End of July Report

Well it has been one heck of a month. Last week was the craziest week to date for Hill Country Guides. The week that was to come started Friday July 17th at 11:30 pm, with a return phone call to some guy named Jay. Jay had left me three messages while I was on the water. He had called me about three weeks prior to inquire about guiding for the mornings of July 20th, 21st, and 22nd. At that time I'd rescheduled my half day trips to the afternoons and gave Jay the tentative green light for all three days, if he wanted to put down a deposit. Now he was calling to ask what I could do for him. I explained that he could lock in Monday morning. I would have to double check with my Tuesday clients and Wednesday was out. 

Jay asked me, well, do you know who Luke Bryan is? At this moment I realized that the urgency on his end was due to whoever Luke Bryan was. I searched my brain, but with no television at home and 90 % of my free time spent researching for guiding, I had no idea. "Ummmm noooo?" I had to respond. Jay sighed, "Well he's a very popular country singer right now...he won entertainer of the year this year, not that any of that should matter but I thought you should know." 

Although I didn't know the name I did know that "Entertainer of the Year" held a lot of weight. I told Jay that, as for any client, I'd do all that I could to get them on the water. I sent a text message to Steve and asked if he knew who this Luke Bryan was. He did and said he would ask for work off to get on the water with him...or fake his own death if need be. 

When I got home I did a little research on Luke... turns out he is kind of a big deal...

With logistics bouncing back and fourth we finally settled on two guides for four people to meet on Monday morning. Jay wasn't sure what they wanted to do on Tuesday and Wednesday so we left that up in the air. Saturday and Sunday I was booked solid with a full and double half day. I spent every second between trips trying to plan for the Luke Bryan trip. I had settled on a few spots to take them when a thunderstorm hit Sunday night. I drove home from my second half day trip in some of the heaviest rain I'd ever seen. 

I called Jay, "With this rain I'll let you know where we should fish in the morning." "Yeah man...if it isn't going to be worth our time just let us know, and we'll bag it." I was up until 11pm and awake again at 4 am checking the flows. Right around 4:30 the rivers began to crest, high but not too high. Jay called me at 4:35. "We are good to go!" I said with relief. At 7:30 am Luke, Jay, Christian, and Til walked into the shop. Right away I could tell that these guys were not just casual anglers. Luke asked, "You guys got anything to tie articulated streamers? We've been experimenting with guitar strings on the tour bus but they are a little too stiff." After selling the guys $300 in fly tying materials and accessories it was time to get on the water. "Let's go catch some fish!" Luke said. I was glad he was confident, the cool rain from the night before had me feeling the same way. 

The fish did not disappoint. Luke hooked his first rainbow on his first cast, then promptly hooked a sixteen inch bow that threw the hook. For the next eight hours Steve and I worked with the boys while Jay and Luke put on a show, hooking dozens of trout. Tired of catching fish on nymphs Luke switched to a double dry rig. He hooked a nice brown then hooked another fish on the back fly, but broke him off. With one fly left he threw back to the same holding lie and hooked the fish again...we know because his other fly was in the fish's mouth. 

Christian and Til were also excellent fishermen and each landed quite a few trout. After a big we were done for the day. Jay said he would get me concert tickets if I cared to go. I told him I would take him up on the offer as I figured I should become a bigger fan. 

The next night Alicia and I arrived at Meadowbrook  an hour early. We waded through a sea of cowgirls sporting Luke Bryan t-shirts and got to our seats, eight rows back from the front of the stage. As the show got started I glanced behind me. Thousands of fans spread behind us as far as I could see. As Luke took the stage the thousand broke into a roar. Turns out Luke isn't just an expert fly fisherman... he is also a darn good performer.

So back to the fishing... After I'd guided Luke on Monday I had another half day trip that went out at three thirty pm. Andrew Ward had been flexible in moving his start time to the afternoon so I wanted to be sure he had a good outing. After getting into a few brook trout on one of our smaller streams we moved to bigger water where Andrew got into two hefty browns right before dark. 

