New Hampshire Part 4 / Once in a Lifetime trout Part 3

I did not expect to see a rainbow jumping out of the water after a hookset

This big guy hit a parachute adams that was under the surface

I caught this trout in Profile Lake

The last few weeks I have had Fridays and Saturdays off from work. I have been hoping to get back up to New Hampshire for the last couple of weeks.  Although I've been to New Hampshire three times this year, they were all in May and ewarly June ( hence the title, this is number 4)This week I knew I would be out of work fairly early on Thursday so we decided to go up Thursday night. Only DJ and I went up. Since DJ has cross country practice starting Monday. This was our only chance all summer for some quality father-son time.

Thursday

A shiner from the construction pond

We headed up Thursday after work. We figured even if we got caught in traffic ( we did) and got to the mountains after dark, sleeping in the tent was better than sleeping in our beds. We will take any night under the stars we can get! The thought of getting an early start on Friday morning instead of a 3 hour drive also weighed into our plans. Right from the beginning, things did not go as planned. On the drive to New Hampshire, DJ started feeling a little sick. By the time we went to bed he had a pretty bad fever. After we got out of traffic, it was about 6:15 we were just getting to Manchester. We were hoping to get to Profile Lake  by 7:30 to give us a 1/2 hour to fish before dark.

By the time we were out of traffic, it was pretty obvious we would not be fishing if our goal was Profile Lake.  We decided to fish Sky Pond, a small pond in the Lakes Region 40 minutes closer than Franconia Notch. We got the kayaks off the car about 7:10. This gave us about 40 minutes to fish before darkness set in. Maybe you don't consider it worth the effort to untie and load kayaks for 45 minutes worth of fishing, for me it was pure joy. Unfortunately the trout did not co-operate. I caught one while DJ was skunked. After dark we packed up, got some Burger King and headed up to our camping area.

After fishing, DJ's health worsened, he had a nasty fever, He took fever reducer every four hours until Saturday night. As long as he took the medicine, he was fine. Although he had a tough night sleeping Thursday, Friday he slept well. Although he felt okay most of our 48 hours, his fever did change our plans. For Friday we planned to hike out to Shoal Pond ( 9 miles round trip) to fish for wild trout. However, we thought it best if we did not go to far from the road and didn't do any crazy hiking.

Friday

So on  Friday morning we headed south instead of towards Crawford Notch. We drove back to Profile Lake.  I got up ridiculously early. DJ slept while I fished for a couple of hours. This worked out better for him than me. He felt a lot better after his nap and I only caught ONE  brook trout.  Now that DJ was feeling better but hiking still not a possibility, we had to plan the day. I suggested we hit some trout streams and lakes near the road along with get pictures of the scenery (the sky was bright blue in the morning)

After Profile Lake, he headed to the Kancamangus. We stopped in Lincoln to get worms, just to make life a little easier. Our plan was to do a big loop from Profile Lake, over the Kanc, up to Jackson where I got a fishing tip from my friend Clay. From there, go up through Crawford Notch back to Profile to fish the evening until dark. Before I begin our travel, let me let you know we kind of blitzkrieged our way across our route. If we didn't catch a fish within a few minutes, or if the water was lower than expected in a pool or to crowded, we simply moved on.

Our first stop after Lincoln was Rocky Gorge. We walked behind the gorge to Falls Pond. We didn't get any hits within a couple minutes so we headed to Lower Falls. Lower Falls had a resemblance to Horseneck Beach on a Saturday so we did not fish. I saw more swimmers and towels than I had all summer. We did eat lunch at the picnic area so all was not lost. Because we barely fished at Rocky Gorge and bypassed it entirely at Lower Falls we were hours ahead of schedule. In fact we were in danger of being back at Profile by 1 pm. The town at the end of the Kanc is Conway. Since we had so much time, we looked for the construction pond I fished with Clay that had small wild brookies and shiners. I don't know how anyone can live in Conway and N. Conway with all that gosh darn tourist traffic.

