Lamprey 4/22

      I got out for an hour this afternoon on the Lamprey in Durham. The spot that I went to is an incredibly popular spot and is crowded from the time of the fall stocking through the spring for very good reason, it has HUGE fish. I got tipped off about the stocking here so I decided to see for myself. When I got there, the river was raging and slightly stained due to the heavy rain from yesterday and there were only 3 cars in the lot (relatively few considering how late of a start I got). Two fishermen left while I was setting up and said they didn't have any luck so I didn't feel too great about my chances. I decided to fish anyways since I almost had the river to myself.
      Again, the river was RAGING, which is an understatement considering that it went up from 288 to 497 in just one day. I decided to work the tail out of along run and work my way up. The only action I ended up getting was in the tail out. I went 2 for 4 today with two bows landed. Unfortunately, the fish did not cooperate with my camera but they were both 10 in. recent stockers.  Both fish took flies that I tied. One took a #18 Hare's Ear variant and the other took a #18 Zebra midge. After fishing for about an hour, I visited a local freestone to see if had gotten stocked yet. I fished a large roadside pool that normally gets stocked with no hits in 15 minutes before calling it a day. All in all, it was great to get enough time to go out and catch fish today.

For up to date flow rates for your favorite streams, check: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nh/nwis/rt