On Wednesday I guided client Jake Meeder of Naples Florida. Jake brought his friends Colton and Dalton along for the ride. I taught Jake how to fly fish last summer and this year it was obvious that he'd done some practicing. We were able to land two large brook trout along with a large rainbow. Then right before we were done Jake hooked the fish of the day, a fat 18" brown with perfect fins. Wednesday evening was the showing of Hill Country Guides episode of NH Chronicle. We watched with friends and family at Seadog Brewing company. The show turned out fantastic. If you'd like to view click here. www.wmur.com

I had float trips scheduled on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. All went very well with fish feeding heavily on nymphs, swimming nymphs, and dries throughout the three days. On Friday client Greg Malaska of PA commented that he had no idea NH had "Montana Esq" fly fishing. Greg did have a darn good day with over 30 trout landed. 

So what's to come? The heat wave has slowed fishing during the middle of the day, however early mornings and late evenings are still seeing solid activity. If you fish the evenings don't be afraid to fish into the dark. Smaller brook trout streams are in their prime on these hot days and a well placed attractor dry is all you need to get their attention. As for the bigger rivers, fish terrestrials to the shady banks and undercut boulders.  If we can get some thunderstorms the daytime fishing will turn around quickly. This heat wave looks to end by this weekend and with cooler temps we can expect fish activity to increase into the midday hours. August is looking to be another banner month here in the Whites. If you haven't seen us yet this year we still have openings through October. Please let us know if you have any dates in mind and we will do our best to get you on the water.

Tight lines,

Nate

Early July Report

Well July has started off with a bang...no pun intended. Fishing has been phenomenal on all local rivers and ponds. On June 29th I guided Tim Lobello from the boat on the Saco and we landed many big rainbows and browns on streamers. Tim, thanks for buying an HCG hat to help promote the company through your pictures. I think it was a good luck charm. 

On June 30th we finally got WMUR's  NH Chronicle out on the water. With a delayed start time of 10 am and bright sunshine I was a bit worried. Fortunately we got our first fish, a brown trout, right off the bat. You'll have to catch the rest of the action on WMUR channel 9 July 22nd at 7pm.

On Wednesday I took out Kurt Perham and his son Carter. It was pouring rain on this day, but the fish were rising. Carter had never caught a trout on a fly rod but now he's caught more than a dozen...I think he's the one who is hooked now. 

On Thursday I was back in the boat on the Saco guiding Garry Rownsley. We fished through the first pool with only a few strikes. As the water was very high I decided to try a back channel that I often float past. This turned out to be a good idea as we were into fish for well over an hour. Both brook trout and browns came to hand with large ones in the mix. We managed another large brown on a streamer further down and then ended the day with three large rainbows on dry flies to complete the Saco grand slam.

Last Friday was a very busy day as HCG had three trips on the water. Steve Bowman of Wolfeboro was helping me out and after my trip I joined him on his second half day trip. I was pleased to see Steve getting his clients into fish with ease and we all had a good time catching rainbows until dark. It was a great day for all trips with over fifty fish landed.

On Sunday I guided Jenny and her husband Paul up on the Ammonusuc near the Mount Washington Omni resort. I love being able to pick clients up at the Mount Washington to fish the crystal clear waters of the Ammo. Our fist spot held some good fish that we could see holding in the crystal clear flow. Paul missed a few and Jenny got a couple in the faster water on a muddler minnow. The fish seemed slow and with a water temp in the low fifties I decided to head downstream to find warmer water and hopefully more active fish. At our next spot we were into fish right away. Paul landed the first and Jenny was soon to follow. as we fished down the river we approached a large pool. I watched the water from afar and could see the splashing of rainbow trout from two hundred feet away. As we approached I saw a tan caddis flutter by. I switched flies to an emerging tan X caddis and Paul was into his first fish within minutes. We must have landed over ten rainbows before the half day was over. 

