The andro was fishing well earlier in the week but we have been staying away with the recent warm temps. When conditions are right we have caught fish on everything from streamers to nymphs and dries. Samller Pheasant tails, mop flies, buggers and purple haze dries have all been on the menu. A cold front this week may drop temps enough for early day floats again.

Saco River:

We have been doing well on the Saco during early mornings. Amazingly we are still seeing Grey Drake mayflies along with smaller rusty spinners and BWO’s. We’ve also seen a good deal of clinger mayflies moving about the rocks as of late and this has resulted in some successful nymphing both dead drifted and on the swing. We have been playing with some terrestrials but they really have not been keying on hoppers, ant’s or beetles as of late.

Ellis River:

The Ellis has been fishing well this season but has slowed a bit with warmer weather. Fish the upper river and deeper pools. Dry flies early and dry droppers later in the morning.

Mountain Streams:

Our mountain streams are all fishing very well right now. Yellow foam EHC have done well to represent the small yellow sally stoneflies that are always around in the morings. Pairing that with a small cream colored caddis pupa can be deadly. Fishing a royal PMX or similar attractor dry when the water starts to warm has been working well.

While we have been busy lateley we have some time on the calendar over the next few weeks so give us a shout if you want to hit the water. We think you will enjoy it!

If you are looking for pictures to update you on what we’ve been catching check us out on instagram @natefish83.

A recent streamer eater from the andro see more @natefish83 on instagram

Thanks for reading and tight lines,

Nate

June fishing is here!

It’s been a busy start to the season. I finally got my one day off in June which gives me just enough time to report what we’ve been up to.

It was a late start to the season for the Andro fishing but the flows have dropped to below average. This is ideal for both nymphing and dry fly fishing. While hatches were sporadic early this June they have gotten more consistent over the last few days and we’ve had good luck nymphing mayfly, caddisfly and stonefly patterns. We’ve had a few fish rise do mayfly dries but not much for consistency on top yet. The good news is that with the cooler spring and low flows we should see a banner year for the famous Alder fly hatch. This is the bug that can bring up trout measured in feet not inches and we are looking forward to hunting for them on dries soon!

Rob WolfChuck with a wild Andro rainbow.

An Andro Double.

While the upper andro was fishing slow this spring I took a chance and guided my regular client Charlie Houghton on some new water that I’ve been getting to know over the past few years. My intuition was that the flows were perfect and we would see a couple of large fish that would reward our efforts. Luckily I was right and Charlie did his part in landing a 24” rainbow two 16-18” rainbows and two 16- 18” browns. I’ve guided five trips on this water and while we never catch high numbers of trout we have landed at least one fish over 20” on each trip. We seem to be averaging three big fish a day with a few smaller fish mixed in. All and all everyone has felt the fishing well worth the effort and I look forward to chasing these fish with experienced anglers and my repeat customers.

Charlie Houghton with a large wild bow.

A fine specimen of a brown trout.

Walt Sysun with a very large brown. Hard to tell but this fish was massive.

Right now the Saco is still a streamer game for larger trout. Hatches are just starting on the Saco and Ellis and fish should be looking up very soon if they have not already. I’m really looking forward to the dry fly fishing of late June and July. I’m predicting that this July is going to be one of the best for fly fishing that we have seen in years. It is looking like water temps will be ideal and with all of the water we have had insect hatches should be prolific.

We still have June and July dates available so please let us know if you would like to book.

Tight lines,

Nate

Memorial Day Weekend Report

I hope you are all excited for the long weekend. We wanted to let you know that we will be doing half priced casting lessons this sunday at the Jackson kids pond as part of the Wildquack Duck Race and Music Festival. Find out more abou the event here Lessons will run from 10am-12noon and 1pm-3pm. We hope to see some of you there!

We have been busy guiding and fishing as of late. Although the rivers are high we are finding fish. Last week I was fortunate to get out on the Saco with my good friend Brian Boyle and fellow HCG guide Kevin Gordon. We had a great day chasing predatory brown trout on the Saco, landing 3 out of 5 hooked. Unfortunately we lost our largest fish which ate one of Brians 6” Drunk and Disorderly streamers and broke 20lb test. Just another reason to keep working for these mythical fish.

