The fishing season is progressing along here on the upper Connecticut River in northern New Hampshire. More summery weather this past week, and even some willing trout and salmon that have been playing the game.
This is taking it literally perhaps, but it is late July and we’re officially in the “dog days”. Hot, humid, with thunderstorms at a moment’s notice, it’s summer in the north country and it has me yearning for fall already.
Many thanks to Mickey Cunliffe’s dog Tilly, for giving me a good excuse for not catching fish that day …
Beautiful picture of an early morning on the Trophy Stretch – thanks to TTL Fishing Guide Mickey Cunliffe for his image.
It’s back to the river, as the Hexagenia hatch on Back Lake has largely gone by, sadly. Actually, the river is a pretty good place to be these days, as the water is still cold and the fish are there in numbers.
We are half way through 2020 (thankfully), and most of the way through the annual hexagenia hatch at Back Lake. It’s been a good hatch overall, with some quality trout finding the landing net and a lot of smallmouth bass also. The weather has been mostly cooperative until Sunday night, when severe storms came through.
A lot of anglers ask us a very common question, “So, what’s been the hot fly?”. It’s a good question, and sometimes knowing what they’re taking is half the battle in fly fishing. Perhaps of more importance however is how and where successful anglers are fishing. If you’re not fishing the right water, or presenting your fly incorrectly, the “hot fly” probably won’t achieve the desired outcome.
So, we’re just about a week through the annual hex hatch at Back Lake, or “the most wonderful time of the year”, if you’re an angler. We probably have at least a week of solid hatching activity left ahead of us, and then a slow dwindling of the hatch after that.