We fished Archery Pond in Hookset and caught some smallish brookies and some hefty rainbows ... I caught the smallish brookies and Ethan got the hefty rainbows. The fishing really heated up when the sun started to fade and the mayflies drifted down from the trees and flitted across the surface to lay their eggs. The trout were going wild and we simply cast mayfly patterns toward the real flies.

We had no luck in the rivers. We tried the Swift, Saco and the Pemi without any success. We caught a few brookies at Sky pond. A sink tip line was essential although I bet you could catch them on the surface in the evening. The trout hit a chartreuse wooly bugger and an olive hares tail nymph. We saw some surface activity but nothing to write home about.

Sky Pond is close to a perfect spot to fish. The pond is isolated, lined with trees with no roads within earshot. There are herons and hawks overhead and the loudest noise comes from the resident beaver.

We had some luck at Profile. The best fish was this 14" brookie caught on a woolly bugger. We did see an 18 incher come out of the lake.


People who don't go fishing are missing out on some pretty impressive scenery. Eventually the clouds rolled through the notch and we fished until dusk in the mist under a thick blanket of low cloud.