This fish hit hard!

Kevin with the first fish of the day

In other news, we have been exploring the pond and lake fishing from the boat and have been finding good action for rainbows and browns on midges and streamers stripped just under the surface. We guided Doug of Texas for a half day on tuesday and he managed to land four large rainbows from 14-16” as well as over half a dozen browns.

Doug and one of the four big bows he landed…a few were camera shy.

Along with ponds we have been exploring our wild brook trout waters. While they were running behind schedule for almost three weeks the bugs are now active ! We did well yesterday fishing caddis dry flies in the riffles.

The Androscoggin River continues to Run high due to rain. We are looking forward to the andro dropping as there will be alot of large drop-down salmon and brook trout to catch, along with the everpresent wild rainbows. We will keep you posted as to when the Andro is floatable.

Please let us know if you would like to get on the books for this spring, summer or fall, dates are going fast.

Tight lines,

Nate

Time for Wild Brook Trout

With continued cold and rain into May it’s felt like we’ve been on the verge of spring for at least a month now. Although it is snowing on Mount Washington as I write this we are on the verge of warmer weather and next week is looking, dare I say, pleasant.

Wild Brook Trout waters:

I finally got a chance to chase wild brook trout yesteday. I always try to balance exploration with check in’s on my older finds. After exploring a new stream with no luck I stopped by one of my favorite wild brook trout streams and landed three feisty fish in short order before the wife calle d me to ask what was for dinner.

My first wild NH brookie of the season….now’s the time to chase these fish.

The Saco:

With continued rain the Saco is still floatable for chasing large browns. Our last outing resulted in more missed fish than landed fish but that’s how it goes. This fishing is challenging, with only a few shots a day , but the rewards are worth the effort. I’ll be out again on Thursday with hopefully better results.

The Andro:

Right now the Andro has just dropped down from flood stage. We are crossing our fingers that it will continue to drop and be fishable by memorial day weekend. When the water does drop we are predicting good fishing for the hungry rainbows, brookies, browns and salmon that have been waiting for spring to come.

New Explorations:

Brian Boyle with a streamer eater from our new float stretch.

It’s getting to that time of the year for me where my personal fishing time is dwindling as I get ready for the busy month of June. I was, however, able to get out and explore some new water with my Good friend Brian last weekend. We were happy to find some wild fish in a less known stretch of water. I still have a long list of water I’m dying to explore . Most of which will need to wait until I get a day off.

Speaking of which, we do still have dates available but they are going fast so be sure to give us a call asap if you want to get in som e spring fishing.

Spring fishing is on!

We are currently winding down a long period of snowmelt here in the White Mountains. With flows at fishable levels we hit the water today for a short float. Guide Mason Thagouras got on the board with this fine female brown. Water temps today struggled to break 41 degrees, making for slow fishing. Luckily things look to change over the next few days. With residual snowmelt and rain showers keeping flows at fishable levels and warmer weather bumping water temps, the bite should be solid for the next ten days.

Guide Mason Thagouras with a healthy hen.

The southern lakes region has been fishing well for a couple of weeks now for salmon and rainbow trout. The northern lakes region has been flirting with a good salmon bite for about a week now and it looks like this warmer weather will have the salmon and rainbows chomping at the bit. We have some water where you can catch salmon, rainbows, browns and smallmouth bass all in the same day. We guided our client Jon Habif on this water last week and he managed 3 out of four catching all salmonoid species. This fishing will be prime next week. We have dates open.

Client Jon Habif with a chrome salmon.

Wild brook trout waters should be turning on any day now. Lower gradient and slower waters will turn on first with caddis and mayfly hatches starting very soon.

The Androscoggin river is running at fishable flows in the north country and getting close below Berlin. The andro will be fishing soon. We will keep you posted on that!

Tight Lines,

Nate

Male salmon from a recent float trip

Client Jeremy Webber with his first salmon