October= Big Trout

Well we had September for the record books as to very high numbers of fish landed on our floats. We had many days with multiple doubles to the net and 40 even 60 fish days were the norm. Now that October is here we are still getting high numbers of fish but we have also been getting into bigger trout. With water temps in the 50’s on almost all of our waters and rain bumping flows the larger browns and rainbows have awaken and our trophy trout trips are in full gear!

We have spent years honing our trout hunting skills in order to get to a point where we feel confident in guiding over larger predatory trout. Last year was a breakthrough year in the learning process and this year we have been able to put that knowledge into our guiding. We are fortunate to guide some fishy people who are able to make it happen when the strikes come and we are thankful for the large trout our guests have been able to land this season.

The extended forecast looks promissing for good bite windows through October and into November. If you are interested in catching the trout of a lifetime now is the time to book your Fall trip. We have dates available for the rest of October and November.

Here is what we are seeing on our local waters right now.

Andro:

The epic Isonychia hatches are still coming off on warmer days and BWO’s have begun on our cooler days. We had rising fish yesterday but they were tough and we did better with nymphs. Fish have transitioned form the fastest water to mid depth and mid speed riffles. Streamers are beginning to become more important as well.

Saco:

The Saco is getting a good bump of rain as I write this report. This means now is the time to throw big flies for big fish. If you are going to try this on foot a type five sink tip works great along with a 6 or 7wt high quality rod like the Helios 3D. From the boat we prefer full sink streamer lines like the Orvis Depth charge or Airflo streamer max. I like bright flies in brown trout colors this time of the year. A drunk and disorderly in orange, tan and yellow is hard to beat. Look up Mike Schmidt at www.anglerschoiceflies.com if you are looking to get your hands on some high quality brown trout streamers. I’ve been using his flies for years now and they move in the water just the right way to trigger the predatory instincts of alpha trout.

Mountain Streams:

Now is not the time to fish mountain streams. Most the brook trout are lock jaw due to their focus on spowning or their post spawn funk. Look to bigger water where fish migrate to winter over.

Wild Brook Trout Waters:

Our wild brook trout waters are still fishing well bright colored baby brook trout streamers are working well on these waters right now. I tie a modified woods special streamer that seems to always get these fish’s attention. This fishing will hopefully be good until their season closes on October 15th.

So While the regular trout season ends on October 15th here in NH we still have open water with good fishing opportunities available through November. Please let us know if you are interested in pursuing these late season opportunities. Here is some of what we have been catching lately.

Rob Wolfchuck with an absolute beast.

Dave Warlick with the biggest rainbow of his life…24” and very fat.

Charlie Houghton with the biggest brown of his life…another 2 foot trout.

Tight lines,

Nate

September Report... Fall is here!

As I write this the leaves are turning from green to gold. The fish in our waters are in their prime fall feeding rhythms at the moment. With the last few weeks of cooler weather our fall hatches are well underway. The andro is seeing good Isonychia mayfly hatches and Rhyacophila caddis hatches almost every day. We have already seen the bite window shift from early mornings to late morning into the early afternoon. For all of you who like to catch fish but hate getting up early or staying out late now is your time to shine! Best bites this time of the year are 9am to 5pm….yes bankers hours.

Andro:

We have seen some very high numbers of fish on the upper Andro this fall. Larger fish have been harder to find simply because there are soooo many fish. But we have been able to find a few good fish on most days. The lower river from Berlin to Maine has produced good fishing as well with slightly lower numbers but good chances at larger fish in the 14-18” class. We enjoy the challenge of this water and we know it well enough to stay consistently successful.

Saco:

The Saco has seen some good flying ant hatches as of late but with the cooling weather look to fish midges, bwo’s or bigger streamers when the water bumps up. Nymphing can also be successful with larger stones and mopflies when the water bumps. We have seen some larger browns this time of they year when flows bump so keep an eye on the forecast. I got out last week after a rain and missed two browns in the 20” class. Still thinking about those ones an hoping to get myself or a client into one of them if we can get the water.

Mountain Streams:

The mountain streams continue to fish very well with dry flies, a small orange stimulator is hard to beat this time of the year as it represents the october caddis that commonly hatch on mountain streams this time of the year. With the cold fall we are having these streams might shut off a little earlier than normal. I wouldn’t be surprised if the brook trout go lock jaw by mid September. The Rainbows will be heading to the bigger rivers where they will feed until the snow falls.

Wild Brook Trout waters:

Our wild brook trout waters have been fishing exceptionally well as of late and we were able to find some new water this fall that we are very excited to share with our guests. This is some of our favorite fishing and the fall is a great time to see the colors of the pre-spawn wild brook trout. Check out our instagram page @hillcountryguides to see some vieos of recent wild brook trout action.

Trophy Trout trips:

This fishing is turning on right now. The big fish are waking up and we look forward to hitting this water with our clients who are ready to hunt for a few quality fish over going for numbers. While this isn’t a game for those who need constant hook-up’s we are confident that if you work hard you will get shots at some fish of a lifetime. Please let us know if you are interested in learning more about these excitiing trips.

While there is still some time left to get on the books Fall is here and you don’t want to wait to set up your October or Late September trips.

Looking forward to seeing many of you this fall.

Tight lines,

Nate

This is how good the Andro has been as of late. See our instagram page for more pics @hillcountryguides.

Mid-August Report (Eary Fall Fishing is here!)