That afternoon I met up with good friend and author Bob Mallard. Bob vacations in the whites the last week of June/ first week of July, every year. Bob stays at a cabin, "Camp Uno" up in the hills accross from Bretton Woods. I met Bob at camp Uno, the cabin is a perfectly located fishing camp complete with an in house fly tying kit for those times when you don't have the fly you need. Bob reminded me that the cabin can be rented by my guests. As Bob tied flies at the tying table, we compared notes. We talked about the high flows and finding fish in interesting new places. Then Bob mentioned that we should fish a lesser known nearby pond where he had caught close to fifty fish the day before. Bob said the fish were eager to take a medium sized red midge stripped across the surface. But when we arrived I soon spotted large pale yellow mayflies popping out of the water...HEX. The HEX hatch is ON. This is perhaps the most exciting pond fishing of the year and with the cooler rains the fish are still willing to take them off of the surface. I must have landed over 30 fish in  under two hours before I told Bob I'd and enough. We then went to another pond that was a bit of a walk but we suspected would hold wild trout. It did. The fish in this pond were a bit more of a challenge with crystal clear shallow water you had to take your time and make long delicate casts to hook these perfect brook trout.

On Monday I had the day off and Bob wanted to fish. So after I finished my daily chores we met at my house to check out some of my favorite wild brook trout waters. Bob's friend Jeff Moore was in tow. We started at a spot I'd never shown Bob before. At the first pool I demonstrated the proper bow and arrow technique and promptly hooked a writhing brookie. At the next larger pool my companions were a bit nervous to step into the brown muddy looking bottom. So I gave it a try. Although the substrait looked like endless mud there was a firm gravel bottom only a few inches down. I managed three 6-9 inch wild brookies from this pool. 

At our next spot I was determined to show Jeff what these wild trout waters are all about. I set him up at a good spot with a large rubber legged dry fly and told him to "Make it move." I moved downstream and when I returned Jeff was grinning, "That was awesome...that fish slammed it!" With a taste of wild brook trout fishing Jeff fished on with authority, landing a few more good sized brookies and then a true pig. The last fish was close to  foot in length with a thick girth, it took Jeff a few minutes to land and filled my brook trout net to the brim. Jeff has the pictures and I'll be sure to update the post with them once I get them.

Yesterday I had a full day Andro Float with Rick Turcott. Rick and I have been trying to float the andro for three weeks now and we finally had the right flows. Although there was a chance of thunderstorms in the forecast we decided to go for it knowing we could always hunker down in the trees if the weather turned for a bit. Fortunately the weather held and the fish more than cooperated. As I readied the boat I showed Rick where he could dapple a small black caddis in the foam back-eddies near the put-in. On his first drop of the flies Rick landed a ten inch rainbow trout. This was a sign of things to come. As we floated into the second pool I noticed a golden stonefly flutter across the water. In my last post I believe I mentioned that when the Andro was back to fishable flows in July the fishing would be epic as the golden stones would be at their zenith...Well the golden stones are at their zenith. We landed over thirty rainbows and a brook trout on these big foam bugs. I showed Rick how to skate the fly and he preferred me showing him how the technique worked on some fish. The banks were so infested with trout that all I had to do to find the next fish was cast another few feet downstream or strip the fly a little closer to the boat. While we caught over 30 trout on these flies we must have missed even more. If you like fishing large dry flies to suicidal rainbows now is the time to book a trip! I have tomorrow and Friday open due to cancellations, if anyone is interested, let me know! I've got availability next week as well.

So what's to come? The golden stoneflies will be important on the Andro and Ellis rivers through September. Best fishing for these is in the evenings with cloudy days providing action all day long. Terrestrials like ants, beetles and hoppers will become more important as 
July progresses. You can also expect light cahills on the ellis and pale evening duns on the andro. Don't be afraid to throw streamers throughout the season as well as they always work, especially after a good rain. Nymphing stoneflies and mayfly patterns will work well especially on the warmer days when fish go deep. Hope to see many of you on the water this summer.

Tight lines,

Nate

June 23rd Report...it just keeps getting better!

