February Fish

I like winter fishing. The solitude is one great aspect of it for sure, as you’re probably not going to run in to too many other anglers out on the water. The ones you do make contact with are probably hearty souls, much like yourself – just getting out for a few hours respite from day to day life. Actually catching a fish is a bonus, and hopefully my brown trout from the other day was a glimpse of what is to come this spring.

It hungrily ate one of Chuck Degray’s Gray Soft Hackle Streamers, and thankfully Mickey Cunliffe was there to net and release it. The guides on my fly rod were nearly iced over, not allowing the majority of my fly line to be reeled in. We snapped an image of this very healthy trout and quickly released him to hopefully catch up with some other day.

While my total fish landed and released this year is modest (2!), one each in January and February, it still keeps alive my goal of catching a fish in each month this year. February can be a tough month, usually due to weather. It’s one of the colder and snowier months in northern New Hampshire, and you just don’t know how it will play out, but I got lucky. The snow has gotten deeper and crustier lately, making access to certain parts of the river more difficult or impossible.

The other months should be easier one would hope, but the last three months of the year could be tough. October will be difficult because of my grouse hunting schedule. The whole month is booked for hunting clients of mine, so I’m not sure how I’ll be able to catch a fish this year … November and December are tough because trout season is over on the Connecticut River by then, so that leaves fishing for northern pike, or just packing up and heading somewhere to catch fish. We shall see.

One of our guests, and a friend of mine, sent me this image today of his journey to the river he calls home. Yes, sometimes snowshoes are the only way to get to where you want to go for a fishing excursion.

It seems like a lot of work, but it’s all worth it when you’re successful. He landed and released two rainbows and a brown on nymphs today – nice job Jason on getting out there and lacing up a few on your home water.

One thing that we noticed the other day was the amount of shelf ice on the edge of the river that had built up, usually on the inside and sometimes on the outside of curves. It’s rarely safe to actually walk on and should be avoided entirely if possible. We also had some random chunks of ice (icebergs?) floating down river periodically – they weren’t huge, but were definitely thick enough to do some damage if you’re not expecting it. A well timed yell to the fellow fishing downstream as a warning also helps avoid problems while winter fishing.

There was also a good amount of small gray caddis walking around on the ice shelves as we waded downstream – it was pretty cool to see aquatic life doing its thing on a wintry 28-degree February day. Warmer and sunnier days are coming, and spring truly is “just around the corner”.