Catching up on Some Fish Tales

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been out there pulling in some fish. I’ve been out three times since my last post so I’ll try to catch you up quickly.

June 20th

I went out on my own to see what I could catch in the way of a few fish. To say it was somewhat of a frustrating day would be an understatement! Have you ever been out there with fish jumping all around you but for some reason they just won’t hit what you’re throwing out there for them? Well that is what this trip was for me. Seriously, at one point a fish almost got tangled in my floating line but still didn’t hit what I had out there. No, really, I had just cast a fly out there and a fish jumped about a foot away from it, landed on the tippet and nearly got tangled in the leader but nothing, and I mean nothing, would hit my fly. Another thing, many of you may know the feeling but do you have any idea what it’s like trying to tie on a fly with fish jumping all around you? Frustrating, trust me!
In any case, I finally started getting some action with a fly I made up one day at the bench. I’m sure there is a name for it but I have no idea what it is. I tied a few of them on various hook sizes ranging from 12 to 18. Basically it has a yellow quill body, beige rabbit fur thorax, dirty red hackle wrapped around it with a mallard wing. It kind of looks like a small hex fly but not if you know what I mean. In any case, that’s what they hit and it took about 12 attempts at various fly’s to figure it out. Fish and Game must have just stocked that week because the fish were on the smaller size, about 9” and a little thin, they certainly needed some fattening up. But once they started hitting it was fun. I brought about 6 to hand before time for my adventure had run out and I had to head home. Over all the day ended up nicely but I sure got a new appreciation for ‘matching the hatch’!

June 27th
Jeff and I went out together this time. The day was beautiful but the fishing was slow. I suspect that the pond got somewhat cleaned out of the small stockies as the only thing we were hooking into were small mouth bass. Got a couple of hits, all on top but only landed this Small Mouth.
















July 3rd
A beautiful day!













Light mist on the water when we got there but the day cleared up nicely. Jeff tied up a third kayak as we invited another friend of ours, Jamie, along for the morning outing. We got on the water and almost immediately Jeff hooked into a small mouth. You know how when you get a quick bite after getting on the water you immediately assume the rest of the day is going to be great? Well, let me tell you, often, it is not! Jeff and Jamie had no luck the rest of the morning; I was getting a good amount of hits but couldn’t seem to hook anything, and even when I did hook into a fish, I wasn’t able to keep it on and land it. I did catch a small mouth but most of the morning they would hit and spit, hook and spit, again a frustration morning. But at least I was getting some hits which is more than I can say for Jeff and Jamie, things just went dry for them. It was getting close to quitting time and I was working my way along the shore of the pond when I saw some fish rising. Still, couldn’t get them to bite. I tied on that fly I mentioned earlier in this post, the one that was along the lines of a small Hex. Looking around my two partners were gone, apparently, they had decided to pack it in and, with just one more cast in mind I threw out the mini Hex. WHAM! I hooked into a nice 16” Bow, beautiful fish! The fish took to whole fly right down its throat, I had to cut the line or risk killing the fish. I only hope I can recreate the pattern from memory, it has served me well the last few times out.

So I’m paddling in, thinking these two guys went in just a little too early, and when I got to shore and told them of my last fish I was greeted with total disbelief. Imagine they thought I was telling a fish tale! Who most surprised me was Jeff. If you’ll recall I have always believed his fish stories even when most of them couldn’t be backed up because he often ‘forgot’ his camera. But even when I told him I had a picture he said, and I quote, “It better have a date on it!”

















Thank god my camera automatically displays the date and time when viewed from the screen.

Tigers and Brookies and Bows, OH MY!

After two weeks I finally got out this weekend. I got started early Saturday morning, on the pond by 6:30am to a slightly overcast, still morning. To my surprise I was alone on the lake, not a soul to be found, just me and the Cranes fishing that morning. I launched the Kayak and paddled directly across the lake to a small cove at the far end. I tied on the trusty Caddis on top, Prince Nymph dropper rig and began the quest.
Immediately I hooked into a nice fat 14” Bow on the Caddis and thought this was going to be a great day. As soon as I had that thought I reprimanded myself for jinxing the day recalling the last time out, when I hooked into a nice fish immediately and then spent the rest of the day fighting the winds that kicked up with no more fish to be found! But today would be different; as I was fishing I could hear fish breaking the surface a little ways away.
Paddling over to the far side of the lake I could see fish jumping. I don’t mean a fish here or there, I mean the fish were jumping!