What can I say? The fishing over the past week has been phenomenal. From big rainbows and browns in the Saco to obese brook trout in the Ellis and explosive wild brook trout on the smaller streams. Over the past seven days I've guided on: the Ellis in four different locations. The Ammo in four different locations. The Saco in countless locations. Multiple mountain streams and wild brook trout waters...And I haven't even been on the Andro due to high water. 

As for the fishing we've been getting many big brook trout out of the Ellis fishing muddler minnows, yellow sallies, and dry dropper combos consisting of parachute Adams and pheasant tail nymphs. On the Saco we've done well with big streamers, yellow sallies, gray drakes and even beetles. On the Ammo cdc caddis, X caddis, yellow sallies, muddlers and buggers were the ticket. On the wild brook trout waters beetles and ants did the trick along with CDC caddis.

  Last week I floated the Saco with Bill and Janet Thompson, owners of North Country Angler. The streamer bite was on big time and we landed many rainbows, brookies and browns on the big flies. The Saco is proving to be an exceptional river to float from the raft. This fact was reiterated on my guided trip the next day through the same stretch. It was interesting to see the fish attacking from different lies and spots on the river only one day later. The water had dropped nearly a foot and the fish had moved around quite a bit. 

Last Friday I guided John Flanders and his son Jake, both were avid saltwater fishermen from Florida but neither had ever fly fished before. Well they both caught multiple brook trout on the fly and I think they will be looking for some saltwater fly gear soon. Friday afternoon I guided Mike Meller who specifically requested "Off Grid" fishing. Mike was interested in finding some wild trout waters off the beaten path so I took him to a few of my favorite wild brook trout streams I always love guiding for these fish as they fight hard for their size and have been here in NH since the last Ice age. Mike fully appreciated this fishing and was impressed that there were fish in every hole on the river. When you have good habitat and wild fish that don't get kept, this is what you find. 

I also guided a few wade trips on the Saco. Last nights trip was especially memorable as I had a 20+ inch brown grab a streamer as I demonstrated proper streamer technique. The fish slammed the fly right as it touched water and I yanked it out of the giants mouth in an attempt at getting my client, Mike Lewis into the fish...of course any holdover/ wild brown like that is too smart to be fooled twice in one evening. In retrospect maybe I should have just hooked the fish... Then again hopefully one of my future clients can be on the receiving end of that "postponement."

Luckily Mike made up for the lost fish by landing two football rainbows before the night was over. Today I guided two half day trips and both were very productive. I spent the morning with long time Client Megan Carter and her friends Sam and Rachel. All caught many brook trout and Sam and Rachel were quick learners to say the least. 

This afternoon I guided brothers Matt and Jon Baran. These guys were Striper fishermen but had never thrown streamers to trout. I think both will be purchasing sink tip lines in the near future. They both landed  big browns and Matt also got a large rainbow.

So what's in the future? The Alders have just started on the Andro and should be the ticket over the next week from Pontook dam to Errol. On the lower river look for more golden stones, black caddis, and smattering of other mayflies and grey caddis. With the high water on the andro look for slow side eddies where fish will be pushed to the edges Floating the andro will not be productive until flows drop but when they do we can expect solid fishing well into July! On the Saco the rains will keep the streamer bite on with gray drake mayflies and yellow sallies making an appearance when we get warmer days. The Ellis should continue to fish well with muddlers, buggers, cahills, yellow sallies as well as beetles and ants as we come into true summer.

All in all it is shaping up to be one heck of a season. If you didn't get a chance to book this June be sure to book for July as the fishing is promising to be fine!

Janet hooked up with a nice brown.

Janet's brown.

Tim with a spunky bow

Pat hooked up with another rainbow.

Lunch break

Pat's fish of the day!

Mike Meller casting to rising wild brook trout.

A fine specimen of a wild NH brook trout.

Michael Lewis with a hefty Saco Bow.

Ellis river brook trout caught on a PT nymph below a purple haze dry

Matt Baran with a plump Saco Brown.

Pierce Boit with a high water Ammo Bow.

