2002 Fishing Highlights

Tall Timber Lodge strongly encourages all anglers to
practice Catch & Release. In the immortal words of Lee Wulff,
"A good gamefish is too valuable to be caught only once. The fish you release is your gift to another angler."

April 21 - Ice-Out on Back Lake and Lake Francis. This is one of the earliest that we've ever had - a reflection of the mild winter for northern New England - and it suits us just fine. All this really means is that the season to pursue our favorite aquatic buddies, trout and salmon, will be that much longer this year. Good fishing!

May 8 - Salmon are starting to make their run up the Magalloway stretch of the Connecticut River, between the First and Second Connecticut Lakes. A few salmon have been caught on streamers from the reports we have gotten, so this should be the start of an exciting two weeks on the river - come on up!

June 4 - The fishing on Back Lake began to pick up over the Memorial Day weekend - a 3 lb. brookie from Matt Ennis and a 3.5 lb. brown from son Matt Jr. (pictured) confirm that things are heating up. We have no shortage of water up here, as there is plenty of it flowing down the Connecticut right now. The fishing is good however, especially at the mouth of the Lake Francis inlet. Nymphs and streamers are doing the best right now.

June - The Bill Hay expedition returns to Tall Timber. For pictures of some of their exploits, please go to the Fishing Album. Don't worry Bill, I won't divulge where you caught all of the great brookies - at least until next year!

June 12 - It's been raining for a couple of days now, but that hasn't dampened the resolve of our fishermen here at the lodge.

Harold Wood landed twenty rainbows and a couple nice browns near the logging bridge and our guide Jon Howe had a successful session with a client in the trophy stretch as well. At right is a picture of Kathy Gesner and Jon with a nice salmon taken on the Trophy Stretch - this fighter was released. The lake is still producing mostly rainbows and some smallmouth bass, and we're still a week or two away from the best fishing of the season : the HEXAGENIA hatch!

June 18 & 19 - The pictures of these beautiful Back Lake brookies were submitted by Eric and Patt

Brooker (what a coincidence!) on their fishing trip to TTL. We're glad to report that they were all in the 14" to 17" range and will all fight another day because they were all RELEASED! Thanks for the great pictures.

June 26 - Well, we've been waiting .... but the HEX hatch has still not started. We expect them any day now, but they have been keeping the trout, and therefore us, anxiously waiting. Light cahills are currently coming off at night, so there is some action, but it should get a lot better any day now ...

July 1 - We're in the third night of the hex hatch, and things are starting to pick up. The first two nights of the hatch were a little on the sparse side, but they seem to be getting thicker with each passing day. We've had some hot days lately, so that seems to have kicked them in to gear. Now's the time to experience the best flyfishing on the lake - come on up!

July 13 - Vindicating his decision to come to Tall Timber,
Mike Gath caught and released this 2.75 lb. lunker brown
off the Tall Timber dock on the last night of his stay. Thanks for the picture Mike!

July 25 - The trolling on Back Lake has slowed a little bit, but the evening hatches are still going pretty good (light cahills, comparaduns and a few hexes here and there), so good that Cindy caught and released a 3 lb. brown last week. The fishing on the Trophy Stretch continues to be outstanding. The river flow is a little fast right now, but that hasn't deterred some big salmon from prowling the stretch lately. Fish and Game has also continued stocking the river very well, so there are a lot of fish right now. Heard some good reports about Terrell Pond (hornbergs) and Coon Brook Bog, but that seems to be it for the outer ponds right now.

Late July / Early August - Richard Geoffroy proudly shows off this beautiful Trophy Stretch brookie before releasing it to fight another day. In middle and late August, the Connecticut River has risen dramatically to meet the demands for power downstream. The fishing is definitely tougher, but good fish can still be had by dredging the bottom with weighted nymphs. The lake has slowed down considerably, but more 40 degree nights as we approach September will take care of that!

September 22 - Cindy had her best fishing of the season after the river flow was lowered to a good level. She caught and released lots of fish, BIG fish ... Soft hackle streamers and elk hair caddis were working the best. She said that her night of fishing rivaled the fishing she normally has in Montana.

October 2 - Long time guest Gary Cox, under the expert guidance of Jon, had a great day on the Trophy Stretch. He caught and released several brookies, but his best effort came in landing two nice landlocks (17" and 20" respectively), eventhough the water flow was down somewhat. On the same day, veteran TTLer Don Day had a great time taking advantage of his "cast and blast" opportunity. In the morning he took two grouse with the help of his trusty brittany, Tango. In the afternoon his good fortune continued on the river as he caught and released six trout on dries.

Pictures (especially Catch & Release ones) are greatly appreciated for use with this page.
E-mail : Tom at Tall Timber