The 2025 season is upon us! I finished up work at Attitash ski resort at the end of march and have been preping for the season ever since. Tying flies, ordering gear, doing maintenance on boats and finally getting out on the water this week. Water temps are creeping up most days and flows have stabilized to a perfect level for early season fishing! Late April and May are probably the best months for chasing large brown trout!

A Recent day of fishing (A Story):

This past tuesday we finally had a good weather window line up with our schedules and I was able to jump in the boat with fellow guides Tom Freedman and Kevin Gordon. We realized it had been over 5 years since the three of us had fished the Saco together. Its wild how hard it can be to line up schedules when we all guide, have other jobs and families to juggle. The goal was to bring back the old luck we used to have when the three of us had teamed up together.

We were all excited at the forecast but also trying to keep a bit of cautious optimism. The Saco can be a fickle beast early season, as snowmelt from the presidential range can thwart what looks like otherwise perfect conditions. I was banking on the fact that most of the lower elevation snow had melted and figured that the snow up high would melt slowly with temps dipping just below freezing on the summit of Mount Washington monday night. As I checked the hydrograph at 6am I was a bit nervous seeing that the flow had bumped 100cfs since the day before. But 100 is way better than 1000. So we banked on the theory that the flows would stabilize during the day and not continue to rise.

When we arrived at the river the water was a fishy shade of olive, the perfect color in our experience. Unfortunately the forecast for clouds seemed a bit delayed as we dropped the boat into the river under a bright sun. Still it was hard not to enjoy the solar warmth on our shoulders after a long winter of shoveling snow.

The first few hours of the float were uneventfull as the sun beat down on us. But we knew water temps were rising and we could see clouds buiding to our south and west. Around 1pm the wind began to pick up and a thin veil of clouds finally dimmed the sunlight. “Here we go!” Tom chimed from the front of the boat and we all nodded in agreement. If it didn’t happen soon it probably wouldn’t happen. As if on cue Keven made a lazer cast with an olive sex dungeaon under an overhanging tree. He made two strips and his line went tight, a silver and gold ghost flashed on the end of his line. YES we all chimed letting out a collective sight of relief. IT WAS ON, we were sure. Over the next 3 hours we hooked five more browns from 16” to 20” landing four of the 6. Then the wind shifted to the north, the air temp began to drop and the bite shut off just as quickly as it turned on.

Of course we didn’t care at this point, we had finally fished the Saco together again and we got it done just as we had years ago. As we fished out the final few miles of river the energy shifted from worrying about catching fish to reflecting on fishing memories and rivers we hoped to fish together in the future. It is days like this that remind me why I chose a life on the water. It’s as much about the fish we catch as those we catch them with. The best thing about guiding is getting to make fishing memories with so many different people, many of whom have become close friends. I’m looking forward to sharing the anticipation, triumph and even occasional lost fish with many of you this season.

Fishing outlook and upcoming availability:

Androscoggin River:

As previously stated water temps and clarity are imporoving. The Androscoggin river is running at 1700 in Errol and should be fishing well during the warmer parts of the day. Look for the rainbows to make their move to spawning tribs soon if not already. There should be some big browns in the lower river looking to take advantage of these stable flows without the competition from rainbows.a We should start seeing brookies and salmon get active in the upper river. There will still be wild rainbows in the mix from top to bottom but they will be in lower numbers as they head in and out of spawning tribs. Look for the rainbow trout fishing to pick up about mid-May. Fishing large stoneflies like my split tail prince nymph, mop flies, and worms will do the trick along with buggers, kreelix, sex dungeons and the like in olive, brown, black and white.

Connecticut River:

Flows are right near ideal on the connecticut in most stretches right now. Look for warming temps to potentially elevate flows over the next few days. Similiar story with flies as the Andro but you can add some larger baetis nymphs in size 16 and 14 to the mix. Otherwise think big food items that mimic sculpin, crayfish, helgramites, stones, juvenile trout and suckers.

Saco River:

Flows are near ideal on the Saco as of this writing at 1600 in Conway. It is hard to say how much snow melt we have left in the upper elevations but I expect the warm weather on saturday to potentially flush the last big push of snowmelt through the system. My guess is that flows max out around 2,500 and slowly drop as air temps moderate a bit through next week. Fishing should be good any time water temps are rising and slow any time they are dropping. A great resource is the water temp monitor at the Bartlett USGS site. You’ll see that on most days water temps rise from mid-morning to mid-afternoon. Then late in the day temps drop and flows rise with snowmelt. When the fish are feeding expect them to be hunting banks, drop offs and tailouts of deeper pools. Think natural colors when selecting streamers and nymphs. Its hard to beat olive, tan, brown, and cream in your sculpin, minnow, and juvenile trout patterns.

Lakes Region:

Although I have not gotten down to the lakes region myself I have gotten good reports from many friends that the rainbows are in most tribs at the moment and there are now some salmon in as well. Egg patterns, soft hackle midges, midge nymphs, small pheasant tails, hares ears, herron flies, mo-hair leaches…are all flies I’d have at the ready when chasing lake run fish. Look for fish to be moving through the rivers more in the mornings and late afternoon. If you don’t like fishing around people don’t go…or be willing to do some serious hiking for perhaps fewer fish but more solitude.

Small Streams:

Lower elevation wild brook trout streams are starting to see some fish. I’d spend less time fishing each pool and more time moving with a good searching pattern like a chickabou parr jig. This time of the year expect brook trout to be moving every time there is a good warmer rain. Fish are moving from winter habitat to their prime time locations and sometimes you’ll see fish in very odd places like shallow sandy section as they migrate upstream. It is a very neat sight to see as it is blatantly obvious what these fish are doing!

Availability:

While I’ll be away with the family in Florida next week I do have some availability when I return and Kevin Gordon is also available next week and for a few more days in May if you can’t find any of my dates that work for your schedule. Here is what I have left as of this writing. April 30th, May 5-8,11,13,21,22,26,30. Please give us a shout if you want to get on the books for any of these dates! Lastly if you are looking for somewhere to stay during your trip with us we wanted to let you know that The Riverwood Inn in Jackson NH and Tuckaway Suites in Intervail NH are both offering a 15% discount at time of booking for our guests. So please check out their websites if you need a place to stay!

Tight Lines,

Nate