March 17-20, 2014

Back from 3 1/2 cold days (single digits in the morning) on the Salmon River, steelhead fishing. I got to try out my Scott A3 10′ 7wt, which proved to be a winner for roll casting and fighting great lakes steel. The first two days were good to me, landing two the first day, including a 32″ pig (around 13-14 lbs), my biggest to date. I landed 4 more on tuesday, plus hooked another big boy that took me down stream and threw the hook on a jump. Unfortunately, the last day and half, i couldnt hook a fish to save my life! Todd picked up the slack, and even though i was using the same flies (small stones), i couldn’t get a fish to eat. A good trip in all, time to rest my arm after roll casting a few thousand times, and battling a few fish. I can’t wait to go back next year!

egg hatch!

Dark horse

small chrome in the lower fly zone, with some of my “buddies”

pigggyyyy!

The last two weeks of June produced some stellar fishing on the Andro, though some heavy rains the last week has caused the river to rise, which isnt terrible as long as the water is somewhat clear. I did a short float on the river Saturday am, flow was 4,500 cfs in Gorham, NH, up from 3,000 the weekend before. Water temp was 62 degrees. We found some fish, browns, brookies, and bows, all with streamers. There has been little dry fly activity on the river, with a few exceptions, mostly in the evening. The good news is this high water should keep the river from warming, and the river should fish good another couple of weeks, before we hit the dog days of summer (bass time!).

a decent holdover bow….

After heavy rains and heavy, dirty flows after Memorial Day weekend, the river is back to normal. I guided for an outfitter on Sunday for a half day. The water temp was 60 degrees, and the flow was 3,200 cfs in Gorham, near perfect. They caught at least 10 fish, including a few good brookies up to 13″ or so. 

Off the water by 12, cleaned up the boat and headed for RIver by 1. Had some taps swinging a tandem streamer rig (what else?), then finally hooked a small brown around 9″, one of the new strains of browns, the Sandwich strain from the Cape. I followed up with two more brookies, one of which was around 12″, all stocked fish. Had a lot of short strikes, but couldn’t get a good hook in them. Finished up with a fall fish (sorry, no pic ;)) before the dark clouds and rumbles of thunder told me it was time to go.

like to see this guy in a few years….

Floated the Upper Andro with my client Jim on Friday; started off cool and cloudy, then got sunny with a strong tailwind. The water is very low (1,500 cfs in Gorham, NH), and 52 degrees. We found some brookies that were eager to bite, as well as a nice holdover rainbow. Netted 7 fish on a 7 hour float, with many hit and spits, and things should only get better in the coming weeks. We saw plenty of caddis and mayflies, but not surface action….yet.

After Jim and I pulled out, I headed back up stream with my buddy Sean to do a short float. We boated another 5 fish, including a few nice brookies up to 14″. Saw a few surfaces, but couldn’t get any to rise to a fly.

I expect things to really heat up in June so book now! Here area few pics  to wet your appetite….

I just returned from an awesome bow hunting/fishing trip in Montana. I was successful on the third evening of the hunt with an 8 point buck.  I played guide the rest of the week, dropping off my buddies, glassing while they hunted (to try to pin point activity), and picking them up, etc.

I managed to squeeze in some fishing on the creek (what we would call a small stream in Maine) during the day. They have been in a drought this summer, and the creek was skinny, probably half the water as last year at this time. I could only fish about 25% of the holes and runs, due to the low water (though saw many fish in less than a foot of water!) This creek averages maybe 6′ in width, with small pools and 180 deg. bends, with most of the fish hanging under log jams, undercut banks, etc. Very visual fishing; I could see most of the fish and approached very cautiously. I had to cast from as far as possible and often, on the hook set, had the fish jump and land on shore! Fishing was tough most of the week, with spooky, picky fish, and the bright, mid-day sun didn’t help. With such low water, it was nearly impossible to give a subtle presentation, luckily I think some of the fish still had terrestrials (hoppers) on the brain. I had limited successes with muddlers and a Turk’s tarantula, mostly fished dry, and I found that either the fish pounded on it or swam for cover. I earned a couple fish, but was a little frustrated.

On Friday, I was able to hook up with Tyler, who recently moved to MT fromMaine(with drift boat in tow), for a float on theYellowstone. We didn’t catch a lot of fish, or any big ones, other than a 20″ whitefish (a trout relative, but more like a bonefish) that slipped out my hands, caught the line on the way down, an buried a #4 streamer hook into my index finger (which Tyler successfully pulled out). fish were fickle, some on streamers, some on nymphs, but there were no rules, just exceptions. We still had a great day floating 8 miles of the longest un-dammed river in theUS. When we got to the pull out, the car I borrowed from the rancher had a dead battery, and we had to hitchhike, but lucked out when we met a lady was turning into her driveway a half mile up the road, who gave us a jump. Always an adventure!

 On the last day, I decided to hit the creek hard, and it paid off. I saw nearly every fish nose up to the fly and open its mouth. The biggest were 19″, 18″ and 17.5″. I landed 14 browns and a cutthroat, missed two and had one take me into a tree (after I horsed it out of a brush pile), all on my #8 tarantula. The males had hook jaws and humpbacks. It was better than any day I had on the creek last year, and one of my best days fishing ever. After the last fish, I clipped the fly, stuck it in my hat and reeled in the line; a great way to end the season!

Here is some eye candy: