It was cool and drizzly all day. Getting will to fish in the rain is tough. Although we got out, we unfortunately didn’t catch anything. It was very cold compared to past days and quite dark. After dragging him around to a few spots, we came back empty handed. Later in the day it cleared up a little. We went to highland and fished around. It was nice after a day of rain to get on the water. It was a serene night. We didn’t catch anything but it was really nice to get out there. I love being outside and being able to connect with nature is a huge part of fishing.

Today’s hours: 5

Total hours: 55

We woke up and drove a few minutes away to a pond that looked nice. Unfortunately we couldn’t find the name of this body of water, but we marked it on our map. We trekked around the densely vegetated banks and fished from the shore. Casting was a bit difficult however we managed to find some good spots. Will caught a few nice bass and so did I using some senko worms he rigged up. The amount of ticks we have found is absurd and regular tick checks have become part of our routine. Luckily all the ticks we have found on ourselves have been dog ticks. After that we drove down to Morey pond. Morey pond is really in the sticks and I would not recommend going there unless you have a pickup truck or Jeep. There was a tree about two feet in diameter that we had to go off the road (which there was not much of to begin with) and got stuck in some mud. I had to kick it into 4 wheel drive and rip out of the mud pit, thankfully we have a truck.

Today’s hours: 8

Total hours: 50

We kicked off the morning by driving down to Bass Pro in Manchester. Along the way we hit a spot on the Pemi but didn’t catch anything. The Bass Pro shop had everything that we needed. We restocked on lures and flies that we had gone through and talked to the clerks. They recommended where to fish and how based on the weather for the next few days and were very insightful. We drove back and looked around for good spots but it was starting to get extremely windy which hampered our attempts to cast. Overall it was very solid and we’re glad we got everything we needed to carry on.

Today’s hours: 4

Total hours: 42

Today we called Will’s friend’s dad who is an avid fisherman. Over Skype he talked about good spots in the area, how to identify good spots at this time of year, and when to fish. He was also very insightful on what flies to use at this time and suggested fishing on more streams and rivers. With his knowledge we will hit a few more spots that we did not have on our list and hopefully be more effective at catching fish. Later on in the day we went up blackwater a few miles at potters place and fished for a few hours. Will caught a nice brook trout on a gold spinner

We caught a few more then headed back to proctor. I think the warm weather has been favorable.

Today’s hours: 6

Total hours: 38

With such a sunny Monday, we had to get the bot on the water. Today we hit pleasant lake and launched the ’57 Whirlwind, a 14 foot wooden runabout.

We fished around the lake all day. It was a really nice change of scene since it has been so grey recently. I got to use my new bait-caster and fly fished for a couple of hours.

Will caught our first fish, a little largemouth. We later caught another better sized bass. With the stocking of ponds this week and next there should be some really good fishing to come.

Today’s hours: 8

Total hours: 32

This week, I learned a lot. I bought my first baitcaster this week and that was a blast to learn how to use. I also learned a ton about the local geography and tons of places to fish just nearby. A lot of this week was spent conducting research, and I think that was well spent. It was really fun to get back outside after such a long winter and enjoy nature. Fishing has long been one of my passions so enjoying this week was no surprise. One  surprise, however, was that we did not catch a single fish. On fly, lure, and bait, the fish would nibble but never get enough of the hook. The weather was quite uncooperative and it was very cold. We think that this has caused the fish to lie lower, deeper, and be lazier. Hopefully this will change with the coming warm weather. This week’s activities have shown me just how much fishing there is around in the area that I never knew existed. There are heaps of spots just minutes from campus that seem to be loaded with fish and we can’t wait to get our lines on some.

Today, with some better weather, we set out for Keezar Lake. There are reportedly many fish in the lake during the summer, but we have yet to see any swallow the hook. We tried multiple positions and different lures but caught nothing. After countless nibbles, we decided to come back and I carried on to Highland Lake. No luck there either.

Today’s hours: 6

Total Hours: 26

Today was another cold day of rain. With the desire to fish, we set up a solid list of fishing spots. We scoured the state’s internal file system for local fishing pamphlets, depth charts, and lists of the stocked/most populous rivers and lakes. This yielded many great resources that allowed us to be quite selective over the fishing spots chosen. After some hours, we came out with a solid list of spots, the types of fish reported in each lake, and a flexible schedule to hit the spots in. We plotted each spot on a google map and are very excited to get to each one.

Today’s hours: 3

Total Hours: 20

With such poor weather to fish, we decided to plan today. Patti Durkin lent us a great book that, although from the 80s, has a lot of relevant information on fishing in New Hampshire. Between that and the app Fish-brain, we had plenty to work with to plan the next few days of fishing. After planning for a few hours, we grabbed some food and went back to our dorms for the night.

Today’s hours: 4

Total hours: 17

Today after a little convening we set out for eagle pond. The weather was not so good, so we used some flashy jigs. With no luck from the jigs, I tried some light streamers on a 6 weight fly rod. It is still very cold and we think that the fish are staying down low because of that. Hopefully it warms up and they come up soon. After a long day of fishing, we came back to proctor and immediately fell asleep.

Today’s hours: 6

Total hours: 13