Mid-June...the fishing just keeps getting better

In my last report I was pretty amped at how good the fishing was getting. At the writing of this report I am grinning because it is only getting better! Last Sunday I guided France Daigle over wild brook trout and Saco rainbows. We had a great day chasing native squartails on a spring creek and France had some big hits and landed quite a few nice fish. Then we hit the Saco and landed two big rainbows on dries that launched themselves into the air on the hook-set. 

On Monday I was scheduled to film for NH Chronicle with WMUR. As occurred the previous Monday, rain cancelled our plans. I still took out client Charlie Houghton to scout some water I hadn't fished in a while. The fishing started off hot with four fish landed in our first anchor spot. Then at our second spot Charlie got a nice brown. From there the fishing seemed to slow with three more browns landed through the float. 

On Tuesday I guided RD Jenkinson who had never fly fished before. RD was a fast learner to say the least. He quickly got a brook trout on a dry fly in the Saco then figured out the streamer game landing five browns and a rainbow on streamers. There were plenty of close calls as well. I think he is the one who is hooked now.

On Wednesday I guided long time friend and client Richard Johnson. I knew Rich was a good fly fisherman and I wanted to make the most of our time on the water. With flows up on most of our rivers I told Rich that we could float a stretch that might not produce high numbers but could produce a monster at such high flows. I also explained that it would take some work getting the boat into said location. Rich was up for the challenge and we were on the road by six am. We got the boat in the water two hours later and I set Rich up with a seven weight and a large streamer. We fished through the first half mile with a few bumps but no solid strikes. Rich seemed surprised that nothing had swallowed the juicy looking streamer he was throwing. I explained that this fishing is not a numbers game. We were after the buck of the forest. As we moved down the river we approached a stretch strewn with mid river boulders. I anchored the boat and switched Rich's large light weight bank banging streamer with a heavy and flashier mid river fly. I pulled the anchor and instructed Rich to wing the fly through the boulders as we approached. On his second cast the fly swung directly below the boat and the rod was nearly pulled from his hands. I knew immediately that it was a large brown. When the fish surfaced Rich made a nervous cheer...after all we still had to land the beast. With the boat off anchor and in fast water I instructed Rich to fight the fish towards the boat as we floated. We were missing fishable water but I feared throwing the anchor in the swift currents would give the fish the upper hand. Rich managed to muscle the fish towards the boat putting the 7wt to the test. I grabbed the net and jammed it under the weight of the fish, then turned and quickly dropped anchor. We managed a couple pictures and a measurement 21" on the dot. The rest of the day was quite an adventure as we spent about an hour hauling the boat up the shore and a side channel to access a productive island we had slid past. We got one rainbow at the island and missed a few good pulls on nymphs. Then we were back in the boat throwing streamers for the rest of the day. Rich was just getting the swing of throwing to the bank when another buck shot out and blew up on his fly. The fish thrashed three times before throwing the hook. It was a day I'll remember for the rest of my life...I think Rich would agree.

Yesterday I guided Nat Smith of Hanover NH. Nat is new to the Granite state and wanted to get a feel for fly fishing in NH. We floated the Andro and found fish from put in to take out. The first anchor point had fish rising in a foam Eddy. Nat landed three rainbows there. Then we fished a long riffle where I lost track of how many rainbows Nat hooked, landed, and lost on a nymph rig. Then we moved down and set up at the point of an Island. On about his third cast Nat's indicator dipped. He lifted and his rod was fully bent, he swallowed...WOW. I grabbed the net and jumped into the shallows. I thought the fish might be an over-sized fall fish but it was fighting too erratically. Then as it came into view I saw the spots... a large brown, no smaller than Rich's. I coached Nat on keeping his rod at a sharper angle, bent and to the side. But the fish moved with authority and was able to shake just enough to throw the size twelve nymph. Nat turned to me, jaw dropped..."That was awesome!" I always admire a person who smiles in the face of a half defeat. Fly fishing is mostly about the fight anyways right? Well of course landing the fish is much preferred so we fished on with a vengeance. Nat continued to land rainbows on the nymph rig throughout the rest of the float. Then as the sun became golden against the horizon it brought up what I had been hoping for...golden stones. When I saw the first stone I tied one on to the dry fly rod and told Nat, "Watch this" I threw the fly to the bank and a rainbow sharked out and slammed the fly. I handed Nat the rod and explained, "This will be fun." 

