Hello world! I'm glad to give you my first fishing report ever. Since I got back to school at Plymouth State University a few weeks ago I've mainly been focusing on the Pemigewasset River in the Campton area and a few other smaller rivers and streams. I can't say that I've caught to many up here since I've gotten back but I've learned a lot more about the local rivers. There are still tons of trout hanging around in the Pemi right now. Just about every night right before sunset, the surface has been constantly dimpled with rising fish. I've seen many small midges and tiny may flies (possibly blue wing olives) coming off the surface just about every night that I've fished. They are clearly feeding quite a bit but I have found them to be incredibly selective lately. I had no dry flies that were as small as what the fish were feeding on until just recently. Because of homework and studying, I haven't even gotten a chance to try my new patterns at the Pemi yet but have high hopes for when I do! Here's a brookie I got recently from the East Branch Pemi off of the Lincoln Woods trail in Lincoln, NH on a size 16 elk hair caddis.
I spent this past weekend at home in Henniker, NH for a much needed break from school. I spent most of my time at home fishing and goose hunting, enjoying the simpler things in life. I went out to a few streams that I know hold a good number of native brook trout. These streams are all tributaries of the Contoocook River which is stocked with brook, brown and rainbow trout. Over time stocked brookies in the river found their way up these tributaries and managed to successfully spawn. You can usually tell if it's a naturally borne or "native" brook trout if you catch one that's under 6 inches. This is because almost all hatchery brook trout that are stocked by NH Fish and Game are in the 8-11 inch range. Most of our streams in NH are also too infertile for native born brook trout to grow much bigger than 6 inches. Most people that are into fishing for native brook trout aren't looking for size in fish. The colorful fish and remote places that you find these fish are usually what drive these fisherman. But anyways back to my report! In one of my top secret brookie streams I was able to land and snap some pictures of some typical NH native brook trout so here they are.
I caught both of these on a size 10 olive wooly bugger bead head. Most of the time these brookies in infertile streams are not picky at all. On most days you can catch them on just about any type of pattern. It's not that they aren't as smart as other trout, infertile conditions just cause them to be even more opportunistic in order to survive.
As I was landing the fish in the bottom picture, apparently the velcro latch on my vest pocket was not shut. In the heat of the action one of my fly boxes was violently launched out of my pocket and exploded on impact with some slightly submerged rocks. I was able to recover most of my flies but the number of casualties is unknown at this point.
Tip of the day: KEEP ALL POCKETS SHUT AT ALL TIMES!
That's it for today folks! Thanks for reading and tight lines to everyone!
-Zac
