Been busy here in Wolfeboro, NH for a week since our two month long Ruby Van tour ended. Though I bought a season NH license as soon as we arrived, I’d yet to make a cast till today. That’s mainly because I had two months of mail and bills to take care of. Along with that, I’ve been packing and organizing for my next big trip – a redo of my hosted Providence Seychelles trip of 2019. The disaster trip that was postponed after we got all the way to Mahe because of an unseasonal cyclone.
Luckily, today I felt like I was caught up enough to hit Lake Winnipesaukee. The ice has only been out a few days. And it was gorgeous with sunshine and warm temps up to 60°.
Granny and I launched my 70’s model Oldtown Canoe with hopes to stick a landlocked salmon. The first few weeks after ice out is prime time to catch these cold water salmonids without needing to fish deep. I went with my 6-weight Winston Air 2, SA Sonar and a long leader two fly streamer rig.
There’s not much to talk about, I got skunked. From what I’ve heard the salmon fishing has been slow and now I have my own experience to confirm this. I casted blind to places I caught salmon as a kid. We paddled and trolled across Wolfeboro Bay. We even went to Back Bay for a look. But the bottom line was I didn’t even get a strike.
There were a couple highlights however. To rest our shoulders from paddling, we stopped in Garwood’s, our favorite Wolfeboro bar and restaurant, for a couple beers and appetizers. Then we stumbled on a heap of white suckers heading up a tributary from the lake. I’ve never caught this sucker species on a fly so tomorrow I just might make a trip for them. It can’t be any slower than the salmon fishing!