Hidden gem back country brook trout streams can take years of effort to find. New Hampshire has dozens of streams running down from the White Mountains -- some are fishable / some aren't... you never know till you hike up the trails, hack through the brush and wet a line.
And then there's the other way... you sit next to a guy at the local pub and he spills the beans on some incredible trout water you wouldn't have found in a thousand years.
Such was the case for this stream my brother Marc & I fished in New Hampshire's north country. Pool after glorious pool, run after magnificent run holding feisty native brook trout, eager to pounce on a well-presented dry fly made our trek memorable and one that will be repeated again.
Enjoy the video and pictorial display.
Elk Hair Caddis or Parachute Adams #16 were choice flies.
Exhausted from our two days on the upper Conneticut but armed with a Buck Rub Pub trout recommendation Henry and I decided to try for some back country Brookies in Columbia, NH. The guy who recommended this stream had downed a few pints and called the trout rainbows so we weren't sure what we'd find but as we headed up the stream side road his information seemed spot-on.
For Marc and Scott who hopefully will fish it in two weeks, turn off the main road, you'll pass a few stream side cottages in the first 200m then just keep rolling. About 12-min in from the hardball a well maintained snowmobile trail will intersect the road at 90 degrees. Turn left, the first left on the dirt road, drive in 50m until you come to a snowmobile bridge across the stream.
We fished up the river from here. If you look on google maps, Max the look-in, you can make out the snowmobile bridge. The stream also begins to bend away from the road after the bridge so be aware of this when your ready to walk out.
We arrived tired but excited and re-rigged 2wt rods w #14 elk hair caddis as we slipped under the bridge. I didn't know what we'd find and was excited to see two Brookies finning in pool under the bridge. My shadow having forcast my presence these specs didn't want anything to do with me so I crept behind an upstream Boulder with Henry and were treated to a National geographic moment watching aggressive Brookies both slurp AND LEAP OUT OF THE WATER for a heavy evening hatch.
There was so much insect action it was hard to parse, moderate mosquitoes, thick large black flies, biting horseflies, and what I best-guess was a HEAVY March brown hatch. They were just fluttering all around above the surface.
The stream lends itself to partner fishing its AMAZING pools so Hen and I took advantage one spotting & calling the casts, the other casting for trout after trout after trout. We took multiple trout from all the holes as we pushed them up pool even with a cautious approach.
We caught specs on caddis, adams and pale blue dun flies until it got too dark to see the flies. We didn't count but probably caught 25 trout in two hours with only one line in the water at any one time. Next time here I think I'd park at the bridge and then walk down stream on the road for a few hundred yards then fish back up stream and again hit it later in the afternoon.
Biggest Spec of the day caught on that sandbar fishing up to the top of the pool
Wednesday night found Henry, Marc and I eager with anticipation and sharing fishing stories over dinner and brown ale at Buck Rub Pub in Pittsburg, NH. This expedition to the trophy stretch of the upper Connecticut River had been almost a year in the making after my salmon-trout slam last year. Scott's brother Marc traveled up from Rochester and Henry from Philadelphia to make this adventure. After more liquid calories on the porch we settled into our bunks and slept fitfully anticipating the river.
Matt, Marc and Harry (Henry)
We rigged up 4 and 5wts in the lot just below the 1st Ct Lake Dam accompanied by 2 other trucks, we had plenty of company. There were two anglers between the path access and the dam so we elected to head down stream to familiar water where Marc and I waded in last year. There's a run-pool here characterized by 3 30' logs jutting out from a bend creating a banked "log pool" where we've had consistent success. The fun started when I noticed a 15-16" salmon shrug his shoulders and latched onto my trail dropper about 12 feet away from my boots. This salmon wasn't an Ali-esque fighter but what he lacked in punch he made up for with beauty.
These cold water fish loved the prince nymph
Marc had started out a 150m downstream and by the time he worked up to us he'd already BTH two bows. Henry struck next in log pool with a rainbow seen here.
We continued to work out way up toward the dam until we ran into anglers pushing downstream in our direction. There didn't seem to be a lot of action on this part of the run, but as our confidence and dual dropper technique improved we continued to pickup a mix of browns and bows almost exclusively on the lower (BH Prince) dropper.
buy all the flies you want....then fish this set-up
Soggy subway Sammies lent us some energy at 1300 and we decided to head down to the Lake Francis Campground and fish up toward the skating rink. Marc and Scott had fished this water before but it was new to Henry and I. Above the campground we were alone, Marc pushed ahead to give us some space and Henry and I partner fished up toward the Skating Rink Pool. This is lovely fast water, more volume than at the dam as the river has been augmented by Perry Stream (at Junction Pool) flowing due south from its Canadian headwaters. We all picked up 2-3 trout in this stretch (small browns and bows) and ended our venture north at Docs Pool where the river bends 90 degrees to the East before entering the relatively hard to access "in-betweens". Plumb tired and with the promise of ale.
