Nic that is something special you found there. I can't wait to see what you stumble across when to head in even deeper into the woods up stream. Keep us posted
Nic
That Newfound River is a hit or miss thing but usually it's always got "customers" on it which is one of the reasons I don't hit it that much. I'm like you, give me the wilds and the frees. Back in the 80's I did hit it more often, but it was in August when everybody had given up on it. Back then there was a dam in tact and a fair pond before the dam. Up stream a hundred yards or so there was a log on the right hand side as you faced the lake. Every time I drifted a dry fly by that log a huge brown, like in about 24 inches huge, would rise up like a submarine real slow and get to about 3 inches below the fly, eyeball it, and sink right back down. I gave serious thought to putting the 44 mag to that sob as I couldn't get him to take no matter what I did. Never heard of anyone taking him.
Far and away where you fished was a lot better place. Beautiful scenery, peace, quiet, some fish. It just don't get much better than that.
Nicely done!
Nice pics! Maybe there's a beaver dam upstream with a nice deep pool behind it.
Hey nice story and fish if you have time you relly should take a ride out 118 way goto dorchester center road or something like that and take left you will find brook out there along road with turn offs that is wilderness type area is beautiful lots of game and fish
enjoy the rest of your vacation
So today started with plans to hit the Newfound River. I got a late start and didn't get there until 9ish. There was one other guy just getting rigged up. We exchanged nods, drank our respective coffee's and rigged up. He hit the river while I was tying on my flies. Then another vehicle pulls up. Now some backstory. I'm a solitary kind of guy, probably should have been a hermit. I'm a friendly guy, don't get me wrong, but when I fish, unless I'm going with somebody I like to get away from the crowds and keep to myself. I'll give a courtesy hello or a nod and usually thats it. Sometimes if the right person stikes up a conversation you can get me talking. Today just wasn't one of those days. This guy and a younger guy pull up and the older guys starts yapping. He's asking about the river, if I fish it often. To which I respond I hadn't fished it yet this year. I'm short with my answers and really just focusing on tying on my fly hoping he would get the point. He didn't....he says, "so you're putting on a green wooly bugger huh?" Seems he's either probing for more or questioning my choice. finally he stops and he and his parter drive down the road. Fast forward 20 minutes and I'd fished a bit and forgot my hat at the car. I ran back up to it it when the older guy walks buy and says, "still haven't hit the river." Jesus, he just won't shut up. Then he decides to make a comment about the size of my indicator. Well it kind of went..."what is...oh is that an INDICATOR? Can't miss that one!" That about put me over the edge, yep. I fish and idicator, not afraid to admit it. I catch fish! So I left. Turns out to be the best decision I made all day.
So on to the real story....
I went to this brook I knew of somewhere between Bristol and Plymouth....
I had never fished it before. I just knew if must have some nice little brookies in it. I hadn't fished but 200 yards of this brook when I see a small feeder brook that leads into this one. Hmm, looked promising:
So I started on up the brook fishing a stimulator. First hole I fished and a strike:
Then not too far up this brook, basically right around the first corner from the road, I see this:
What a nice surprise. I dont' know how many people know of this. It's appartenly right on the corner of some state land. There was a marker there. It's so close to the road, but just out of site. What a nice treasure to find. This made the day worthwhile! I continued to fish excited for what might be around the corner. I didn't really care that any fish I might catch would be an average of 3" long. It was fun to explore. This is really what fishing should be about. I think just about everywhere on this brook you could jump across whithout getting wet. I saw some really nice small waterfalls! I really like to zoom in with my telephoto lens and it makes the smallest fall seem much larger!
All in all I think I caught about 8 brookies. Not alot and not anything of any size. I did see many birds and a hawk, I think it was a red tailed. It was a fun little hike. I'd like to explore further up someday and see what is up there. I probably went up 3/4 of a mile or so. The brook probably isn't even on a map, but it doesn't seem to be seasonal. I bet in the heat of summer the water gets mighty low... A great way to get out and relax for the day. Sure beat fishing the newfound! I really shouldn't get so worked up, but fishing for me it different I guess. It seems the older I get (I haven't even hit 30 yet...) the more solitude I like and the more I seem to enjoy these small brooks. I guess the exploring must bring out the child in me
Enjoy the rest of the photos on the next post!
-Nic
"They say you forget your troubles on a trout stream, but that's not quite it. What happens is that you begin to see where your troubles fit into the grand scheme of things, and suddenly they're just not such a big deal anymore."
John Gierach