Newfound River

March 28 2019
Two firsts today...first time out this year and first time wetting a line in the Newfound River, Bristol NH. Still plenty of snow as Dan and I were post holing as we walked to the river. I have been tying now for the last month and of course left all my nymph boxes on the kitchen table. Best I could come up with was muddlers and one oversize stone fly nymph. No fish but it was nice to get out. This river is fly fishing only not very large with plenty of access so I'm sure it's nuts to butts as the snow melts...

Long Lake, Maine

Spent this last week in a exceptionally nice cabin, vacationing on Maine's Long Lake. Our rental was on Bells Point in North Bridgton. Its on the northwestern tip of the lake. I'll have to admit that the middle of August is a great time for a family vacation. As for a fishing trip...it makes for a great boat ride, thats about it. 50-60 feet deep is max for this body of water. We marked a number of fish at 20/25 feet with large pods of bait fish but never came up with anything other than a few small white perch. We trolled a number of baits at a number of depths and as I said ended up with just a boat ride. 

My 3 year old granddaughter caught her first fish on a rod and reel. Was she ever excited! We practiced good catch and release techniques and a sea gull promptly swooped down a scooped up a nice perch dinner.

We did see something odd. Most of the week there were a number of loons rafting over the deep part of the lake. The most I counted were 12 with 6-8 being the norm. They were there every evening we were out. Dont recall ever seeing that many together in one spot.

I made a trip to Naples Bait & Tackle on Rt 35 just before you cross the new causeway in Naples. The owner assured me that the fish I was marking would be Browns and Salmon. Again apparently August is not a good time for either. I picked up few streamers tyed by him. A Sango Smelt and one of my favorites, the Black Ghost, both tandems and both tyed very sparse, which I like. I later realised the stern paddle river boat there tours the lake based out of Naples is named the Sango River Queen. I think we may have to try Sabago next time around.                

Stonefly Hatch on the Contoocook River

Dan and I dug out the fly rods and waded into the Contoocook River in Henniker today for the first time this year. Normally the river is full of ice March 4th and wading into it would be impossable. Thats why we went today, because we could. No fish today, but it was good to get into the water rather than be standing on it! Every exposed rock was covered with snow and also these stoneflys. I'm always fascinated with what is going on in and around the river. The last thing I expected to see was a bug hatch. They look like I positioned them for a photo op but thats the way I found them...I love that Lumix camera. I'm working to identify them now.     

Skunked at Wentworth!

Dan and I met Paul, Josh and Ben at Wentworth for what was to be a somewhat mild day on the ice, looking for Crappie. We had not been here for a number of years and by the end of the day realised why! Skunked...no fish, not even a legitimate flag...although had plenty of wind flags. The 30mph wind was just constant all day and forced us off our original spot to seek the quite side of an island for the day. We still made the best of it and enjoyed our time together. Ben slipped and kissed the ice pretty hard, putting his tooth into his lip...blood on the ice and no hocky game.

Balch Pond, Wakefield

Monday Feb 6th Dan and I headed back to Balch Pond for crappie. We fished the north side, center pond between the islands, parking at a summer camp off Whitehouse Road. I'll have to stop by this summer and try to get permission to go back next winter. Keep logging in and see if I actually do that! Again we found the deepest water in this area, set out most of the tip-ups in 25-30 feet of water using small shiners. We are having trouble with shiners this year, lost half overnight last trip and more than a dozen died today before noon. I have been fishing with shiners now for decades and normally can keep them alive for weeks...only thing that changed has been a new local bait shop?? First fish was this nice Largemouth Bass. This fish took the shiner, just off the end of the island in 7' of water. Before the day was over we had 2 crappie, 2 yellow perch and 2 white perch, all of which are currently filleted and in the freezer. Kept seeing schools of crappie passing through the fish finder beam but could not get a consistent bite from them. Crappie fishing is new for us, have to keep working on it. I think we need to do more with the jig once we find the school.

First Susquehanna Muskellunge and Company

Heres my Grandfathers Musky as published in the "Grit" the local newspaper of Williamsport Pa, my hometown. PopPop's fish was 35" long and weighed 10 pounds. Love his rubber gloves ... According to James Laurer,the Lycoming County Fish Warden, at the time, this was the first Muskellunge to be taken in this section of the Susquehanna River. The date was July 9 1969. I still have the head on my wall. Its always scared the hell out of the kids! This river has developed into one of the finest Muskellunge fisheries on the east coast. Musky are noted as the fish of 1000 casts. I fished hard with Musky Pete, a good friend from western Mass, in Pontoosuc Lake for this elusive fish. The 27 pound Mass state record Tiger Musky ( a cross between a Northern Pike and a Musky) was taken in 2001 from this body of water while ice fishing. Pete and I had been fishing in the same area the week before. The fishermans moto-you should have been here yesterday. Believe me we exceeded the 1000 cast rule on that lake, never connecting with one. Thats me on the right with the 10 pound 35" Northern Pike that Pete and I trolling up from Pontoosuc, my largest Northern to date. I remember that day well. We actually had to push the 12' aluminum boat out across 20' of shore line ice before we got to open water. One foot on the ice, one foot in the boat. I have yet to catch a Musky, nor have I fished my hometowns Susquehanna River, although its on my bucket list!

Lake Sunapee

August 11 2011 launched the boat at the state park in Newbury NH. The day was a typical summer afternoon, pretty much glass calm water.That launch is pushing it for my boat. Its actually a brook launch and in August there is not much water to float a boat off the trailer. I was alone this day. Marked a good group of fish in 25 feet of water feeding on a school of bait fish. I was trolling with small Sutton spoons on both riggers. The Mt Sunapee tour boat was making its run north from Newbury and I was timing my turn to clear its path. One of the riggers tripped off with a nice 3.5 pound salmon. My boat is now heading north along the east bank with the tour boat coming up behind a little closer to the shore than I was. As I get the fish close enough to the boat to realize just how big it was, the other rigger tripped with another salmon. By now the tour boat is along side, I have a 9' trolling rod in each hand doing my best to get my boat out of the path of the tour boat. I'm sure the state tourism dept would have appreciated what the folks on the tour boat were seeing! I lost the first salmon at the boat as I tried to get it with a rod in each hand. I did boat the second fish which was a nice 4# summer salmon. Thats Dan holding his nice four pounder we picked up on the 19th at the same place.