It was a busy spring here in the Whites. We had a ton of successfull float trips on the Androscoggin and Connecticut Rivers in May and June. This has been our best year for trout landed over 20”. We’ve had over 30 20”+ fish hit the net this season so far with many days of multiple fish over 22” and a few at 24”, of both browns and rainbows. We attribute the number of big fish to the high water of this spring and the past few years. The more water in our rivers the more food the fish have to eat, and the more habitat they have to grow and hide from predators. Now that water levels are down to average flows we can still get these fish when temps and flows are conducive.
Browns like this 21” male were very common this May and June!
Connecticut River:
In general the Connecticut has had water temps in the 50’s and 60’s on most trout sections with some sections going above 70 degrees but only on the hottest days. We’ve had some great fishing lately when flows have bumped from recent thunderstorms. Fish will take advantage of higher flows and colder water temps whenever they can this time of the year. We see some of our most productive fishing for both numbers and size of trout when we get cold summer rains. Recently we’ve done well with “creature” style mop flies in tan and brown, goodspeed’s Evolved Sparkle Pupae, size 12-18 pheasant tail nymphs, tan and peacock cdc X caddis, tan foam back CDC caddis emergers. Expect BWO’s and Pale duns to also be important in the comming weeks. The terrestrail bite hasn’t turned on that much yet but hopper season is right around the corner!
It was hard to beat the brown trout fishing of this past spring! Client Matt with one of two fish over 22” he landed in early June!
One of many fine wild rainbows we saw on the Androcoggin River this June.
Androscoggin River:
The Androscoggin River is currently too warm to target trout with water temps running consistently over 70 degrees. Head up tributaries if you want to find suitable trout water. It will take a few days of air temps in the 40’s to 60’s to get andro temps down enough.
Saco River:
Saco river water temps have been in the low 60’s to upper sixties for most days. On days over 85 degrees be sure to temp the river as you fish and avoid fishing when water temps exceed 70 degrees. This is usually after 1pm on most hot days so you still have a good window of fishing early in the day. Look for midges and BWO’s as we get into summer flows. Some evenings may still produce gray drake hatches although those will be winding down. On cooler days yellow sallies, grey and black caddis can be important with streamers still the ticket any time we get high water from thunderstorms. Expect ants, beetles and hoppers to become more and more important as we move into the middle of July. I like fishing a size 8 hopper as a searching pattern and if I find fish that get too smart to eat the bigger fly I’ll switch to a smaller ant, beetle or bwo pattern to dial in the picky fish.
Mountain streams:
Mountain streams have been fishing very well as of late. We’ve seen a good amount of caddis activity on most streams with a good mix of wild and stocked trout around on the more productive stretches of water. We have noticed that some streams have changed a lot over the past few seasons of high water events. It is a good idea to cover a lot of water if you aren’t finding fish as habitat has changed and places where you might have found fish in seasons past could be devoid due to changes in habitat. We’ve found that if you keep moving you will find new pools and runs that hold fish better now than in seasons past. We’ve been doing well with mostly dry flies as of late with tan and black caddis working best in the bigger slower pools and royal PMX dries taking fish out of the faster runs. Ants and hoppers have also been working .
A brown trout from the lower Androscoggin River caught during high flows this spring!
Looking Ahead:
It’s looking like this heat wave is taken over by a cold front starting tomorrow with waves of low pressure in the mix leading into nexts weeekend. It should be a good time to keep an eye on the hydrograph and chase water bumps that will have fish in a feeding fenzy wherever and whenever they occur. We have this coming friday and saturday (July 11th and 12th) open, if anyone want to get in on the action, give us a shout! As summer progresses we just have to keep hoping for a little rain here and there to keep the fish excited. Small streams and the connecticut river will likely offer the most reliable fishing through the dog days of summer. We have dates available from July through October so please let us know if you would like to get on our calendar!
Tight Lines,
Nate