Monday, December 2, 2019

THE BEST YEAR!

The title pretty much sums it up!  This was a record setting year for Fish Story Guide Service!  I guided more trips than I ever have and had a blast doing it.  The Pittsburg season was unbelievable in a variety of ways.  We found numbers of fish, large fish and had just about perfect fishing conditions all season long.   The fall salmon trips were the most productive that I have ever seen and most fish were in the 16-21" range.  Double digit fish days happened quite a few times in the last few weeks of the season.






















Please consider buying a gift certificate for a 2020 trip as a holiday gift!  I am already filling my books for my spring "Lake Run" trips as well as Pittsburg trips.  Prime dates go the quickest, so please start planning now if you want a shot at the best days on the water!  

I will also be selling specialty flies in 2020 as well!  Most of my "Guide Patterns" will be available for purchase.  If you want a batch of some of my most productive flies that I use, please feel free to send me an email or give me a buzz on the phone for the details on pricing!  

The "Fly Fish NH" show will be held on February 22nd, at the Best Western Executive Court in Manchester.  I will once again have a booth set up.  I will be booking trips at a special "Show Rate" as well as selling more of my "Guide Patterns." If you are around and able to stop by, it would be great to see everyone!  

I am also doing a presentation on "Fly Fishing Pittsburg NH" at the Great Bay Trout Unlimited monthly meeting on Monday March 2nd 2020.  I like to do very laid back, conversation style presentations, with videos and pictures mixed in.  I love to tell fish stories and share information that might help others become more successful in their fly fishing adventures!  Again, I will have some more of my "Guide Patterns" available for purchase.

For my most recent updates, please visit my Facebook Page by clicking on the tab above.  I add many pictures as well as fishing reports frequently throughout the season on that page.  

Lastly, I really would like to thank all of my guests for supporting a small business like mine.  Without people like you, small businesses would not succeed for long and this was our 12th great season.  Guiding in New Hampshire is something that I take a lot of pride in being able to do.  We have such a wonderful variety of fishing opportunities available and it is exciting to be able to share it with so many people each year.  

Thank you as always!
-Patrick Ard

EMAIL: Patrick@fishstoryguideservice.com
PHONE: 603-770-5876

Thursday, June 20, 2019

Summer in Pittsburg!

Hi Everyone!
     I am really happy to finally be back, full time in Pittsburg for the season!  School got out a bit earlier this year, which really helped set up my June bookings.  I still have a couple of dates left for the end of June and plenty of available days open in July and August!
   
     The fishing has been fantastic with lots of large holdover and stocked fish in the mix.  The water flows are great and there are even some large salmon still around!

     I am really excited to get my repeat guests, as well as a bunch of 1st timers, out on the river!

     The normal bugs are hatching and the usual flies are producing.  My Feedinators, BWO Emergers, San Juans, Pittsburg Buggers, Eggs and even a few dry Caddis and Foam flies have been doing the trick!  The Hex hatch is a bit behind normal, but I did actually see a hex late last week, in a picture that my father sent to me, on Back Lake.  I bet that by the end of next week things should be starting to heat up if you like searching for rising trout on big dries!
   
     I hope that this update finds you healthy, happy and fishing! Be sure to check the Facebook Page on the tab above, for the most frequent updates, reports, videos and pictures!  Please let me know if you have any questions, comments or would like to book a trip!  Thank you as always!

Patrick@fishstoryguideservice.com

Sunday, April 28, 2019

The Spring Fishing Update!

Hello everyone!
     Here is the Spring Fishing Update!  We have been all over the middle of the state since the beginning of April and the fishing has just been fantastic!  The quality of the fish that we have been getting into has been beyond my expectations for this time of year.  Salmon in the 18-22 inch range have been common!  Rainbows in the 15-20 inch range have been landed!  But I get ahead of myself....

     Rewind to late March as scouting had just begun.  I got together with a good friend of mine and hit some early season areas.  A few fish were around, but the water temp was in the high 30's.  A few weeks later spring had sprung and the water temps finally hit those magic numbers!  The suckers came up and into the rivers and closely following them were the rainbows.  It was all about the egg patterns for a few days at that point.  I saw water temps rise by almost 10 degrees in less than a week.  I usually don't like it happening that fast as it can shut off the run completely, but it was great to see a big push of fish for happy clients to hook up with!  The suckers came and left all within a few days, but with the higher water temps the salmon had come up into the rivers as well.  Mostly my Feedinators and Eggs were the go to patterns, but streamers came into play when the salmon arrived as well.




     So here we are on April 28th, the water temps plummeted 8 degrees in less than two days and put the fishing at a stalled out pace.  Now, we still hooked plenty of fish to keep it interesting, but it definitely was not as frantic as it was a week ago.  That being said, I am hoping that this cooler weather may prolong the run into early May.  The huge factor here, other than water temp, will be water level.  We are at flood stage in many of my "Go To" spots at the moment due to the amount of rain we have had lately.  If the flows come down steadily this should be good for the long run as well.
     I will be sure to do a summer update on this website, but please be sure to follow daily updates on everything that we do at: www.facebook.com/fishstoryguideservice . This is the place to go to see videos, pictures and more fishing reports each week!  Please check out and subscribe to the Fish Story Guide Service YouTube page as well.  It can be found at:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvNvoqEeG-jZZO986h-gNZg/videos .
   
     As the spring winds down, my focus will shift to Pittsburg.  At this moment I do still have some June dates available as well as plenty of openings for July and August.  I am booking as many trips as possible this year and hope to get back out on the water with many long time guests as well as new ones!  Thank you as always!
-Patrick

   

Saturday, February 9, 2019

Welcome to the New Season!

Hello Everyone!
     A new season is upon us and I am ready to make this the best one yet!  I have been updating the Facebook page and YouTube page with videos and pictures from the end of last season as well as videos from my 10 year archive.  You can access those from the tabs up above.  Please feel free to "Share", "Like" and "Subscribe!"  We will be at the "Fly Fish New Hampshire Show" on Saturday February 23rd and I look forward to chatting it up with everyone!  I will have some flies with me as well as my Fly Show Deals for booking a trip as well.  My books have been filling since late last fall and my "Prime Dates" are filling fast by my yearly clients.  I still have lots of great Pittsburg openings for the summer as well as a few early season "lake run" fish trips.  If you are interested, be sure to get in touch soon!  
     The blast of 50 degree weather we had earlier in the week certainly got my fishing blood pumping and once we hit March, it is game on!  If you have any questions or just want to chat fly fishing, you can always get me through email or on the phone.  If you have ever wanted to check out the great north woods and Pittsburg New Hampshire fly fishing, make this year the time to do it!  Thank you as always and keep in touch!

Sincerely,
Patrick