Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Early Season Brown


The cold front has put a bit of damper on things at the moment. Here is a shot of an early season brown that took a midge larvae in a local stream.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

What an April!

What an awesome April! The picture above was from the Height of Land on Rt. 17. We were up there fishing last week in the cold with 8" of fresh snow mixing with rain. It was pretty miserable and the fishing pretty slow. Down this way, it has been a whole different story.

April usually means slow fishing in the rivers due to high, dirty, and cold water. Not this year. April has fished more like May and this one has to go down as the best that I have ever witnessed. We have had unseasonably warm weather and as a result, water temps are in the low to mid 50's on most small rivers. Things are running a good 3 weeks ahead of schedule. The fishing on the small rivers has been absolutely phenomenal. All month long I've have had really good results by going deep with nymphs. A good bet this time of year are midge larvae in gray or white (Barr's Pure Midge). The streams and small river bottoms are covered in black fly larvae. These are a translucent grayish-white color and I'm pretty sure the fish eat them like we would pick at a bowl of popcorn set down in front of us. Add plenty of weight to get deep and suspend the rig under a thing-a-ma-bobber and you are in the game.

If you have been waiting for May or June to get out an fish... don't! Get out there now and catch some fish during one of the best springs we have had in a long time.



Sunday, April 4, 2010

Opening Day


With 11 inches of rain in March local rivers are running high and dirty. I was on the Sheepscot Friday and it was high with tough fishing. Scott was on the East Outlet yesterday, it was running at 1100 CFS, but no fish. Yesterday I hit a local spot where the smelt are running and found this fat 19" brookie willing to take a 6x long smelt pattern stripped quickly just under the surface. It may be a few days before water levels come down fishable levels on the rivers and streams. For now the tribs that dump into ponds and lakes are going to be a safer bet.