April Report: It's big trout time!

It’s been a busy shoulder season of getting ready for a long guiding season! Between doing boat maintenance and home repairs I was very tied up over the last few weeks. Fortunately I was finally able to get on the water last Friday with our guide Kevin Gordon and our good friend Brian Boyle. More on that trip shortly.

Current Conditions:

We saw a good amount of rain and warmer temps last week that had rivers both rising and warming. Water temps were hovering in the low to upper 40’s on area rivers before air temps took a nose dive Sunday night. Right now water temps are running in the upper 30’s to low 40’s with day time highs in the upper 40’s to low 50’s over the next 5 days. Water clarity is improving by the day and flows are moderating on most rivers. Look for the warmest hours to be the most productive. The Andro is now at a fishable flow out of Errol and will be fishable in Gorham by the time I finish writing this report. The Connecticut is high but fishable in most sections. The Saco is also now at good flows for streamer fishing.

Tactics:

On Friday we fished primarily streamers, both dead drifted or stripped on sink tip lines. The dead drifted flies got way more eats than the stripped streamers, something that I would attribute to the bright sun and cold water. The fish were holding along back eddy's, secondary currents, inside seams, the hydrolic cushion on heavy banks, as well as at the back ends of heavy pools. We did well with size 6 minnow style jigs, and also had some eats on yellow sex dungeons.

If your preference is to rip streamers persistence will almost always pay off. Considering the water temps, a heavy jig style flies like sex dungeons, circus peanuts or sculpin soup will work better than more swim style flies like Drunk and Disorderlies. Once water temps stabilize in the upper 40's to low 50s, the neutrally bouyant swim flies will start taking more fish.

All rivers will fish well with streamers or dead drifted large protein items over the next several weeks. Think creature/ mop style flies along with jig crayfish, sculpin, dace, stones and worms for your nymphing needs. Target secondary currents, inside seams, mid-speed and mid-depth runs and the back end of deeper pools, as these are all places where fish can conserve energy but also get easy meals this time of the year. If you aren't finding fish in these slower spots check out the drop offs at the heads of pools where fish will congregate when they want to feed more heavily.

Bite Windows:

The best bite windows on friday were 10am-11:30am and 2pm to 3pm (when we begrudginly took off the water). Expect a late morning bite followed by a mid-day lul with another good 2pm bite followed by an early evening lul with another flurry of activity right before dark. As a fishing guide I try to maximize my time on the water and I find that this time of the year provides a solid day of morning and afternoon fishing with a lul right in the middle of the action that provides anglers a reliable lunch break.

Looking Forward:

Where to find the best fishing over the next few weeks will largely depend on how much rain we continue to receive. Right now it is looking like all rivers will be at good streamer levels through April. If we start getting more rain we may see some sections like the upper Andro become too high to reasonably float while other rivers like the Saco may have a prolonged streamer window. If waters start to run low we will have better nymphing and dry fly opportunities sooner than later on the Andro and Connecticut. The good news is that there will certainly be some great fishing options this May!

Website update!:

This past winter we completely revamped our website. One of the best new features on the site is "real time" flow and weather information for all area rivers located right on the home page. I’ve been using this as a resource to keep a pulse on conditions this spring and it has been way more convenient than going to multiple sites for all of this info. I hope you are able to make use this site as a resource whenever you plan to fish in northern NH! If you have any feedback on how these flows and weather reports are structured feel free to reach out I'm hoping to continue working on this site to make it as user friendly as possible!

Availability:

I am booking up fast for May and June but as of this writing I still have the following dates available: May: 2,3,6,7, 11,12,13, 19,20. June: 1,2,7,9,11,14,15,16,18,21,24,25,26,30. Our other guides also have dates available for May and June so let us know if you want to get out and we will see what we can do! If you are looking for dates further into the summer we have more availability for July and August. The float fishing on the Connecticut River remains strong through August so let us know if you want to get out this summer as well!

Looking forward to another great season fishing with many of you!

Tight Lines,

Nate