50th Trout of 2011

I caught my 50th trout of the year at Falls Pond early this morning. My goal for the entire year was 50. I had never spent enough time trout fishing to even come close to that number ( in New England). Starting the year I was not sure if 50 was a realistic goal. Because I spend so much time carp fishing and chasing fish with stripes, I didn't know if I'd come close.

I know theres a bunch of guys that have caught double that number already. I am not jealous of them at all. On days that I went trout fishing, I usually stopped after I caught 3 or 4 to go carp fishing. Many days I'd limit out in 90 minutes then try my luck at Hopping Hill carp fishing. Also if I was catching them on Powerbait I'd usually put the rod away and fish with lures. I wasn't going to have trout swallow the hook just to pad my stats.

Here are some breakdowns:

50 trout- 46 rainbows, 3 browns, 1 brookie

Number of days where I caught at least one trout- 16

Number of different lakes I caught trout -4 ( three of them within 15 minutes of my house)

Lake I caught the most- Falls Pond 30 ( was there any doubt? )

Day I caught the most- May 8 ( 12- 6 in the morning, 6 fly fishing in the evening )

Ways they were caught

Roostertail 6

Powerbait 20

Spoon 1

Unknown ( didn't write it down) 2

Casting bubble/ fly 12

Fly fishing with fly rod 9 (all in the last three evenings)

So whats next for trout fishing for me ? Well, I reached my goal of fifty. I still enjoy fishing for trout. The journey to fifty was a lot more fun than reaching 50. I have had so much fun fly fishing the last couple of nights, I will probably put the spinning rod away for the year. I will fly fish during insect hatches. I'm not keeping any more trout to eat. Letting fish go is a lot easier on a fly rod then Powerbait. The dilemma for the next ten evenings or so is, the tide will be great the next couple weeks for my favorite striper hotspots. With as well stocked as this fly fishing only pond is, I could easily catch over five trout every evening from my kayak. Tough call.

I hope to get up to New Hampshire a couple times this summer to fly fish for brookies. There are two lakes that have wild trout. I would love to catch some of them. There also some back country lakes that are ariel stocked with fingerlings ( baby trout ) that grow in the lake. I hope to fish some of them. If I blow off striper fishing the next couple weeks ( unlikely) and have good fishing in the White Mountains, I have an outside shot at 100. But if I only catch a few more trout this year and a whole lot more stripers, I will still be one happy fisherman !!