Everyone is aware of the trials and tribulations in the year 2020. When the initial COVID lockdown took place in March, there was uncertainty in the angling community as to what may be in store. There was uncertainty everywhere.
A normal spring, with snow melting and ice receding in April, gave anglers hope for the opening day of trout ponds. Fish and Game was able to stock prior to opening day and everyone was told that being outside and absorbing vitamin D was a good preventive to COVID.
Opening day for ponds saw record numbers of anglers on the water. Getting to my pond of choice at dawn, there were only two places left to park the truck. I had not seen this number of boats on this water ever.
Paddling down the pond, the south end of the pond had no less than ten anglers jockeying for position. Again, I had not seen this number of anglers wading and fishing the pond.
While the crowds were unusual, the fishing was fantastic. Several 14-inch fish were caught and a much larger fish was lost. This was the best opening day on ponds since 2016.
The weather stayed on the colder side into May. Waiting for the rivers to reach 54 degrees, the magic temperature for insect hatches to start, ponds continued to be the focus. Saco Lake, Hatch Pond, Long Pond and Thorne Pond all continued to fish well.
The week before Memorial Day saw the insect hatched start. It saw Fish and Game start stocking the rivers. The Saco and the Ellis rivers were the place for the moving water anglers to fish and they were not disappointed.
June was truly the “Sweet Of The Year.” Hatches were prolific and fish were in every water that anglers fished. Trout fishing, bass fishing, pickerel fishing, perch fishing. If you wanted to have an afternoon of fishing, you just needed some equipment and lures or bait and a piece of water.
But that was where the difficulty started. Finding a piece of water that wasn’t overrun with kayaks, tubes, or swimmers. The most popular places were so overcrowded that recreationalists would go to any piece of water they could find. Waters where one never saw another angler, now had dozens of people in the water that anglers like to fish.
Anglers are adaptable. Fishing moved to early in the morning, using the one hour before sunrise. Fishing moved to the evening and anglers fished until two hours after sunset. Hatches continued to hatch, and anglers continued to catch fish.
As summer rolled on, areas around the state began to experience drought conditions. In the valley, each time it got close to water too low to fish, it would rain in the mountains and provide enough water to keep the fishing viable.
And while we did have some warm temperatures, ponds stayed cool enough for fishing. Streamers with sinking lines yielded nice catches of trout, bass, and pickerel. Fishing poppers in the dark on local lakes yielded some trophy bass.
When fall began, waters cooled and the big brook trout became active. To say that the fall of 2020 was a brook trout anglers nirvana would be and understatement. It was great to see the pictures from anglers right up until Thanksgiving of bright-colored brook trout caught in local waters.
With COVID in the background, for the angler, 2020 was a year that won’t soon be forgotten.
Rivers and streams open Jan. 1 for fishing. Get your sink tip fly lines and weighted flies ready to search for area trout.
Steve Angers, a native to the Conway area, is the author of the book “Fly Fishing New Hampshire’s Secret Waters” and operates the North Country Angler.
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