NORTH COUNTRY

Fishing has been hot this week... That opening line has little to do with the subject of angler success. What I meant was that fishing has been hot this week. Twice, I've gone out and been flailing fly line in the heat and twice, I've been forced off the water by thunderstorms. That leaves me with little to write about when constructing a fishing report. Fortunately, a large part of my job is communicating with fishermen who seem to have more time and greater success than I do.

A gentleman stopped me in my Fish and Game truck in Errol last week. He had been fishing Little Greenough Pond in Wentworth's Location and seemed to be enjoying every minute of it. The hex hatch is just about over, but he was still catching trout on emerger patterns just below the surface. The summer heat has a significant impact on the willingness of a trout to rise, and this angler was doing his best after 6 PM. He told me that the pond has been quiet and he had not seen another person all week. When we finally parted ways, he gave me a couple of his favorite flies and drove off, hoping to fish Corser Pond that evening.

I have been working on a culvert replacement on a tributary to Indian Stream this week. The goal is to remove an old, impassable culvert and replace it with a new structure that offers wild brook trout a better chance to utilize more of their home stream. It is hard (and hot) work, but the result will be fixing a piece of a much larger ecosystem and improving the habitat for trout. It has been satisfying in many ways and reminds me of how lucky I am to be able to manage fish in this way.

- Andy Schafermeyer, Regional Fisheries Biologist


LAKES REGION


As indicated in the previous report, night work has begun, sampling large-lakes forage (prey) fish populations, so this report will be necessarily brief (please refer to the last report for more details regarding this work, along with large-lakes predator/prey relationships). Regardless, as previously noted, the same numbers typically hold for most of late summer: trolling depths of 30-40 feet (6-8 colors leadcore) will readily put you into the thermocline with waiting landlocked salmon, rainbow trout, and lake trout, particularly at daybreak.

Per usual at Winnipesaukee's sampling onset, young-of-year (YOY) pelagic forage-fish are currently very small (1-1.5 inches), with YOY smelt and white perch essentially translucent. "Match the hatch" in this case can be nearly impossible, and not really necessary, but keeping presentations generally small can typically generate more consistent action - think single-hook, sparsely tied streamers, often in sizes more considered apt for brook trout. The wide variety of smaller trolling spoons available today (e.g. mini-Mooselook) are also solid choices. Of course, the angler in the next boat will be catching some fish on the larger, classic and coveted nickel/copper 61 Sutton this time of year... so go figure. But when in doubt, try smaller...

Late summer is also a fantastic time to hit White Mountain headwaters for wild brook trout; it's tough to beat a lazy, hot and humid summer afternoon of wet-wading and rock hopping with a trusty ultra-light spin or light fly rod. Pick a "thin blue line" on the map (many aren't even named), check for temps under ~65F, and refresh, literally and figuratively

- John Viar, Regional Fisheries Biologist


MONADNOCK/UPPER VALLEY

Things have been pretty quiet on the fishing front down here in southwestern part of the state and I haven't been able to get out much myself. Drop me a line at gabriel.gries@wildlife.nh.gov and let me know how you've been doing regarding fishing in our area.

- Gabe Gries, Regional Fisheries Biologist

Of Interest:

Trout stocking reports: read this year's reports at http://www.fishnh.com/fishing/trout-stocking.html

Fishing licenses: fishnh.com. Don't forget - kids under 16 fish free in NH!