Needless to say Nat caught and lost fish on the stone for the rest of the evening. Some large and some small, but all crazy aggressive. One of the last fish will stay in my memory banks for a long time. We were throwing the fly into the center of a large riffle when a head that looked like the end of a chrome football thrashed out of the water missing the fly twice. We rowed back and tried in vain for another strike but the beast had vanished. Of course if you'd like to try for him...I know where he lives. The good news is that the golden stones should last through the summer and always produce my biggest rainbows of the year. 

As for business I am booked solid this month with only June 24th still available. I have more openings in July when the golden stones are at their zenith. 

Tight lines,

Nate

Rich and his "Buck Brown"

Wild brook trout taken on a large ant. 

One of France's leaping bows.

RD and one of his browns.

Nat with one of his many rainbows

This guy crushed the stone before running sixty feet down river!

Let the Games Begin!

The fishing here in the White Mountains has really taken off over the last week. On last Tuesday I guided client Bob Norton over wild brook trout and I lost track of how many we landed. Fish were crushing a stripped herron fly and stripped mayfly emergers. Then on Wednesday I took a peak at the Androscoggin in the afternoon. I was pleased to see trout crushing caddis up and down the river. I went back to the car and grabbed my rod. I fished until I landed a large rainbow and then went back to the car to  call Bob Norton. He had me booked for another trip on Thursday. I convinced Bob to upgrade to a half day float and I know we are both glad that he did. We had rainbows and brookies eating dries for the majority of the float with the last fish landed right at dark. Bob lost a few good fish but made up for it with a couple of gorgeous wild rainbows over a foot long.

On Friday I donated a trip to our graduating senior at the Enriched Learning Center in Berlin NH. Mikey has been fly fishing for his entire life but hasn't gone out much since his father passed away. At our first anchor point I took a cast to demonstrate how to nymph the water and promptly hooked and lost a large rainbow. Mikey grabbed the rod from my hands and began hooking fish. He lost the first few before landing a nice rainbow on the swing. Then, at our second pool, he hooked six rainbows, landing half of them with the others lost in the fast water right at the boat. Mikey was even gracious enough to let me take a few casts and I was able to land a solid wild rainbow that was rising in the slick at the end of our float. 

On Saturday morning I guided Juan Loveluck on the Saco. For a first time fly fisherman Juan was a natural and landed three brook trout on both dries and nymphs. The spinner fall was heavy and fish were coming to the surface in numbers until about 8am when the hatch died down and the fish began feeding subsurface. That evening I guided Peter Mcbride on the Andro and while the fishing was slow in the heat of the day we did manage a few small wild rainbows and had one jarring streamer strike in one of the deeper pools. Then the fish came alive as the sun set. We had a few strikes and landed one, before we ran out of daylight. 

The next morning Peter got his fill of fish with over ten landed on dry flies in the Saco. With the rain over the next few days the fishing will become a streamer game, with big fish on the move to take advantage of the hapless baitfish and smaller trout being tossed about. I've always done well fishing slump busters, zoocougers, and any white or dark streamers when the water is up. I'll be out on the Saco in the boat on Wednesday searching for some predators. When the warm weather returns we can look forward to cool water for some time with hatches resuming as the water temps and levels even out again. This should happen just in time for Monday June 8th when I will be filming with WMUR, ELC Outdoors, and Client Charlie Houghton for the show NH Chronicle. I'll keep you all posted on the air date! It is shaping up to be a banner year! 

Tight lines!

Nate

Juan with one of his first fish on a fly. 

An Andro Bow that Mikey let me cast too. 

One of Mikey's many Andro Bows.

An Andro Rainbow....did I mention these are mostly wild fish?

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A perfect fish...

It took Bob Norton two minutes of hard fighting to get this guy to the boat.

Another one of Bob's rainbows.

A wild Andro brook trout.