I hooked into a nice Brookie and the fun began. Everything was hitting on top Saturday so I abandoned my dropper in favor of a variety of dry’s. It took some trial and error but I finally narrowed it down to darker Caddis’. It wasn’t easy, have you ever been in a situation where dozens of fish are jumping all around you and you’re trying to tie the ‘right fly’ on the end of your tippet? I couldn’t tie them on fast enough!!!







I hooked into about a dozen of these smaller fish in about a 1 hour time frame, it was glorious! Now I’m not saying any of these fish were trophy by any stretch of the imagination. They must have just stocked the pond that week, these were mostly 8” – 10” Bows, Brookies and Tigers (I even hooked into one Small Mouth Bass) but sometimes quantity makes up for quality and I was having a ball!





Unfortunately, the clock was ticking and I had to get back home but it was a lot of fun being out for the few hours I was there.

Memorial Day Weekend With Mixed Results

Well it’s been a while and I’ve been a bit remiss in posting so I’ll apologize up front. In any case while I was unable to get out last weekend I was on the pond both Sunday afternoon and Monday morning of Memorial Day Weekend with mixed results.

On Sunday all I got for my 3 hours of fishing was a 6” Small Mouth Bass that wasn’t even worth taking a picture of. The only thing it bought me was the bragging rights to say that I haven’t been skunked yet this year. A record I hope to maintain this season. Monday was a little different. I was on the pond by 7:00 am, It was a little breezy but the wind was coming from the far side of the pond and there looked to be some pretty flat water over there owing to the fact that the trees probably blocked the wind for the first few hundred feet from shore leaving at least that part of the pond flat and smooth. Casting in a dropper rig, with an Elk hair and CDC Caddis on top and the trusty Prince Nymph on the bottom, about 18” down I immediately hooked into a great 16” Bow.

This fish gave me quite a fight, breaking water with some nice jumps 3 times! 5 minutes into fishing and hooked into this fish, I thought it was going to be a great day! NOT!! I spent the next hour trying to get another fish to even look at my line. I went to a Crippled Elk Hair Caddis on top, different Nymphs below and nothing. Then I got a hit on an Elk Hair Caddis on top but missed it. A few minutes later, I hooked into the 12” Brookie on the nymph which turned out to be the last fish of the day.

Total count, 2 fish, both on the dropper, 3 bites, one on top and two on the dropper, all before the wind really kicked up and left me paddling through white caps on the little pond. Along with the pictures of the two fish I caught I also got some nice scenery pics. Maybe you can guess where we’re fishing from these pictures.




I just wanted to point out that Jeff still isn’t posting any pictures of his catches which, if I were a cynic might make me wonder if he really caught all those fish he has claimed to have caught. Being as I am not a cynic, I’ll just trust him at his word!

It was a Great Weekend for Fishing (sort of) 5/9/09

As you can see from Jeff’s first post(below), I’m not allowed to give the name of our favorite fishing hole for fear that the people reading this blog will flock to it and ruin it for the rest of us. Personally I think he’s just being selfish!

In any case, with my wife away for a couple of weeks and not home for Mother’s Day, I had no alternative but to be out on the water chasing some trout this weekend. Just to mix things up a bit, Jeff and I went out early Saturday Morning, we were on the water by 6:00 am.











It was cloudy, eventually it rained, but the wind was absent and the fish were rising. I only had a few hours of fishing in front of me as I had to get to Logan to pick up my eldest son who flew in for a few days to watch his brother’s lacrosse games this week.

In any case, I got a few Saturday morning, Brookies all. I fished a dropper rig, Elk Hair Caddis on top, Prince Nymph on the bottom, both tied by my own hand. The nicest one was a 13” Brookie which gave me quite a fight. When I left Jeff was "0" for the day and it was starting to rain. I caught up with Jeff on Sunday and he tells me it stopped raining shortly after I left and that he hooked into 3 Brookies. Unfortunately, he didn’t have his camera so I guess we just have to take his word on this. I also met up with Jamie on Sunday, you’ll remember, he went with Jeff the week before for Salmon and he also was a bit hesitant when I mentioned that Jeff picked up an Atlantic Salmon and he got skunked. He was quick to point out that while Jeff said he hooked into a fish, Jamie was not around to see it! Hmmm, I am starting to sense a pattern here. Jeff, I think you should put your camera in your vest for future trips so that no one will question your reports. Not that I would ever question you integrity of course!!!

