Bill's River Blog
Saturday, June 23, 2007
How's the fishing this week? We'll the answer is, different. What's been happening? We'll a bit of everything.
The story is.... This week started off with the leftover reminisce of our latest warm spell high bright sunny days, with temps in the high 70's. As the week progressed the weather started to change the cooler air started to roll in and along with it some scattered showers and thunderstorms.
The fishing has been good as always here in the north country. As always you may have to deal with a few extra people on the water or get creative to get away. But you can still find fish. The latest warm spell has hit the small ponds the hardest with water temps climbing into the 70's it would be more conducive to bass fishing than it is to trout. There has still been some evening activity although it has slowed a bit. Just within the past few day the temps have dropped and we've had overcast weather, which has already made a difference in the water temps.
The river from 1st lake down has been fishing good with good cold water temps ranging from 52 to 66 degrees. ( the later is 18 miles below lake Francis, the last in the chain of lakes) So the trout that live here have been very happy with the cold temps and plenty of food. We have still quite a few salmon still in the river in the Trophy Stretch of the Connecticut, along with many, many rainbows. They are quite a treat. There has been a few different hatches happening as of late on these sections of river. We've had some caddis and also some b.w.o. hatches. Some of the hatches have actually been quite impressive. We've had b.w.o.'s the other night so thick every fish in the river was rising.
Our float trips have been a very pleasant experience also. Which is generally to be expected. Although some can be long days. But boy!!! Can you see some fish.. The Androscoggin is the beg news this week with the infamous Alder fly hatch. (an Alder fly is a rather large caddis, somewhere around a size 10, or an 8) It is by far the best Dry Fly fishing that river ever sees. The first day they were seen was on Thursday. Depending on water temps and conditions it may last about a week or so. They generally come off around the 20th of June, but I have seen them come off a week early and as much as three weeks late. If you ever have the opportunity to hit the Alder fly hatch, it's a lot of fun. Mostly what we do when we drift is simply pound the banks and under the trees. Throwing big caddis patterns it's not a bad way to catch 20 or 30 fish in a day.
Although we've had some rain the river levels overall are fairly low in Pittsburg. 1st is at 101c.f.s, 2nd is at 69c.f.s and Francis is a 307 c.f.s. All below what I would consider ideal. Although the fish are still there, they just can be harder to catch. The weather outlook for the next several days looks promising for anglers, a little rain, overcast and cooler. Not the best beach weather but the fishing should be good.
Thank you all for reading, I hope you found it informative.
PEACE tight lines, BILL
