A Link to the Past....

A few days back I had a chance to guide two brothers who had never been to Pittsburg.  One had some fly fishing experience, while the other had mostly been a spin fisherman.  After about an hour of fishing, my favorite line of the day was, "Patrick, I think you converted me to fly fishing!"  The cool part about this trip was that there were lots of connections to the past for these two guys.  First, their grandfather had recently passed away and they had learned that when he was married, he had gone on his honey moon in Pittsburg.  Next, I found out that they would be staying at the lodge that I not only used to be the head guide for, but also stayed in myself many times when I was their age.  Lastly, as I pull in to pick them up for our trip, I see their vehicle parked right next to old Cabin #4.  This was were my family and I stayed for many a summer trip when I was a youngster myself.  In fact I remember distinctly catching "my limit" while staying in that cabin and having my picture taken with the trout I was about to fry up!  I was about 10 years old at the time.  The day of fishing was great.  We caught lots of fish, got lots of nice pictures, ate at a nice local Pittsburg café for brunch and made lots of memories on the water.  Just before we headed out one of the boys said, " I think Grampa would be proud of us."  I agree guys, he would have been very proud.  Thanks for a great trip!

Patrick@fishstoryguideservice.com

1st Fish, 2nd Cast



Zach is in on the action!

Nice looking Brown

Action Shot

Orange Belly

Great Day!

Another Great Day!

One after another.  The great trips just keep coming!  I am extremely lucky to be able to guide in an area that supports great fishing year round.  There will inevitably be a trip where the numbers and sizes go back down, but I will enjoy and be grateful while the streak continues!  So I was happy to be able to guide a father and daughter team last week.  The weather was perfect, the fish were biting and we were able to soak in the scenery along the way.  Amanda is a fish "slayer" and landed more fish than I can remember.  A little friendly competition along the way, both father and daughter landed quality fish throughout the day.  Who won you may ask?  Well..... isn't it just all about having fun?? :)  Thanks for a great day!

Patrick@fishstoryguideservice.com

Nice Bow Bow

Fat Brookie Time!

Father / Daughter!

Muppet

Havin' Fun!

A Change in the Weather, a Change for the Better?

I went to sleep while it was summer and woke up to find the fall.  I know this is maybe a bit dramatic, but it was high 80's a few days ago and I woke up to 39 the other morning.  I absolutely love cool crisp air for many reasons.  First it is just a reminder of the best time of year which is still to come.  Fall is just perfect in Pittsburg.  Next it allows me to get my runs in at any time of day.  I like to guide morning sessions, run 8-10 miles midday and then get back out for the evening hatch with my "sports."  When it is hot and humid, the midday lull in fishing usually consists of rehydrating after a tiring morning.  Needing to get in my runs after a full day of guiding can be tough as well.  But I digress.  The past couple of days have been wonderful with highs in the mid-upper 60's and no humidity at all.  The fishing has still been great as well.  Here is a short picture update of a trip from a few days ago.  My open dates are filling fast, but if you would like to snatch up one of the remaining open slots, let me know!  Thank you for spending the time to read this!

Patrick@fishstoryguideservice.com

Pittsburg Bugger fools them again!

Classic "Muppet Face"

Nice big leaper in the mix!

Nice Backdrop! Good Work Pete!

Can It Get Any Better?

I think the answer would have to be no.  Just about everything has been perfect up here for the past few days.  The weather was perfect, the flows were perfect, the hatches were perfect and the fishing was, dare I say, PERFECT!  If I had to script a guided trip and plan each detail, the past few trips would have been it.  I had a brand new "sport" up in Pittsburg last week and I always like to show new folks what Pittsburg is all about.  Pittsburg did not disappoint.  We lost track of the numbers of fish we caught in the first hour and then moved all over the river to hit some areas that were a bit more off the beaten path.  The best part was that there was no one else around.  We saw one person the entire trip.  Plenty of beautiful fish were landed and to put the cherry on top, we still have salmon in the river as well. Thank you for a great day Justin! We were catching fish with: Caddis Dries, Hoppers, BWO's, Emerginators, Eggs, Feedinators and Pittsburg Buggers.  1st Dam is flowing around 160 CFS, which is just about perfect for summer time fishing in my opinion.  I do have some week days open over the next few weeks as well as a couple of weekend days.  I would love to share this great fishing with others, so please feel free to shoot me an email for my availability!  See you out there!

