Brookies and Buggers

So on Saturday, I unfortunately didn't go to the pond in Woodstock that I originally wanted to go to because I didn't have much gas.  Instead, I decided to go back to Robartwood which is right up the road in Campton.  Because of thick brush and posted land there is really only one area to fly cast from the shallows at Robartwood.  With my luck, there was a strong wind coming straight at me.  I felt like I was trying to throw a paper airplane into a box fan.  Although conditions were not ideal, my persistence prevailed and I managed to lay a few casts onto the water.  High line speeds and keeping it low are key when casting in high wind.  I also switched to a full sink line for a while which was casting much better into the wind.  Heavier lines are less affected by the wind.

I started out with a size 8 olive woolly bugger bead head.  It's one of my go-to searching patterns when I really have no idea what the fish are feeding on.  The great thing about the woolly bugger is that it doesn't resemble one particular food source,  it has characteristics of a large variety of foods that trout feed on.  There really is no wrong way to fish a woolly bugger.

For any beginners out there, this is your typical woolly bugger.  It's the perfect beginner fly, easy to fish and easy to tie.  You can fish it by stripping, swinging, dead drifting and even floating the un-weighted ones.  It catches trout and salmon all over the world.  There aren't many days that a trout won't bite a woolly bugger if fished properly.  They come in all colors and sizes.  You've just got to try them all to find out which ones you like best for different situations! 

Here's on that I tied myself.  Let me know what you think of it!

 About 20 minutes after I got there, the line finally became tight!  It was a beautiful female brook trout in it's spawning colors!  When I picked it up for the release a couple eggs fell out into the water.  Don't want to harm those!

After I released her I spent a few more minutes casting around the olive woolly bugger with no results.  I didn't even want to think about trying to cast an un-weighted fly straight into the wind so I threw on a rust colored woolly bugger size 6.  I had a couple hits from fast stripping the rusty bugger back in but didn't end up hooking anything.  I went with a new approach and decided to let it sink down for a while after I cast under an overhanging hemlock branch.  When I made my first pull to start stripping line back in it was already tight and my rod was bent in half.  The fish wasn't going crazy making any runs but it clearly had a good amount of weight to it.  After a few more rod tip bounces, the fish started causing a commotion on the surface.  I saw a wide off white tail covered in black spots come splashing out of the water and then... it was gone.  No more tension.  By the looks of it that fish may have been close to two pounds.  The massive splashing tail scene was almost an instant replay of a fish that my buddy Steve lost in the Tooky a few years back.  I guess that's just karma repaying me for the flak I gave Steve for losing that  beastly rainbow in the Tooky.

In a bit of a frustrated mood, I went back to stripping the rusty bugger in.  After a while I hooked another beautiful brookie!  This one was a male.  He actually had quite the kype (hook jaw) on him for such a little guy.  Can't really see it that well in the picture due to a very inconveniently placed piece of grass.  After releasing this one, fingers felt like they were going to fall off from the wind chill so I decided to call it a day.

I'm not exactly sure where or when my next fishing adventure will be but I will keep my results posted!  I will definitely be fishing the Contoocook this upcoming weekend.  The fish are still biting so get out there!  Can't be afraid of a little cold weather if you live in NH.  They make warm clothes for a reason!

Free as a Bird!

After spending the entire first half of my week preparing for the three exams I had yesterday, I found it quite suitable to blast Freebird on my way to the fishing hole this afternoon.  Once I got to Robartwood Pond in Campton, I couldn't really hear much but that didn't deter my excitement to fish.  I'm pretty lucky to have a pond that's open year round only ten minutes away from campus.  Robartwood doesn't look like your typical trout pond.  It can't be much more than ten feet deep at it's deepest point and is almost completely covered in vegetation.  I had major doubts about its ability to hold trout year round until one day last spring before they stocked it.  That day I caught multiple rainbows over 15 inches and lost brookie right at my kayak that was well over two pounds!  It's amazing how trout can find ways to survive in areas where conditions are least in there favor.

When I got there this afternoon there were thousands of tiny insects flying around the water.  Much smaller than any fly pattern out there.  They inspired me to throw on one of my smallest patters which was a size 22 baetis zinger.  There was a lot of small surface activity, most like bait fish feeding on these tiny insects.  I had a few very small fish hit the zinger but didn't hook anything. The bait fish activity gave me the idea to give a streamer a shot.  So I tied on a size 6 white marabou muddler.  After a lot of casting and line stripping the water exploded behind my fly!  It was a great feeling to finally feel a fish on the other end.  It wasn't much of a fight but I couldn't have been happier.  It was your average sized stocked brookie but it's beautiful fall spawning colors made up for its size.

For anyone who doesn't know, this is the marabou muddler:

I apologize for the poor quality photo. I accidentally left my camera in my room and my phone takes horrible photos. Here's one of the rainbows I caught there last spring.  I wish I landed that brookie that day, it was a real beauty!!!

Get out there Nation!  You can catch trout year round if you put the time and effort into it!  Nothing feels more rewarding than catching a trout when all odds are against you.  

Tight lines!!!!!!!!!!!