On Sunday I borrowed one of Jeff’s kayaks and took my visiting son, Joe, with me to the pond.



It was pretty windy and I didn’t expect much but when you have a chance to share a passion with one of your kids you take it! And it was windy, the two of us were blown all over the pond but in the end I caught what was probably my nicest fish so far this year. I haven’t run the tape measure against my net to see what the actual size was but I’m guessing it’s in the 16” range.



What a nice rainbow, it took close to 15 minutes to bring it in. Again I was fishing an Elk Hair Caddis on top with a Prince Nymph dropper and picked this one up on the dropper.

Not a bad Mother’s Day weekend for a Dad!!

A Neat Resource You Can Use for Fishing

I’m relatively new to the area and don’t know where a lot of fishing locations are nor am I familiar with locations by name. I read the stocking reports religiously and see where the state is putting fish in the water but to be honest, I have no idea where these places are. Places like PURGATORY BROOK, WALLACE BROOK, SWAIN POND, SPECTACLE POND, where are these places and how can I get there? One way I’ve been able to locate these places is by using Google Earth. The Software is free and can be downloaded directly from the web. Did you know you can type in the name of the water body, town and State and Google Earth will zoom right in on that location! You can see the water body, nearby roads and landmarks, review the topology of the area and even get directions, it’s great! I recommend you give it a try the next time your lost for a place to fish. Go to the State Stocking report (I’ve posted the link over on the sidebar) get the name of the place you might want to try and plug it into Google Earth and scout it out!

Happy Fishing!!

It Was Another Good Day of Fishing 5-3-09

Jeff and I split up this week and fished two different locations. Friday, Jeff played hooky and went up to the Pemi with another friend, Jamie, to try his hand hunting the Atlantic Salmon the State stocks. Jeff was fishing an Orange Bomber and I’ll leave it to him to post about his day.

I, on the other hand, had to work on Friday and with no one able to get out this weekend, I went back to my favorite pond to see if what I could do. So Sunday I packed up my kayak and headed for the pond to try my luck. It was an overcast day, around 62 degrees, no wind, and I had a window of about 3 hours before parenthood called me back home to run my son around. The pond wasn’t nearly as busy as it was last week but there were a few guys out fishing in canoes and kayaks. As I pulled up the fish were rising but I know enough about this place to know that just because they were rising, didn’t mean they would hit what I had to offer.

I started out with the rig that worked last week, I had a Elk Hair Caddis with a Bead Head Nymph dropper. But, unlike last week, they were hitting on top this week. Not a lot of action but I did manage to pick up a 10” Brookie within 15 minutes of being on the water. I thought this was going to be a great day! But that was it, nothing else even looked at my rig. I’m sure you know how frustrating it is to see fish rising all around you with nothing hitting what you’re fishing. Soon I started changing out what I was using. I noticed that in the beginning, I would only see swirls on the surface where the fish were rising but now I started to actually see them break the surface every now and then. Now I don’t profess to know how a fish thinks, nor do I profess to understand exactly what was going on but I did know they weren’t hitting my Nymph, I did get a hit on the dry but it wasn’t until the fly got pretty wet and started to sink a bit deeper into the film did I even get a second hit on the Caddis. I switched to a Crippled Elk Hair Caddis and my luck changed. I picked up another 2 Brookies, nice size, maybe 12” and 13” not bad. With the clock moving closer to my commitments back home, I headed to the boat ramp but started to actively cast the Crippled Elk Hair. I didn’t let it sit for long, just kept putting it out there, let it sit for about 30 seconds and cast again. As soon as it hit the water after 3-4 casts something hit it hard, nearly coming out of the water but I missed it. A few more casts and WHAM! I hooked into a 15” Tiger! Beautiful fish, I am only sorry that I didn’t have my camera for a picture.

Well that was it, I had to head home. For a quick 2 hour venture I picked up 3 Brookies and a nice sized Tiger trout. So far the season is off to a great start, let’s hope my luck holds for the rest of the season.