What a fantastic weekend!  I barely slept Friday night I was so anxious to fish.  My brother and I have been planning a day for me to teach him how to fly fish for months.  I bought him a bunch of necessities for Christmas last year and his birthday this past March and the excitement of introducing my brother to my favorite hobby was overwhelming.

We have had several “casting lessons” in my mother’s back yard over the past several months, but due to time constraints while visiting the family and lack of a VT license, we had not ever made it to the water until this weekend.  So there was plenty of build up for this trip.

I thought and thought and asked people where I should take him to better his chances of catching something good.  A salmon or a big trout preferably, but a nice bass certainly wouldn’t have hurt his feelings either.

With some guidance I came to the conclusion that I should try Bristol in the Pemigewasset, and I figured if we failed miserably we could at least hit the Smith River Koda had told me about or the Winnipesaukee River, or even head a little further north if absolutely necessary.

My mother and brother arrived at about 1pm, and Chance (my brother) and I got our gear in the car, printed off a fishing license, and took to the road by 2:30 pm.  I knew it was hot and the peak of the day wouldn’t provide us with the best chances, but I was just too anxious to sit home.

We made a quick stop a Dairy Queen in Franklin and took the scenic route up route 3 by Koda’s house into Bristol.  As we crossed the bridge and were about to make the right hand turn onto Coolidge Wood Road, I saw a stocking truck parked on the corner, and sure enough they were pulling large nets of fish out of the tank in the back.

I stopped briefly and said, “Nice day for some fishing, huh boys!?”  To which they looked either dumbfounded or just irritated by my stupidity for making such a statement.  My brother laughed and asked if he could drop a fly in the tank, and I pulled away before they could respond.

I said to Chance, “Well that is a good sign.”  And he replied, “You know you won’t catch any of those today.  Right?”  I said,  “Usually not, because they are in shock from being moved, but it could happen.”

A little ways down Coolidge Wood Road I saw a couple of cars and a fish and game truck pulled over.  We went on a bit further and pulled off at the next spot which was vacant.  As we were getting dressed for the occasion the conservation officer pulled up and asked if we were going in or coming out.  I believe her name is Heidi, if I recall correctly from having spoke with Koda.  She was awesome and checked our licenses, wished us luck and left.  My brother noted how much kinder she was than our last encounter with a fish and game officer while in Vermont.

When we got down to the water, Chance was immediately concerned with the current.  After having fished some crazy currents myself, I can tell you the current was definitely navigable, and his virgin wading legs just couldn’t hack it.  He tried while though and gave up pretty quickly, so I took him off the main river to a little flow that was basically stagnant that shot off the main river and reconnected near where we parked.

I knew there wouldn’t be a very good chance of much fish in there, but I figured it was a good place for him to work out casting, and maybe a lonely bass had trapped itself in one of the pools.  No such luck but it was a good exercise in casting amongst trees for him.

After becoming bored I pulled him back out to the main river, and found some stiller water for him to fish.  I was insisting on him using streamers, because there was no top water activity visible, it was hot, and I figured a novice might be better off with a streamer to start with.

We fished that spot for hours, and then I switched to an olive wooly bugger I tied with lots of flash and had a hit.  Then I saw two bass chase it and then disappear just as it approached me.  Then there was nothing again.

So we headed up river to some rapids, and Chance had tied on a stimulator I tied and had hung on my bag he was using.  He seemed to like the dry fly because he could see it.

After hours of casting he was getting bored, and we were both very hot in our waders and gear so I headed back to the car to move it up stream and get some beverages for both of us.

When I returned we moved back down to the stiller water, and it was about 6-7 pm at this point and the moon was showing over the river as the sun approached the western tree line.  All of a sudden the water started showing fish as they jumped clear out of the water chasing their prey.

I told chance to make sure he had a dry on and follow me.  They were in the deeper portion of the river on the western half, so we waded out as far as we could from the east side, and started chucking flies.  It was a lot of river however and putting the fly over fish was difficult.  I think I may have made some sort of record casting for me however.  I must have put out 60 feet of line, as my brother was amazed by my casting ability.

I was using a new fly I had devised the night before.  It was a dry fly that would have to be in the blue winged olive family.  I used 5 or six strands of natural deer hair for a tail and wrapped the body with green feather quill, then deer hair wings like the comparadun, and medium dun hackle.  It took a bit but I landed a nice 10” salmon on it before long.   Chance missed a few and caught some tiny bass, before I hooked and landed my next salmon.  This one was the same size but looked horrible.  Its face was all banged up and its pectoral fins looked like crap.  It had to be a fishery’s recent release.

