First, a note about my book availability: Due to issues with my publisher, Flyfishers Guide to New England is out of stock on Amazon, LLBean, Cabelas, and other major retailers. It is still available with a few smaller-sized sellers and you can always purchase directly from me signed through Paypal on this website. My other books including “In Pursuit of Trophy Brook Trout is available on Amazon and the Rangeley Sports Shop, among other specialty stores.

Lindsey and I finished our southern swing in Cape San Blas on the gulf coast of Florida where I got a chance to fly fish several days. The redfish were not cooperative on the fly rod but I caught many species including lizardfish, pinfish, rockbass, flounder, and catfish, just to give a partial list. For game fish, I managed to land ladyfish and sea trout.
I don’t know why ladyfish don’t have a better reputation, they fight hard and leap way out of the water.

A gulf-coast angler could do well without ever changing flies away from a brown and white or brown and tan Deceiver or Clouser with heavy dumbbell eyes. Eighty percent of the time they do the trick.

Arriving back to Maine, the weather wasn’t much different than in the southeast – the first two weeks of November featured many days in the upper sixties to mid-seventies with lows as high as mid-fifties, about 15 to 20 degrees above normal. It was September weather and was frightening if you are concerned about global climate change,

Water temperatures were still in the 50s in the lower half of Maine so despite my trip fatigue I got right back out there. I had a great day on the Pleasant River and raised a number of beautiful brown trout about five minutes from my house. Why did I go all the way to North Carolina in October? Per usual this time of year, the browns were hammering Cosohammer streamers with yellow marabou.

I tried other local waters such as Otter and Chaffee Pond or the Presumpscot River but didn’t do as well as I expected to. The river was really too high to fish well. I missed a few trout in the ponds even though a few were rising and caught only small bass.

I had a lot of fun recently, giving a presentation to the University of New Hampshire fly-fishing club on adventure travel fishing in New Zealand, and Patagonia. UNH is close to several rivers that are stocked with nice fish all fall by a private stocking organization. They showed me photos of some chunky rainbows, so as I write this, rivers such as the Isinglass, Cocheco, Exeter, and Lamprey must be fishing decently. This time of year, it is mostly a nymphing exercise with eggs and caddis pupa patterns.

Let’s see if the fishing will hold up until December. I will be giving a presentation on fly-fishing for trout and salmon on ponds and lakes at the Sebago Trout Unlimited annual meeting On December 8th. Anyone can attend. See Sebago Trout Unlimited Facebook page for more information.