Day two started back below the dam, Henry and I were determined to get as close as we could a fish the pools along the rocks just below the outflow. This is fast, cold, brutal water, 46 degrees of channelized flow carving granite and creating a misty wind to slick the rocks. Here's Henry teetering on stegosaurus plates with a rainbow. Make sure you watch for his priceless expression as he "Releases" his trout.
After the upper river we trekked back to log-pool to meet Marc who had walked a fair piece beyond the Log Pool into the in-betweens before he met us. Marc was catching gorgeous bows and bowns like this.
I was fortunate again to pull a gorgeous brown out of log pool. Here's the catch.
The three of us worked out way together back up toward judges pool and had a great time until we once again ran into other anglers beginning to push down from the Dam access. Here's what it looked like looking upstream as we moved.
We caught a few more on the way up but this water had already been fished over still the rainbows provided some fun and great runs in the fast water.
Not wanting to get quite as starved as were yesterday we retired to the friendly (well sorta) tables of Happy Corner Cafe for a well deserved breakfast. We broke up at this point with Marc wanting to try his luck on the Mohawk East of Colebrook and Henry and I determined to try our luck in the smaller water beneath 2nd Connecticut lake where we'd heard from our new friend Tom, "I can't catch and brookies there cause the small salmon won't let it get to em". This was too much for us to ignore so we drove about 10 miles north, rigged with 2wts and EH Caddis and walked down the streamside path until we slid into the cold water deep and dark in the small gorge. The water is thinner here but still smokin through the narrow gorge and we quickly started picking up small (6-8") salmon in normal brook trout feeding spots. These are beautiful little salmon and really very hard to tell from juvenile brown trout. Here's a primer to tell the difference.
After the sheer pleasure of taking taking small salmon on 2wts we decided to give the big river one more go before heading south ourselves. We walked in from Junction pool, new water for me and walked up river until we shede any other anglers. This is lovely water, more runs then pools, but lots of pocket water and fishable runs can be found. Here are two shots showing this great water.
Henry caught two browns in this section and I hooked an played a nice bow while sitting (exhausted) lazily on a rock. Worn out and ready for a break we headed back on a fortunately found fisherman's trail on the East side of the river to end our time on the Connecticut.
With the crowds of Memorial Day Weekend beginning to seep into our beautiful Shenandoah Mtns I decided to forgo a trip to the Rapid Anne and try my luck on an unfished section of Cedar Run in the upper reaches of the Robinson River Watershed. Well, I missed the fisherman on the Rapidan only to find hikers and waterfall jumpers on the Cedar. Twice before I'd walked up the blue blazed well marked trail and fished to the first major water fall. This is great water and you can see it here. I hit the run at 0830, it was still running at full pool as it has rained here 18 of the last 22 days. The thick, green, fly grabbing foliage was fully budded and at a glance reinforced back cast discipline. The water was flowing full, fast and cold at 57. 5 cars were in the parking lot when I stepped off, and I hoped I wouldn't encounter any of their hiking occupants for 4-5 hours. I was wrong.
I emerged into the amphitheater of the first waterfall to the glorious crash of water smashing and carving rock, a symphony that's played here for 1000s of years. The run above the falls was my target but I couldn't resist taking in this beautiful site. just above this first falls a Brookie surface-slapped my #14 parachute Adams and to my unending delight and fascination clamped it into his jaw. The strike, hook set and play is absolutely addicting, a hit of heroine I suppose, and begs another. I'm hooked too.
These brook trout have been in Appalachia, here in this mountain run since the dawn of time and when you touch one you feel the cold energy whipping in its little body. My great grandfather Phil Riley would have dispatched them with a thwack of his billy club but today we're more respectful (and don't need to eat them for dinner!). They're covered with a very light mucus layer so wet your hand before touching them if for some reason you need to lift them out of their watery home. I kept this first one underwater and released him gently to catch another day.
Then the hikers closed in. It's hard to begrudge people enjoying these amazing waters but they sure put a bite into the pools as they screamed jumped and generally sent the trout to hiding. With hikers in the plunge pools I concentrated on the runs between the plunges but the further you ascend the more severe the gradient becomes. The 8 foot first falls is dwarfed further up by falls approaching approaching 60 feet. At one point as I hand climbed a mossy wall to the left of a fall I found an old climbing rope still hammered into the face. This is steep water, really to steep for safe fishing.
I used my 2wt SF and it was perfect for these feisty fellows it's slow action a pleasure to cast light tippets and sensitive blank communicating the vigor of these little fish. The plunge pools and runs are spectacular and beg you to try just one more.
I ended the day with a spec on my last cast and headed back down the trail, a beautiful day behind me and the promise of the Upper Connecticut River with Henry and Marc next week.