Believe it or not we actually found the little pond. It didn't take long either. I've said many times I'd rather be lucky than good. We both got out our fly rods. The last time we fished this pond, fishing was furious. We easily caught 30 fish between us. By the time I got to this little gem, I realized August fishing was a hell of a lot harder than June fishing.  The same held true here. I caught 4 trout and 2 shiners ( all but 2 shiners were on worms). DJ caught 4 shiners all on the fly rod. We fished about 45  minutes. After fishing the little construction pond we went up to Jackson to fish the Ellis River. I don't know this area well. We didn't really find any pools deep enough to hold fish and headed back down to Route 302 rather quickly.

We drove up to Crawford Notch. We were going to feed the fish in the kids only pond when I noticed a bunch of trout below the dam in the Saco River. You may recall that I have yet to catch a trout in a river. All spring I fished ponds and making only the occasional cast into a stream or river. I walked back to the car all secretively hoping no one else saw the trout in the stream. We got out our rods and non shalantly walked down to the river. I must have looked like a dufus casually walking down to the river. I was just hoping no one else was going to fish the spot before I could walk back to it. The area was really crowded with tourists and picnicers. I put on a hares ear and caught a 10 inch trout. After a few minutes without another hit, but seeing fish rise I switched to a parachute adams ( a dry fly, meaning it floats).  The fly didn't get any hits the first few casts. It got wet and startedt o sink. As soon as it went under water the trout went nuts for it. Immediately I caught another trout about 10-12 inches. On the next cast I hooked into a big one. After a 5 minute battle I landed a huge trout. It easily went 3 pounds thanks to all the pellets thrown down by tourists. It was FAT!!! After I let that one go I hooked another little one. Three casts- three fish. I tried to give DJ my spot but he chose to fish the next pool down. After I caught my forth it was to late, the trout either stopped feeding or spooked.

We left  and drove up to pick some blueberries near the AMC Hostel. We picked enough to make a pie. Eating blueberries is more fun than picking them, so we picked them until our back hurt. After blueberry picking we went to the town of Carrol ( near Twin Mountain) and bought pizza for supper. I wanted to fish, but I think DJ earned the right to eat pizza. We got a ham and pineapple. It was delicious. It was thundering out while we ate so I told myself I couldn't fish anyway. after supper we went back to Profile. I caught one more trout. DJ caught one small yellow perch. Back at camp we could see thousands of stars.

Saturday

One of the four DJ caught Saturday morning

By Saturday morning DJ was really frustrated he hadn't caught a trout. I tried to give him some advice. I explained what I thought he might be doing wrong. Lastly I told him to take the best casting spot if I offer it to him. I can't make the trout hit his fly. On the other hand if most of the trout are surfacing at the far end of Profile Lake, it doesn't make sense to fish the middle of the lake to occasional surfacing trout. You have to fish smart, not fish stubborn.Your chances greatly improve if you cast at 30 trout instead of two. If he wants to be a successful trout fisherman, he is going to have to put in the effort. He's not automaticly going to catch trout the first time he uses his fly rod in August.

After we picked up the tent, we headed back toward the Eisenhower Wayside to pick some more blueberries. We picked for another 30 minutes. Now we should have enough for a pie and plenty for our cereal the next few days. After picking I stopped at the river near the brown gas station in Bretton Woods. I walked down to the bank and fished it for 10 minutes. I landed a rainbow. I was suprised to catch a rainbow there. More importantly I was happy to catch fish in a river. This was my second river I caught fish in as many days.

I asked DJ if he wanted to give the Saco River another chance. He begrudgingly agreed. Luckily his luck changed. In a little less than an hour he caught four brookies. The biggest was a fat fourteen incher. I couldn't have been happier for him.

I love the colors of wild trout no matter how small

From there we headed toward home. We stopped in Center Harbor in search of rock bass. Alas, all we caught were some pumpkniseeds and yellow perch. We were home about 4:40. I had a great time because I basically got to fish non stop for a couple days. I felt bad for DJ because he would rather hike but he just couldn't. However, he maed the best of it. It was his idea to get blueberries. I normally would not have gotten the Burger King or the pizza but he wanted them and it was his getaway too.

Totals:

Nick- 12 trout ( 11 brookies, 1 rainbow) 3 shiners, a couple pumpkinseeds and yellow perch

DJ- 4 brook trout, 4 shiners, pumpkinseed

Animals we saw- 2 fox, about 8 turkeys, beaver

Firsts- I finally caught trout in a river. DJ is the first Pacelli to catch a shiner on a fly