I felt compelled to update this report today after yesterdays trip. We had one of our most productive days on the water this year yesterday. Cold temps up north have dropped water temps on the upper andro into the upper 60’s and the trout and salmon have responded in a big way. It looks like the long range trend is for cooler weather up north over the next few weeks so if you have been wondering when to book a trip now is the time. We have a few dates open through the end of August as well as dates in early September. While many people seem to want to wait for fall foliage to fish there is no reason not to fish right now. The bites last all day and the fish are taking advantage of cooler water than they have had in over a month. Here is what is going on with all of our fishing.

Small streams:

The small streams continue to fish well and we have been seeing good dry fly fishing with stimulator style dries and flying ants becoming more important over the past few days. Warm days will trigger flying ant swarms, this means great dry fly fishing even when it is warm out.

Ellis River:

The Ellis has slowed a bit but should turn on soon with cooler weather and wild brookies getting their feed on before the spawn. Cover water and fish dry droppers to find fish.

Saco River:

The Saco river continues to fish well in the mornings and evenings with hoppers, ants and beetles, BWO nymphs and dries and Golden Stoneflies just before dark. Be prepared for flying ants here as well. You will want to cary cinnamon and honey colored ants in size 16-22 the smaller male ants can also be a chocolate brown in color.

Androscoggin:

As stated above the andro is on fire right now. Cooler weather in the forecast for next weekend means a continued strong bite. Isonychia mayflies are getting more and more active and we are also seeing a smattering of BWO’s and tan Caddis around. If you like fishing dry flies but want the productivity of nymphs a bouyant parachute style Isonychia with a havey pheasant tail dropper is hard to beat right now.

I hope you are all getting out and hitting the water because now is the time! A few of our recent catches.

Chris with a hard fighting wild rainbow.

Michael Chalsen with a 4lb rainbow.

One of seven doubles to the net from Sunday August 18th.

Early August Report (updated August 11th)

AUGUST 11th update!

We have had cooler weather over the past few days and it looks to continue into the next few weeks. Now is the time to float the Andro! With lower water temps trout will be active for longer windows during the day. We have dates available through the end of August and into September!

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Fishing has held on strong this summer with good bite windows on all of our waters continuing into August. If the fishing wasn’t already good enough it looks like we have rain and cooler temps in the forecast this week.

Saco:

The Saco continues to fish well with a mix mayflies coming off on most mornings. We’ve done well swinging hares ear nymphs when fish are tough to take on dries. We have seen some black flying ants but the big swarms of cinnimon and honey ants will come later in August. We got out the other evening as temps began to drop and found a few good fish chomping on large golden stoneflies. This evening bite should improve a bit with slightly cooler days over the next week.

Andro:

We’ve done well on the lower Andro recently with cooler temps filtering in. BWO nymphs and dries as well as Isonychia dries and grey caddis have all done the trick. If that isn’t working be sure to try flying ants as they work on the Ando as well as the Saco. We have avoided the upper river due to lack of cold water over the past few weeks but that should change now with colder overnight temps and warm instead of hot days. We are predictiong some good to great late summer fishing in the Errol area very soon.

Small streams:

We have been doing well on small streams with Grey Caddis and tan caddis nymphs along with PMX dries. If you fish this water be sure to cover pools thoroughly and keep moving. Often the fish are where the habitat is best, sometimes that is five pools in a row and other times it is a pool and then a quarter mile to the next stretch of good water. The fun is in never knowing what lies upstream or down. We love the adventure of this type of fishing and would love to show you why!

Trophy trout hunts:

We have been doing more focused trips for larger trout this year. We are confident that we can get shots at these larger trout on most days and we look forward to seeing you hook these impressive fish. It has taken years to get dialed into where when and how to target these larger fish and we are happy that our hard work is paying of dividends for many of our clients. Last weekend we guided Matt Lawton on one such trip. After a morning of hooking many fish we spent the afternoon searching for larger trout and Matt got into three fish over 18”. A great way to end an awesome day! Too catch up more of what we have been up to be sure to follow us on instagram @hillcountryguides.

Now is the time to get out and fish. We have guides available on most days!

Tight lines,

Nate

Mid- July Report

Well it has been a long time since we have updated this report. As always that is not because the fishing has been slow but because we have been on the water 24-7.

Androscoggin River:

The andro was fishing well earlier in the week but we have been staying away with the recent warm temps. When conditions are right we have caught fish on everything from streamers to nymphs and dries. Samller Pheasant tails, mop flies, buggers and purple haze dries have all been on the menu. A cold front this week may drop temps enough for early day floats again.

Saco River:

We have been doing well on the Saco during early mornings. Amazingly we are still seeing Grey Drake mayflies along with smaller rusty spinners and BWO’s. We’ve also seen a good deal of clinger mayflies moving about the rocks as of late and this has resulted in some successful nymphing both dead drifted and on the swing. We have been playing with some terrestrials but they really have not been keying on hoppers, ant’s or beetles as of late.

Ellis River:

The Ellis has been fishing well this season but has slowed a bit with warmer weather. Fish the upper river and deeper pools. Dry flies early and dry droppers later in the morning.

Mountain Streams:

Our mountain streams are all fishing very well right now. Yellow foam EHC have done well to represent the small yellow sally stoneflies that are always around in the morings. Pairing that with a small cream colored caddis pupa can be deadly. Fishing a royal PMX or similar attractor dry when the water starts to warm has been working well.

While we have been busy lateley we have some time on the calendar over the next few weeks so give us a shout if you want to hit the water. We think you will enjoy it!

If you are looking for pictures to update you on what we’ve been catching check us out on instagram @natefish83.

A recent streamer eater from the andro see more @natefish83 on instagram

Thanks for reading and tight lines,

Nate