Lake Winnipesaukee

Dan and I had one of our best days on the big lake. We took Dans boat out of Wolfeboro and were on the water by 5:30am, in a light fog. Fished between Rattlesnake, Moose and Parker, trolling lead core, 6-8 colors with a 40'+ 6/4 # test leader. That's 300'of line out behind the boat. Most of the fish came to a fly, tandem 93's and Manards Marvels. We did use a few DB Smelt spoons but the flies produced more fish. We caught 3 salmon, boated one! When those fish take the fly they head right for the surface and clear 2-3 feet going airborne, connected to 250' of lead core line. You think they're in the next county! We ended up with somewhere between 6 and 8 lakers, lost track in all the excitement... with the largest being a nice 23" that Dan got on the way in. I believe his fly was a tandem Needle Smelt. All were released, except for the salmon, which Mom had for dinner that evening.




Weather conditions: 68-43 degrees, partly cloudy to cloudy then sunny by 5pm. Waning gibbous moon, sunup at 6:15 am. Barometer at 30.33 and falling. Wind developing to 7mph from the WSW by noon.

Newfound Lake

Spent a week in August on Newfound with my family. Spent way too much time recreating and not enough fishing. Had to keep the boat at a mooring which made it difficult anyway. Did get out a couple of times and connected with some small lake trout and a nice rainbow. Trolling off the downriggers.

Contoocook River

Back to the river tonight. Its finally settled down from all the rain and is at a nice fishable level. Tonight I used the 6wt Orvis Rocky Mountain rod loaded with a new spool of Scientific Anglers full sinking WF 6 S that I just picked up at KTP. I have been using a sinking tip 7wt and after reading from "Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout" decided to go with a full sinker. I purchased a couple of Zoo Cougars at KTP as well. Also mentioned in the book. Its a must read for any serious streamer fisherman. I intended to fish some of the deep pools this river has to offer but got to the river and left the Cougars at home along with most of my streamers. I did have, from my last trip here, a tattered Black Ghost and sure enough, within 15 minutes connected with this nice rainbow. What a beautiful fish this one was. I moved around, fished a Muddler and a Dark Edison with no other fish.

Contoocook River, NH

I spent a couple of hours fishing the Contoocook River between Hillsboro and Henniker NH this evening. It was overcast when I waded into the river and started to rain just enough to get wet once I got situated. By the looks of the riverbank, the water was about 18" over normal conditions, due to all the rain we have had this June. I fished a 7wt sinking tip WF line on a 5wt Orvis Trident TL rod. It actually did real well! I wanted to stick with streamers. Caught a smallie right off. The next two fish were nice rainbows, both fell for a size 4 black ghost streamer, which i tied myself. The water temp was 68 degrees. Tough handling a camera, standing in the middle of the river in the rain with a fish on...

Halls Brook NH

June 24 fished Halls Brook with brother Dan. Its runs along Halls Brook Road in West Rumney NH. Steep little brook that runs along the road. Its got nice little deep pools of fast running cold water. Each one contains a nice 4"-6" native brook trout. The little devils pack more ambition than many trout found in our larger rivers. I was using a size 16 Prince which took this nice handful. The weather was overcast and had been raining off and on for the last 7 days. Weather report today stated we have 2X the normal amount of rain for June this year. Close to a record established in the 1965. Although I did not feel the brook was higher than normal for this time of year.

Baker River NH

I fished the Baker River just off the Mt Moosilauke Highway in Wentworth NH on June 23 2009 with my brother, Dan. The day was overcast, being on the tail end of seven+ days of rain and somewhat breezy. Little to no trout, although it was pretty close to noon before we waded into the river. The flow was pretty slow with the majority of the water cutting along one side of the river. Dan picked up a nice rainbow by repeatedly enticing it with a Royal Coachman. The trout was tucked under a huge undercut log jam. Dan just kept at it, knowing that if there were any trout in this river, one was in here. It finally took the fly! No pictures... what was Dan thinking! I was using a hares ear nymph and a elk hair caddis, with no luck. There was no hatch underway and little sign of any insect activity.