Hi All, we are nearing the end of the 2025 season but we still have a few more weeks of prime pike fishing ahead. With water temps in the 40’s on river sections and low 50’s on the reservoirs we should have open water through November. Trout fishing is still productive on the lower androscoggin.
Pike update:
With frequent low pressure systems have been turning the pike bite on as the low enters. Calm and cloudy before a storm has been most productive, with some bites on sunny days coming in the late morning and right at dusk. We have had luck with fast retrieves when water temps are in the 50’s and upper 40’s and slower retrieves when temps are in the lower 40’s. It has paid to vary the retrieve until we figure out what works best. Dragon Tail Buffords, Deceivers, and Joe Goodspeed Goophead Flies have all produced fish. We’ve done very well with an orange and olive beuford with a dragon tail. Basically any fly that looks like a perch or sucker seems to get the job done when these fish turn on. The movement and size of the fly is probably more important than color although the one color that has produced most fish this season has been orange. Last week we even had a pike bite the net as we were trying to land the fish. I actually had to shake the pike off the net and then scoop it. Full video of the incident can be found in a reel our instagram page @hillcountryguides check it out!
Mike Piore with an aggressive pike that actually bit the net! Check out the video on our instagram page @hillcountryguides!
This weekend and next week look to produce more windows of low pressure that should produce good pike fishing opportunities so let us know if you would like to get out to chase a monster.
Jake with his first pike on the fly, after a few misses he landed his next three!
This pike has been eating well this fall! Caught on an exploratory mission.
Androscoggin:
The Androscoggin continues to fish decently well for trout. We landed a dozen trout during yesterday’s trip. The fly of choice was a tan mopfly with legs which beat out the usually productive pink squirmy worm by a few fish. We did land one nice sized brook trout on a kreelix streamer but with water temps in the lower 40’s nymphing is the way to go to catch numbers. Fish are definitely moving to winter holding water with a lot of fish in the slow edges of riffles and pools. Basically fish your nymphs in the slowest current you can still drift a fly through and you will probably find some trout. This makes for tougher wade fishing as a boat is needed to get to a lot of this water. That being said the channels between islands will still hold some trout, as browns arein spawning mode and rainbows will be gobbling up their eggs.
Looking forward:
We will take bookings for pike and trout through November 25th. We have availablity the next three weekends and most weekdays through November 25th. This comming Saturday November 8th is looking fishy, if anyone wants to jump on it, let us know! We are already booking for the 2026 season, gift certificates are also for sale. May and June dates are going especially fast right now so let us know if you want to get on the calendar for prime time spring dates!
Thank you all for a great 2026 season…so far! We look forward to sharing the water with you in the future!
Tight Lines,
Nate