Trout Fishing 2011 End of the year Review

 Each year on the blog I do an end of the year review. Although technically we have started the New Year, I wrote them out about December 26, however with the NH carp fishing and the Providence hat trick, I wanted to wait until I wasn't doing anything fun before I posted them. I will do the review in three posts, trout, all other fishing, and lastly daytrips and animal watching. This year while trying to figure out a format I realized I spent so much time trout fishing. Since I have how/ when/where  in list form I think trout should get their own post.
Like I've said before each year seems to end up having its own theme www.southernnewenglandoutdoors.blogspot.com/2010/12/themes.html
Whether it be baseball, bird watching or saltwater fishing, it seems each year is special for their own memories. I think it goes without saying this year had two themes. Trout fishing and going to New Hampshire were my main focuses this year.

I was keeping a log of all my fishing trips this year on the computer. I never missed writing how I did. When my computer crashed over the summer, they had to clear my hard drive. I lost all that info. The only fish I know exactly how many I caught are trout because I was keeping track on the blog.

By April 30 of this year, I spent more time trout fishing than I had in all my previous years combined. I ended up with a total of 224 trout. Last year I caught a few during the spring, I didn't count but probably 35 or so. Then out west we trout fished five different days. We had one crazy day where we caught 30 a piece in about two hours. This year I trout fished into June in MA/RI. Then when the weather got warm I went to New Hampshire five times ( more on that in next post). I enjoy doing breakdowns of when/where/ how I caught my trout. It is fun for me to look back and see patterns.

224 trout

Rainbows                                          131
Browns                                                  4
Brookies                                                1
Tigers                                                    4
New Hampshire Brookies                   84

Ways they were caught

Fly Rod                        78
Casting Bubbly/Fly      21
Spoon                           55
Roostertail                    15
Worms                          13
Shiner                             2
Powerbait                      37
Sha Body/Jighead            1

Number of places caught

Mass/ Rhode Island lakes          6
New Hampshire Lakes              6
New Hampshire Rivers             2

Most I caught in a day:

Caught 20 in one hour at Echo Lake
Caught 19 one day at Fearings Pond

Lake I caught the most

Falls Pond 45

Without question my favorite way to catch a trout is fly fishing. My least favorite way is using powerbait. Its boring and trout usually swallow the hook. Many times I cut my line sacrificing the hook instead of the fish.  As you can also see using a spoon is very effective.

Interestingly I caught 8 trout this fall that were holdovers that survived the summer. I know we had a seasonably cool summer but trout may be tougher than I give them credit for.

I did not get out to the wild trout lakes. I did however catch some wild trout. I caught a couple of really small trout in Profile Lake. They do successfully spawn in the little brook. I also caught some fishing with Clay in June. Most wild trout are small but thier color and beauty make up for the small size.

I had a streak of catching a trout on 31 consecutive outings. I caught 5 fish that I would consider trophy trout. Two that were at least three pounds,the other three were over 16 inches. If I could grade the trout fishing I experienced this year, I would give it an A+