The Call of the Wild

I went up to New Hampshire the last couple of days. I went alone. I can't say I NEEDED some alone time. However, with fall coming I didn't know how many opportunities I'd have. Also the weather on Thursday was supposed to be miserable. I didn't want to put anyone else in a position to have to deal with fishing in miserable weather. Conversely, if I wanted to warm up and dry off, I didn't want to have to man up and continue fishing. Also I knew the nights would be freezing cold and didn't want to make anyone else suffer through it also. So I went alone, like a lone wolf in the northland.

When I left home on Thursday, it was sporadically raining. There were intervals on sunlight and I hoped I might luck out when I got up north. No such luck. When I got to Franconia Notch, it was raining and there was a blistery north wind making the rain come in sideways. There was no way I was putting the kayak in Profile Lake. There was also no way I'd be able to fly fish. So at 5:15 I started fishing Echo Lake. I used my spinning rod. With the wind in my face my only option was a spoon. I got a hit my first cast. Then my second, I landed a trout. In the next hour I caught 20 trout. It was non stop. I never had such amazing trout fishing. Unfortunately, I was paying the price for my success. The 25 mph wind was blowing a cold stinging rain in my face. I fished until 6:15. As soon as I stepped out of the water it stopped raining. I didn't turn back around.

I figured the smart thing to do was set up my tent while it was not raining. Besides my hands were freezing. After I set up camp it was already getting dark. It was only 7 pm. Luckily for me, I had Jack London with me to pass the time. I wanted to find out what happened to his wolf/dog White Fang. After a while my eyes got tired and I went to sleep. It was a cold, wet night and I woke up a bunch of times.

Friday morning wasn't much better. I was hoping for a clear sky. Nope... Still windy and rainy. My plan for the day was to fish. I was going to hit a bunch of spots and fish them until they stopped biting, and go somewhere else. I first went up Route 302 but it was closed before I could get to the Saco River. So I fished Saco Lake for a few minutes. It didn't take long for my hands to hurt from cold. I went back down to Franconia Notch. I picked up a couple more in Echo Lake. Profile was still to windy to kayak. The good news was at this point the sky started to clear. Throughout the day I fished five ponds and 2 rivers. To keep it somewhat short I will spare you all the details. I ended up catching 19 trout for the day. I caught 4 on the fly rod, the rest on spoons and spinners. I got two that went over 16 inches. Many were absolutely gorgeous in there spawning colors.

I did notice when the sky cleared that Mt Lafayette was snow covered. I told you it was cold. I took some pictures. I fished until dark then sat back down with Jack London as he continued his story about White Fang.

When I got up Saturday morning the sky was clear and the wind calmed down. I considered calling my friend Clay to see if he wanted to go fishing., but it was early and it would have been short notice. Also with Route 302 closed getting together may have proven difficult This was my day to come home. Although I had to be home at the end of it, I still planned on enjoying New Hampshire for a few more hours. I packed my tent and headed south. I fished Echo and Profile, both without any luck.  Then I went to Russell Pond and caught 2 trout. I thanked them and left.

I hoped to hit the Merrimack River on my way home in Manchester. I wanted to catch a red breasted sunfish. Also it would break my three hour ride in half. Fishing a few minutes on the river would be a nice break. I found one of the fishing spots Dave from Catch-them-all told me about. Unfortunately no fish were to be had. The place looked kind of lifeless. Maybe the hurricane washed the fish away. I couldn't get a hit using worms. So after 45 futile minutes I gave up and headed home. One cool thing about the spot was it was near Manchester Airport. I had Southwest jets flying only a couple hundred feet over my head. It was a bit intimidating but AWESOME!!!

Over my time in New Hampshire I ended up catching 41 trout. Idid not see any cool wildlife except for one toad in my camp. He posed for pictures while I was two feet away. The weather wasn't great but the fishing was. I can't tell you enough how much I love New Hampshire