By GEORGE LISET
WRITING ON THE FLY
Most anglers will choose a body of water to fish and that will dictate the fly rod they will use. During the winter and spring I have been fishing larger rivers like the Cocheco, the Lamprey Rivers. I have been using my five and six weight fly rods to nymph and throw streamers. Lately, however, I’ve been missing my three weight rods. So I decided to fish the three weight and find some small streams with those little gems, the brook trout.
Finding little streams in New Hampshire is not difficult. What is difficult is finding a small stream that contains Brook Trout. The White Mountains contain a number of small streams that are spring fed and are ideal for Brook Trout. There are also a number of small streams that feed into Lake Winnipesaukee where Brook Trout go to spawn, which are also ideal.
So I decided to take a ride up from the Seacoast to the Lakes Region in search of those elusive gems. On the drive up I stopped off at the Isinglass River. There are a number of spots just off the road where you can walk in and hit some little pools that usually hold fish. I tied on a size sixteen Caddis and dropped a size eighteen prince nymph off the Caddis. There were some riffles just above the pool so I cast my line at the bottom of the riffles and immediately got a little tug on my line. My reaction was a little slow, since I wasn’t expecting any action on my first cast.
My heart rate went up with the idea that I might catch something. I worked the top of the pool for a while with no luck. As I worked my way down to the end of the pool I felt the tug again and this time I was quick enough to hook a nice ten inch Rainbow Trout on the nymph. Upon releasing the Rainbow I felt a sigh of relief. When you write a fly fishing column, it is nice to catch something every once in a while. No one wants to read a column by a guy who can’t catch fish. Pretty much anyone can do that.
I realized that I needed gas while driving up to the lake, so I stopped to get gas at a busy station on Route 11. I still had my waders and wading boots on as I went into the station to pay and get coffee. Now if you were in West Yellowstone or near any place in Montana you wouldn’t feel out of place, but it is not a sight you see in Seacoast New Hampshire. I got a number of looks and a few comments.
One gentleman was being wise and asked if I was dressed for Halloween. I replied “No, I am working on a Haz-Mat team, where do you get your drinking water?”
Another gentleman asked me how the fishing was and I told him it was good so far. I then got into my truck and headed for the Lake.
I stopped at another stream that was off the beaten path where I had some luck before. I changed my Caddis to a size eighteen and the nymph to a size twenty on Seven X tippet. I drifted the flies down a riffle into a pool with no luck. I will say that even though these little Brookies are small, they are selective. I worked my way down the stream trying to find their hiding spot. There was a bend pool where I finally got into a monster four-inch Brookie and that little guy put up a fight.
The light fly rods make the little fish seem like twice the size, and the bigger ones like river monsters. When you hold them in the light and see the sun shine on them it is like looking at an artist’s palette. I caught a few more and called it a day. When I got back to my truck I took off my waders and boots. I needed to hit the grocery store and didn’t want to wear my Haz-Mat suit in.
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.