What is your Catch Phrase?!

Fish on!  Got one!  Here we go!  Big fish!  Heeeeeey! Yahtzee????!  The opportunity to announce a hookup on a recent trip was just about as fun as landing it!  I was able to guide two awesome guys from "down below" and we just had a blast!  They were athletic, younger guys, about my age and this gave me a unique opportunity.  We were able to go anywhere that I wanted!  It is amazing how the fishing success can increase ten fold just by being able to wade the river.  In two days of fishing we hit five different sections of the river and could have done more if we had wanted to.  The quality and quantity of fish landed was just great as well.  The best part was that we maybe bumped into four other anglers in the entire two days of fishing as well!  This happens more often than not if you are able to get up on week days.  As a guide, being able to make a plan and fish pools in a certain order makes for a more enjoyable day on the water as well.  So how many fish did they land in two days?  I don't know... lots... What flies did we catch them on?  Everything....  There are so many fish in the river right now, that you really do not have to do anything special to hook them.  We actually stopped fishing certain pools and moved down river as I felt guilty about the numbers of fish we caught.  If I had to give you some of my go to flies for right now here would be the list:  Black Feedinators, Sulfur Emerginators, Pink San Juans, Egg patterns and Pittsburg Buggers. 
Thank you Winslow and Devin for a great couple of days of fishing and I hope to get back out there again with you soon!

I do have some openings left for the next couple of weeks!  Let me know if you want to get out on some phenomenal fishing before the summer is over!

Patrick@fishstoryguideservice.com

DOUBLES!

Bow and Brookie!

Beautiful Brookie

The Battle

YAHTZEE!!!

16 " Racer Bow

Put him on a Catalogue

Wolf Pack...

Days of Gold....

We have been having a good old fashioned Pittsburg summer lately.  It has been more beautiful than ever and the fish are still happy.  I was lucky to guide a pair of gentlemen who plain and simply had fun with their time on the water!  This has been a trend this year and for me it makes guiding a wonderful experience.  My "sports" have all been great people, down to earth and willing to learn.  What more could I ask for!?  The dry flies have been doing well also.  There is something about a trout coming up to a dry and smashing it, that is just tough to explain.  It is electric and shoots adrenaline throughout your body in a way that makes you want to jump out of your skin!  Thanks again guys! 
I do have more open trip dates for next week and August, but let me know soon as we are running low on time!  Enjoy the dog days of summer!

Shoot me an email anytime!

Patrick@fishstoryguideservice.com

Got his salmon!

Fish and fellas!

Nice pattern

Great Leaping Battle with this one! Great work!

Artsy..

Stay a Little Longer....

     One thing I find happening to most people when they visit Pittsburg is that at the end of a trip they usually say, I wish I could just stay one more day!  I know the feeling especially when I need to go back down south for a work week.  That being said, I do whatever I can to make the best out of my time here and help others to do the same.  Fishing has continued to be wonderful lately with large salmon still in the mix.  I had a gentleman last week who almost had his 12 inch brookie eaten by a "mystery monster fish" as he reeled him in.  I don't know what kind of fish it was as I only saw the explosions on the water, but it was either a humungous brown or Salmon.   The other thought in my head was that it may have been a giant laker.  With the higher water last month, I would not have been surprised to see it in the river.  I may need to tie up another 12" brookie streamer and see if I can hook into the beast!  My "go to" flies for the past few weeks have been Feedinators in all colors, Pittsburg Buggers, San Juans, Caddis Dries, Kev's Caddis and Emerginators.  Depending on the time of day everything has been matching up with the hatches.  I plan to do a little bit of exploring in the next few days to see how our outer ponds look as well.  Let me know if you would like to get out and do a little fishing as my dates are getting close to being filled for the summer!  Time flies when you are having fun!  Feel free to email me for my availability or even if you just have a question about what is happening up here!  Looking forward to seeing people on the rivers and ponds!

Patrick@fishstoryguideservice.com



Little Orange Belly Action



18" Salmon.  What a Battle!



Art?



Fun Times!

Back Lake Hex

I had a chance to get out on Back Lake last night and the fish were still Hexin'! I did not see too many of the big bugs, but they were still keyed in on the big dries we were throwing right before dark!

Patrick@fishstoryguideservice.com

The largest of the evening. 16" and thick!

Welcome to Pittsburg!

It has been nothing but wonderful since school ended and guiding season has begun in Pittsburg.  I have been all over the place with awesome people and the fishing has not let us down.  In late May we were all worried about our "mini drought" and not having enough water in the system, but by early June we were practically flooded!  I am a huge fan of high water for our rivers up here, so long as they are not blown out.  Luckily for us, we never got to the blown out stage.  With the higher water lots of nice salmon and brown trout entered the river and made for exciting fishing with my "sports."  We carefully waded all of the normal areas as well as moving to places that produce well only in high water situations.  The Trophy Stretch was like a completely different river compared to normal, but in a good way.  I was able to fish stretches of water as if it were the fall salmon season and actually hook up with salmon in the 16-20" range!  We had our Trout Unlimited Kid's Trout Camp once again and I might say without hesitation it was a spectacular group of kids.  We were able to immerse these 14-16 year old young adults into a world of fly fishing that will hopefully carry over for a lifetime of enjoyment.  Through lots of fishing sessions, entomology classes, streamside conservation projects and river shocking with fish and game, we were able to show these kids how much fun this "fly fishing thing" can really be.  I do have a huge amount of optimism for the future of our sport through spending time with these kids each year.  I have been guiding a good amount lately and the water has come down a bit.  With the drop in flows, the fish are a bit more concentrated, but still spread out enough to be able to fish away from crowds for the most part.  I have had the opportunity to also guide some of the outer ponds with my canoe as well.  This has been an absolute blast!  Rising trout on big dry flies can be extremely exciting!  The ponds have been a great way to mix up a day for people.  I am still booking trips at this point for the summer and have some dates available.  If you would like to know my availability please feel free to shoot me an email and I would be happy to send you my dates!  It is perfect up here right now, come on up and enjoy! 