Patrick@fishstoryguideservice.com

Shoulders!

1st of many today.

Muppet Face

Silver Leaper

Dark

Love the green on this one!

Action Shot!

Pittsburg Grand Slam!

The weather has been all over the place for the last few days, but the fish continue to be hungry.  I have had some great "sports" lately and love watching people enjoy Pittsburg as much as I do.  I had a repeat guest recently and he wanted to explore a bit more in order to see some of the well kept secrets of Pittsburg.  His main goal was to encounter as few people as possible and my goal was to have him do this while catching fish.  Some people would say this is impossible because of the holiday weekend and such.  I say anything is possible.  We moved around quite a bit and were able to dodge any crowds, all the while landing some beautiful fish.  In the first hour of our first day Bill was able to land the grand slam on 4 consecutive fish.  Catching the "slam" is not that uncommon up here, but doing it in a row is very unique.  Bill started with a salmon, then a few casts later was able to hook the elusive brown trout, he quickly followed that with the more common "bow" and finished it off with a nice broodstock brookie.  Needless to say it was a great morning and we never saw another person while this was happening.  The flows are all pretty stable at the moment at 75 cfs, 157 cfs and 354 cfs for 2nd, 1st and Murphy respectively.  We did receive a lot of rain over the past couple of days and I would say that the flows may even come up a bit soon.  This is not a bad thing as I usually see an increase in salmon coming into the river with the higher flows.  Flies of choice lately have been Feedinators in black and olive, BWO Emergers, Caddis dries and even the Pink San Juan Worm.  I do still have a couple of weekend days available in the next several weeks as well as plenty of weekdays, so if you are feeling the itch to feel the tug, feel free to email me for availability!  Pittsburg is the place to be right now!


Email:

Patrick@fishstoryguideservice.com

1st Salmon on the Day

Followed by the Brownie

Slob Brookie

Nice Battle with this one

Darker Style

The salmon of the day! 19"

Into their world.

Summer at last!

Well it is finally here and it has been crazy so far!  I left straight from school and needed to make one quick stop before heading all the way up to Pittsburg.  The quick stop consisted of running up Mount Washington, then back down, as part of the Mount Washington Road Race for my running team, Whirlaway.  Once that small task was out of the way it was up to camp! I needed to organize all of my gear, take a quick power nap and then it was off to meet with my "sports" to make sure everything was ready for the next morning. I guided four great folks for three consecutive days with my good friend Tom Jutras and to say the fishing was great was an understatement.  Four "sports", three days and close to 100 fish between them, made for a very enjoyable trip.  Most of the group were beginners, but they were able to pick up the basics very quickly and add on to their new skills as the days rolled along.  The following five days were spent helping with the N.H. Trout Unlimited Kid's Camp.  I have been involved with this camp for 8 years now and it is amazing how far it has come since just a few of us were sitting around a kitchen table talking about how to make it work back in 2007.  I was the assistant director of the camp for the first few years and now get to do what I enjoy the most, teach and guide the kids.  The camp flew by and was a great success once again with happy campers and lasting memories for all. The flows are back to normal right now in Pittsburg and fishing continues to be productive.  I still have openings over the next few weeks if you would like to come up and try out our rivers.  Things are only getting better up here now and I would love to show you around!  In the meantime, as always, if you have any questions about the flows, or fishing, please feel free to shoot me an email and I will be sure to get back to you!  Enjoy!

Patrick@fishstoryguideservice.com

First big brookie of the day!

One of the big boys!

Good battle!



Nice Brookie