Nice brookie, caught and released by our guest Jeff Molesso, under the expert guidance of TTL Fly Fishing Guide Mickey Cunliffe. Let’s be honest, that’s a nice fish, but take a look at his nephew’s fish (Lucas, below), and you be the judge …
To give you a little context with this picture, this was in an area along the Connecticut River to the south of Pittsburg, where I like to wet a line on occasion. The water flow was the lowest I’ve seen in this spot, but the log suspended in the tree was illustrative of the amount of water that was coming through this area at some point this spring – yeah, pretty amazing. Thankfully, we did get some rain yesterday, but we have a long way to go before the dam flows come up.
In a couple of words … not quite. As is typical of the spring fishing in northern New Hampshire, we’re having a bit of a slow start to our spring season. There might be a few contributing factors to what’s been happening (or not happening) however.
Summer keeps plugging along here on the upper reaches of the Connecticut River, and it won’t be long before we’re feeling the crisp fall air and all that comes with it. There have been some slightly chilly mornings lately, but the fishing remains pretty good nonetheless.
River flows went back to “normal” on the Connecticut River’s Trophy Stretch this past week – 147 CFS as of the moment, a very comfortable wading flow. The fishing has been solid since the drop, as people have been landing and releasing a majority of rainbow and brook trout from the reports we’ve heard. Nymphs, as usual, are doing the most damage, but those anglers that like to sling foam terrestrials have been having a good time too.
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 …