Patrick@fishstoryguideservice.com

Variety is the Spice of Life!

I am not sure who said it first, but it is certainly true!  We have been mixing things up a bit lately between river fishing and hitting some ponds with the canoe.  My father and I hit up Round Pond and had a great 4 hours of fishing.  We landed over two dozen nice brookies and had perfect weather to boot!  The rivers have been fishing great as well!  I scouted around and found that each section of the river was just about primed for this time of year.  The flows were great as well as the size and quantity of fish that were caught.  The Pittsburg Anglers Association has been a huge key to early season success on the river.  They put in a nice stocking of rainbows between 12-14 inches and there were a good amount of brookies around from an earlier stocking.  I am only two weeks out from being in Pittsburg for the entire summer and have lots of smaller ponds in mind to hike into.  I plan to do lots of canoe trips this season and am looking forward to mixing in my river guiding with canoe trips as well.  If you are interested in setting up a trip for the summer in Pittsburg now is the time to get in the books.  Please feel free to shoot me an email for my availability! 

Patrick@fishstoryguideservice.com

Nice brookie from the canoe!

A little beef on this one

Leaping Bow

Late Spring ...

It happened again!  I lost all track of time and did not keep up with the blog!  I started guiding in April and fishing has been good!  We started with Landlocked Salmon and big Rainbows and then the southern part of the state went into a little mini drought.  What does that mean?  It's time to head up to Pittsburg!  I have been up quite a bit and had decent success.  The salmon run is in full swing and some good fish have been caught.  I started looking for fish up there by walking the lakes and inlets even before the ice was off the lakes.  Trudging through 2 feet of snow in hopes of one strike from one fish can seem a bit much, but to me it is what it takes to see if you can get into the early ones.  I spent hours fishless but eventually got a few strikes.  Nothing came to net, but I did see one brookie before it took off.  With ice out and warming water temps the fresh fish started moving in and the fishing started right on cue.  To me, salmon fishing is the tops.  It comes every spring and is the entrée before the appetizer of stocked fish for the summer months of guiding.  I look forward to the run once again in the fall and feel a sense of relief that I know they will be back again each spring.  I have started to book in Pittsburg for the summer and still have many weekdays available as of this moment.  As far as weekends, I am running low as my repeat clients have hopped all over those dates.  If you would like to snatch up some of the remaining dates, please let me know soon and I will get you in the books!  School is coming to a close and Pittsburg living is so close I can taste it!  Here are a few highlights from the past few weeks!

Here We Go Again!

It is finally April!  This is the month of the holdover fish!  The giant snow pack is slowly melting and the fish are waking up.  I was able to get out with a buddy this past weekend and we were not disappointed.  There are a few areas with early season potential and more than anything I figured I would be practicing my casting.  After about a half hour of no strikes, I made a few changes and hooked into a nice bow.  The feeling of electricity was shooting through my body and the blood was pumping through my veins.  The bow leapt three times and was surprisingly active for the water temps he was swimming in.  I got him to net and took an extra few seconds to admire the beauty of his colors and then he was back off and swimming.  My buddy hooked a real honker as well and we had a great few hours of early season fishing.  This is just the beginning and I am eagerly looking forward to this season.  I enjoy nothing more than the anticipation of what a full season ahead of me may bring.  More than anything I am looking forward to guiding and fishing with like minded people and creating some great memories and stories for years to come.  I am completely booked for southern NH at this point and have already started to book Pittsburg trips!  If you have any interest in getting a Pittsburg trip in the books, get in touch soon as the prime dates are going fast!  In the meantime, if you have any questions, feel free to ask!  Here are a couple of our bows from this past weekend!

Happy 2015 and Pelham Fly Fishing Show Presentation!

Hi Everyone!
     It's a new year and there is a lot of work to be done in preparation for a great year of guiding! Though it sure doesn't feel like it, spring is just around the bend.  I am already booking spring local trips as well as Pittsburg trips for the summer!  The next big mark on the calendar is the Pelham Fly Fishing Show which takes place on March 7th and 8th this year.  I will be doing a presentation on Fly Fishing Pittsburg around midday on both days.  I am very excited to share some detailed videos and pictures of some of the adventures you can have in Pittsburg!  I will once again be sharing a booth with Tom Jutras as well.  He is also doing a presentation on Fishing Northwestern Maine so be sure to stop in for that as well!  Here is a schedule of events so please stop over to our booth and chew the fat a bit with us!  If you are interested in booking, I will be offering my "Pelham Deal" once again.  If you get a trip in the books while you are at the show, I will take $25.00 off the top!  Looking forward to a great year!

Patrick@fishstoryguideservice.com