Over the years I have had the pleasure of fishing all over the country from Kentucky to Wyoming, but no place has the fishing opportunities like New Hampshire. Our waters team with trout and bass; sunfish and pickerel, so you never know what you will get with each cast. What follows are two cases where I was fishing for one thing and ended up getting something completely different.
Example one found me in Enfield, New Hampshire fishing the Mascoma River near where it meets up with Mascoma Lake. My goal was to get into some of the trout that this river is known for. Browns, brookies and rainbows can all be found here. My equipment on this day was a 30 year old six foot, six inch Abu Garcia “Blue Sky” light action rod. What makes this rod so special is that it is the first gift that my wife had ever given me. I coupled this rod with a Shakespeare 300XL spinning reel spooled with four pound test Stren Easy cast monofilament line. My choice of lures were many, but I opted for an Acme Little Cleo blue/chrome spoon and as it was to turn out that was all I would need.
Walking the bank I made cast after cast with nothing to show for it. I then made a long cast upstream and worked the spoon back with a steady retrieve. All of a sudden the lure got hit hard, stopping dead in the water. The rod tip bent and the fight was on. The fish cleared the water, not once, but twice. It was a nice rainbow and it had decided it wasn’t going to come in without a fight. Once in I got a measurement and it was around 14 inches long and was very thick.
Once this fish was on the stringer I checked the line for frays and other wear. The Mascoma is full of rocks and submerged timber, and that fish put up one heck of a fight, but everything looked fine so I started casting again. My first cast went to the area where I had caught the trout. During the retrieve I hooked up with one of those proverbial pieces of submerged tree limbs, but I was able to get my spoon back.
On my third cast the lure stopped. Thinking I had snagged something again, I let the line go slack with the hopes of the spoon falling free. I engaged the reel, took in the slack line and pulled. Something pulled back and pulled back hard. If this was a trout then it was the mother of all trout. The rod was bent and it felt like I had an anchor tied on the other end. I only had four pound test, so I didn’t want to muscle the fish. It was a standoff. I wasn’t gaining any ground and neither was the fish. Finally I got the upper hand and the fish started to come in. Once it was closer I saw that it was a very respectable smallmouth. Releasing the bass, I retied and kept on fishing.
The next time this happened was while fishing with my good friend Stan, but it wasn’t me, but instead Stan, that got the big surprise and thankfully I was able to capture the big moment on film. Once again we were trout fishing and our venue was the Contoocook River in Henniker, New Hampshire.
The section of the river we were fishing was narrow, fast moving and very rocky. Inspecting the river I saw that the ideal casts would be those that were short and accurate, targeting the pools and eddies behind the rocks. With this in mind I decided to use a South Bend “Black Beauty” four foot, nine inch ultra-light rod. I coupled this rod with a Zebco 304 spinning reel spooled with four pound test monofilament line. The trout here tend to be nine to ten inch brookies, so this set up would be able to do the job. My lure choice was a gold colored Phoebe spoon. Stan on the other hand was using a larger and heavier, medium action spinning outfit and it was a good thing that he was.
Upon arriving at the river, which we had pretty much to ourselves on this day, we separated. Stan went upstream and I went downstream. The Phoebe was doing its thing and I was able to bring in a few nice brookies. Stan seemed to be doing well as well. We worked the river slowly, hitting one hole after another, working our way towards each other. Stan ended up under a bridge and I slightly downstream from him.
All of a sudden I saw his rod bend in half. I stopped fishing, grabbed my camera and headed over to him to see if he needed help. I had no idea what he had on the other end, but I logically thought that it was a trout, and what a trout! Stan finally was able to get the fish close enough for me to grab it, but it wasn’t a trout; it was a largemouth bass and a big one at that. The bass had inhaled the spinner that Stan had been using for trout. The fact that the bass had taken the trout lure didn’t surprise me as much as the fact that it was a largemouth bass. This was fast moving water which is better suited to smallmouth bass, but obviously this fish had never read any of the books. Stan took the lure out of the bass’s mouth and before he released it I was able to take a photo. With that we decided to call it a day. We each had a few fish for the grill and one heck of a story. Thankfully for the photo as otherwise no one would believe us.
These types of experiences really made me realize just how blessed we are here in New Hampshire. When fishing for trout in Wyoming, no matter how great it is, you know you are going to catch trout. The only surprise is on the size. Here in New Hampshire you just never know what will be pulling on the other end of the line. All I can say is always expect the unexpected.
By Dana Benner