I missed a few more and got excited causing me to tangle up my line more than actually fishing.  It was starting to get dark and chance had now managed to land two fall fish over 10 inches, and was fairly impressed with his recently discovered ability with a fly rod.  So I started talking about calling it quits, but I am not one to make it back to the car before dark, and so I moved a little further down river and made some casts while Chance continued where he was.  I hooked up and pulled in some decent small mouths around 10” or so, and then Chance came to join me.

Shortly after chance started casting a dry over the water 20 feet down river I hooked into a real good fighter.  I thought it had to be a nice bass, and low and behold it was a 14” rainbow.  The most perfect looking fish and nicest trout I have ever caught.  His colors were spectacular.  As I went for the camera he made a mission impossible leap and disappeared into the pool.  I was gravely disappointed.

So after a few more fruitless casts, we packed up and headed for the car, which was cloaked in the darkness of the forest by then.

A good day I thought to myself.  I taught Chance some basics and made a personal best for myself.  What more could I ask for?  Another day of fishing maybe…?

We got to sleep around midnight and we were both really tired.  At 4:30 am I awoke and thought man I should go back to sleep, but I was just dreaming about fishing, and how often do I have the opportunity to fish with my brother?  So I hopped in the shower and woke Chance up at 4:50 am.  He was reluctant at first, but got his shit together and we were headed out of town by 5:30 am with breakfast in a bag and a coffee in hand.

We went to Lochmere a spot Brandon introduced me to on the opening day of salmon season.  We started at the mouth and had no luck what so ever with nymphs, streamers, or dries, despite the occasional rise in the sediment flowing out to the lake on the surface of the water.

After watching a loon rise and disappear for about 20 minutes a hundred yards or so from where I was fishing I talked Chance into heading up the river towards the dam.

He fished about half way up and I headed to the dam itself.  In the very pool where Brandon caught the biggest rainbow I may ever see with my own eyes, I cast in one of the wood duck heron flies from the swap and wham, instant strike as I pulled in a nice small mouth about 10”.  Then a few more casts revealed several tiny small mouths less than 5”.

After a few minutes Chance made his way up and I tried to get him on something in the cascading pocket but he couldn’t seem to get the technique right.

So I continued to throw steamers into the current and the slower water off the sides or the damns release.  Meanwhile Chance got frustrated and asked for something other than the wooly-bugger he was fighting with.  I tied on a pheasant tail that I had made up the other night.  It was green died pheasant tail, with silver wire and UV ice peacock dubbing, and a bit of peacock herl for the thorax.   I weighted a couple heavily with lead wrap and I chose one of those and added a big split shot about 14” up the leader.  He started by jigging it between the rocks in the slow water off the sides of the dam release and immediately began pulling small mouth, rock bass and panfish out of the rocks.  I was impressed, and then a light bulb went off.  That is essentially what check nymphing is all about, just add current and allow the nymph to flow along the bottom.

So I shared my little epiphany with my brother and told him to once again try the white water in the pocket below the dam release and I’ll be damned, Chance immediately pulled out a rock bass that had to be 10”, and shortly after a small mouth of comparable dimensions.

I was really happy that he had such good time fishing with me and that I could share my love for fly fishing with my brother.  I think I brought another angler to light.  To boot I am now much more comfortable nymphing and can’t wait to try it again.

I guess you could say I learned from him, and he learned from me.

I was very impressed with myself here.  This fly looked like something I'd buy at the fly shop to me. 

Well done Theron, that is a great report.  Do you think it belongs in the Fresh Water Fishing Reports ??  instead or here??  If you think it should stay here fine, but if you want me to move it I will.

Now to your Dry Flies in the middle set of pictures, try using shorter hackle, Hackle should be a little longer then the Gap of the hook.  I think yours are a little too long.  Other then that they look good.

Any one up for fishing this Thursday the 5th???  I am going to fish the Wildcat River in Jackson with a friend from Alabama, if anyone else wants to come along let me know and we can determine a meeting place.

See Yah

Lee

Theron

I think they will float better with the right size hackle.

I will move the report.

See Yah

Lee

That's quite the report! Good work!