I promise myself every year that I am going to devote more time to writing and keeping my website updated with content, and somehow all that keeps falling by the wayside. Oh well. A by-product of being busy I suppose. I do have some blog posts that have been in the draft phase for the better part of a year now, but I haven’t had the time to finish and publish them. I do hope over the next several months of winter that I can get some free time and get those finished, but who knows for sure. I’ll do my best, but in the meantime, I figured I’d at least give a little summary of the 2020 season.
My friend Kris with a healthy winter rainbow. One of several nice fish we caught on a pleasant winter day.
2020 started off for me like most other years. Winter was cold and snowy and I spent most of my free time tying flies. The occasional mild day near the freezing mark offered some chances to get on the water and scratch the fishing itch. Options to fish in the wintertime near the 45th parallel are pretty limited, but there are a few. Recent years have seen some of the more popular winter destinations becoming increasingly crowded, so I tired to make it a point to spend more time on the lesser fished waters. The results were very positive. I really enjoy the solitude of fishing, and that is usually one of the main draws to me for fishing in the wintertime. It was nice to find a little of that again this past winter.
By early March it was pretty clear that the U.S.A. was headed for a full blown collision with the global Covid-19 pandemic. Like many people, I felt a great deal of uncertainty about what was going to happen. I typically enjoy the fishing in the early Spring from March through May. This time of the year I generally don’t get many guiding requests, so I’m free to take advantage of what can be some of the best big-fish fishing of the season. Normally I do a lot of float fishing with friends, but with the social-distancing guidelines and my concern about not contributing to the spread of the terrible Covid virus, there really weren’t many spring floats in 2020.
As we headed into April, and the pandemic worsened, a lot of my trips for the 2020 season began to cancel. It began to look like the season might be a bust, but I held out optimism that things would improve as the weather became warmer.
Not being able to float with friends meant I did a lot of fishing solo, on foot in the early spring.
With the country on lockdown, I stayed pretty local to do my springtime fishing. I spent some time on the old favorite, and invested some time fishing some other places that have always peaked my interest, but I have never investigated as thoroughly as I should have.
The early season brook trout fishing was good, in both size and quantity of fish. I even managed to find a real stunner. A big-shouldered fish, pushing the 22inch mark and easily over 4 pounds. That was the nicest brook trout I have caught myself in a number of years. The downfall to being a fishing guide, is that your personal fishing days can dwindle. While I still catch my fair share of nice brook trout each year, I don’t get into the big ones the way I used to. I don’t spend near the amount of time fishing the waters I guide like I did 10-15 years ago. I’m always in awe whenever I see a brook trout of this caliber. They are a special fish, a throwback to a time when this region was home to the largest brook trout in the world.
A quick shot and then release of one of the bigger brook trout I have seen personally in a few seasons. The bag of this Stevens net is 19inches in length, so I suspect this fish would have taped at very close to 22inches. It’s girth was enormous, and this fish likely weighed in excess of 4 pounds. It’s amazing to think that these same waters 100 years ago produced fish that were 3 times this size! A fish like this is a glimpse into the past, a reminder of what was and what could be, and what is at stake. I always wonder when I let these fish swim away if it is the last time I will ever see one…
As the warmer weather finally arrived, more and more anglers began to show on area rivers, and this was my cue to switch gears to stillwater fishing. With restrictions still in place, it became quite clear that my May guiding was a bust, and so I resolved myself to spend my new found free time doing as much stillwater fishing as possible on both old favorites, as well as some new water.
I love fishing ponds. I find stillwater fishing to be such an enjoyable aspect of fly fishing. I lament that I often cannot interest more anglers into fishing ponds with me on guided trips. Our area trout ponds are such an underutilized resource. It seems like every year there are more and more anglers trying to squeeze into the same rivers, while our ponds sit devoid of anglers, yet teem with trout.
It felt good to get dialed in a little better on some of my usual haunts, and it was nice to get into some new places as well when the fishing conditions were good. I look forward to getting some clients into some of these places in the future.
Stillwater dry-fly eater. This pond was like glass, except for the boils of 10-17inch brook trout.
Fortunately for me, my optimistic prediction for June held true. Restrictions were eased and I was able to resume guiding. I lost most of my scheduled trips, but was able to rebook many new dates. June ended up being a little lighter than usual, but overall was a very solid month of guiding.
2020 continued to show its ugly attitude however, and the weather turned unusually hot and dry. Water flows plummeted and water temperatures skyrocketed. This made the brook trout fishing a little on the sluggish side, but clients found fish, and even a few nice ones here and there.
By the time July rolled around the trout fishing on the big waters was headed South in a hurry. Fortunately I was off the bigger rivers and the guiding in the White Mountains of NH was busy. Small mountain streams stayed relatively cool, and the small trout kept clients happy.
Low, warm water was the theme for June 2020. Flows were some of the lowest I have ever seen for this time of the year. That didn’t stop this healthy trout from sipping my client’s dry-fly attractor though.
Mid-summer was more of the same. It stayed hot and dry with little reprieve. I stayed very busy with trips, thanks to everyone searching for outdoor activities. Small stream fishing held on for the most part, but by mid-August things were beginning to look pretty bleak.
Otter Falls on the Big Magalloway River.
By the middle of August, conditions couldn’t look worse for the upcoming fall fishing. Flows were pitifully low, and water temps were dangerously high. But finally, the Universe decided to give us a little break, and some frosty nights began to manifest at the end of the month.
I had a little break at the end of August to marry my sweetheart. Our wedding had originally been planned for the fall, but with Covid restrictions in place we thought it better to do something immediately. So on a grey, damp afternoon, my wife and I were married, just in time for me to run away to guide for a month straight!
Despite the lack of rain, the cold temps were all that was needed to light the fall brook trout fishing on fire While not everywhere fished well, many places did, and what started as a rough season of guiding ended with one of the most enjoyable fall fishing seasons I have had in my career.
With the close of most of Maine’s fishing at the end of September, the bulk of my late fall fishing was in New Hampshire. Float fishing was solid through early October, and the stillwater fishing was good as well. With the continued dip in temperatures, the fishing began to fall off late in October, and by early November water temps were very cold, and my guiding was done.
By Mid-October it was downright chilly out there. I caught this splendid stillwater brookie on my first cast of the day fishing on a day off near the end of the season.
Unfortunately, 2020 ended much as it began. With the onset of cold weather, Covid-19 cases went on the rise and as a result, I spent less time fishing with friends in the fall than in years past. I endeavored to get out a little here and there, and was able to pick up a few fish on my own.
As I write this post, there is optimism as a Covid vaccine is being distributed, and hopefully the prospects for the 2021 fishing and guiding season are a little brighter. Despite everything, 2020 was still my busiest season yet, thanks to all the old and new clients who came to fish with me, and all the businesses that help support me.
I’m excited to get back out on the water in 2021, and look forward to seeing you all.