WRITING ON THE FLY
By GEORGE LISET

    I love Fall fishing, or is it Autumn fishing?  So I looked it up. Autumn is the more formal term while Fall is the term most widely used, especially in New England. I was sitting on my front porch as the sun was rising. I was enjoying the brisk morning air. The leaves were spectacular, and getting even more so as the sun rose. As the sun rose the color of the leaves changed hues as if lit up by a color wheel. Then I heard that unmistakable sound of a couple flocks of Canadian Geese honking encouragement in “V” formation.

The sounds, colors and smells of Fall never get old.

    The quality of the colors is always a topic of speculation among the locals and the tourists. I was recently in Manchester, Vermont, visiting the Orvis flagship store and the American Museum of Fly Fishing. I overheard some tourists from “Away’ discussing the leaves and their thoughts that the colors were not as spectacular this year. This got me thinking about the one lesson I seemed to have retained from Art 101 in college, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” so put on your art eyes.

    As another flock of geese flew overhead, I remembered that I was going to meet my son Reed on a river that flowed into Lake Winnipesaukee later that afternoon. So I finished my coffee and managed to get to a few chores and then headed up. I drove the back roads up to avoid some traffic and to take advantage of the scenery. There is a spot on the New Durham and Alton line that I visit that gives you an amazing view of the Belknap and Ossipee Mountains. After I got my foliage fix, I drove to the river.

    The river was low which was no surprise since it has been so for the last six weeks, and we have not had much rain. We were also in the midst of what some refer to as Second Summer. The Landlocked Salmon usually like the water cooler and are drawn up the river by heavy rains. I knew that there would not be ideal conditions on the river, but I was there for the beauty of the foliage and the weather as much as for the fishing.

    I decided to use my nine-foot Douglas four weight fly rod with sink tip line and tied on an orange Wooly Bugger. I weighed my line and not my fly because I didn’t want to lose my flies. I was fishing a stretch of river when a pair of ducks flew past me up river. Every time the breeze picked up, the leaves would fall and look like so many sail boats on Winnipesaukee. I enjoyed their beauty, however, it seemed like every other cast I was snagging one of those leaves.

      As I was prospecting the river for Salmon I was looking for the classic mating boils where the spawning fish would break the surface of the water. I didn’t see much action but kept looking. After a while Reed arrived after he got out of work. I told him what I was using for a fly and he laughed because he had already tied the same fly on. I had been fishing for almost two hours and Reed had been there twenty minutes when I heard him yell down river, “Got one!” The Salmon broke the surface and did an incredible tail dance to try and break free, but it would be to no avail.

I reeled in and grabbed my net for back up and headed up the river. When I arrived, he had netted a nice eighteen-inch Salmon.

     We fished for another hour until dark. Reed got into another fish but this one was more successful with his tail dance and broke Reed off. I had a couple of tugs but was a little slow on the draw. Reed tried to make me feel better by telling me it was because the fish’s mouth was hard and it’s difficult to hook them. But an old gun slinger knows when he has lost his edge.

     I smiled and mentioned to Reed that I knew where we could get more fish and a hot cup of coffee. He thought that sounded like a good idea and we rode off into the sunset.

 George Liset of Dover is an award-winning outdoor writer and avid fly fisherman who shares insights of his time on the water exploring New Hampshire streams and rivers as well of those around New England. George is a graduate of Wheaton College, Illinois, and the University of New Hampshire. His column Writing on the Fly has been honored by the New England Press Association and the New Hampshire Press Association.