BY J OHN C ORRIGAN

John Corrigan writes a weekly column, ANGLER’S JOURNAL, for the CONCORD M ONITOR.

2 November/DecemberMarch/April 20022001 • WILDLIFE J OURNAL Fishing guides can show you the waters, sharpen your skills, and expand your opportunities.

professional fishing guide can put you within casting distance of a game fish and offer solid A advice for hooking and playing it. It’s a service worth paying for if you want to learn a new territory, develop a better appreciation of your local waters, or generally improve your fishing skills. Essentially, if you Hidden Treasures fish a guide can help you. Savard hid her car for a good reason. A Consider the two major trout rivers of New Hampshire’s guide’s knowledge of local waters is a valuable North Country: the Upper Connecticut and the commodity. During a decade of yearly trips to Pittsburg, I Androscoggin. Local anglers can spend a lifetime learning a had never discovered her short path to some of the most mile or two of either river. Newcomers can burn a lot of productive water on a blue-ribbon trout stream. gasoline driving past waters that range from a small Clients also pay for a guide’s understanding of what fish mountain stream to brawling rapids. are likely to be taking as the season progresses. When a It was a cool, drizzly morning in September when Lisa guide like Savard is on the river four or five days a week, Savard turned off Route 3 onto a very rough dirt road in she doesn’t need to see an active caddis hatch to know the Pittsburg. She immediately swung to the left, pulling into a trout see enough of them to recognize a familiar food. clearing where the car couldn’t be seen from the highway. If Lisa Savard showed me how to get to a secret place on She quickly found a faint game trail that led us to a the river, her husband Tim showed me how to catch trout in section of deserted river. I thought it was late in the season one of the most visible places on the river. for insect hatches, but she offered a brown elk-hair caddis The stretch gets a lot of pressure because it is dry fly pattern. She pointed to the seam between the riffles immediately below one of the dams and a very short walk and an eddy, and suggested an upstream cast with enough from a parking lot. It seems to breed wary trout. of a mend in the line to allow the fly to float naturally. Tim Savard led me on a brief tour of the section before She demonstrated the technique, bending forward and we began fishing. He pointed out the places that were most peering at the water with a fly caster’s intensity. Her likely to hold fish, again providing an expert’s perspective artificial landed perfectly, and a healthy brook trout rose to on a trout stream. her offering. I quickly followed her example and watched another brookie rise to the caddis pattern. continued on next page

WILDLIFEILDLIFE JJOURNAL •• November/DecemberMarch/April 2002 2001 32 continued from previous page Experience has taught the To Become a Savards that tiny bead- Licensed New Hampshire head nymphs Fishing Guide: attract the Connecticut’s © JOHN CORRIGAN PHOTOS Here’s how to become a New finicky trout. Hampshire fishing (or hunting) He pressed a guide. ball of orange First, you have to apply to the bio-strike New Hampshire Fish and Game indicator to the Department for a guide’s license leader, and showed and submit the appropriate fee. me how to flick the You can apply as a resident or rig upstream and nonresident hunting or fishing allow the nymph to Cotnoir. A student of the Lefty guide. drift naturally. By my Kreh approach, Cotnoir quickly Then, you have to take and third cast I saw the indicator move pointed out that my wrist was flying pass a guide’s exam. The fishing upstream as I felt a pull on the line open during my back cast. He also guide test covers such topics as and set the hook. showed me a number of tricks in fishing rules and regulations, fishing the Androscoggin’s alder fly management practices, Knowing the Tricks hatch and in making flies visible and fish life cycles, laws covering Those little nymphs won’t work effective in the murky depths. guides and their clients, New across Coos County to the east. Guide Hampshire geography, flora and Ray Cotnoir of Moose Jaw Guiding Winnipesauki’s Bass fauna, emergency first aid and Service in Randolph has learned that The two-tiered of New CPR, and boating regulations. heavily weighted attractor nymphs Hampshire’s largest lake presents a combined with a smaller pattern on a different set of challenges to anglers. Also, to be a guide, you must: dropper line produces results in the After the early-season shallow-water ✓ Have a valid hunting or big waters of the Androscoggin. season for landlocked salmon fishing license; Cotnoir’s clients range from fades into late spring and the fish ✓ Be at least 18 years old; experienced anglers who appreciate retreat to the deepest waters, fishing ✓ Have successfully the opportunity to get within casting picks up for smallmouth bass. completed basic first aid or CPR range of the Androscoggin’s biggest River anglers have some chance to and submit proof of current trout, to novices who use his drift read the water and figure out where certification; and as a floating classroom. the fish are likely to hold. The ✓ Have a conviction-free A good guide “consistently gets superficial view of Lake record of fish and game violations clients of all levels to catch fish,” Winnipseaukee’s vast reaches doesn’t at least two years before Cotnoir said. “Another great offer many clues. applying. Rules also cover length challenge is to develop a sense of Bass anglers put a lot of stock in of time since conviction for what it is that a client is looking for finding bass-friendly misdemeanors and felonies. on a day out on the water.” That Remember, that’s the bare might be improving casting or minimum to become a guide. To be learning how to nymph fish in a great guide, you’ve got to know pocket water. the territory – some territory – Cotnoir was one of the state’s whether you specialize at bass on first guides to float with the Squam Lake or fly-fishing in the MacKenzie River , a North Country. You also need to craft popular with guides on have a good sense of humor, Western rivers. It’s a rowboat

flexibility in your plans, and be able that a skilled guide can hold © JOHN CORRIGAN PHOTO to market yourself. Lots of guides steady in heavy rapids, are now advertising their services providing stable casting on the Internet. platforms at the bow and For an information packet on stern. becoming a guide, call 603-271- After several years of fly- 3127. fishing, I considered my casting skills to be adequate. Then I spent an afternoon in Errol with

4 November/December March/April 2002 2001 • • WILDLIFEILDLIFE J OURNAL structure. Whether it’s rocky shoals, habits are,” Brown said. In different submerged weed beds, or sudden seasons, fish react differently. A good drop-offs, bass seem to like some guide “should know where exactly variety in their environs. A good bass and when to look for what you are © JOHN CORRIGAN PHOTO guide knows where to find it, fishing for.” sometimes a daunting task if most of For a guide, the biggest challenge the lake bottom is featureless muck. “is to be sure the people have a good Guide Jim Brown of Manchester time,” Brown said. “Some (clients) calls himself the “bass harasser.” He just enjoy the day. Some want to has spent nearly two decades looking catch numbers. Others want to at bottom profiles on the screens of catch big fish. Usually we talk to two electronic fish finders. He also them before we meet, so I have hones his skills by regularly an idea what they’re looking for.” competing in Even the best guides know tournaments. that there are some days when the fish Brown recently traded in a big bass just don’t bite. “You know they own or boat driven by a high-powered should, but they just don’t,” Brown go hungry. Also, outboard for an even larger boat said. Anyway, few clients complain don’t ask a guide to spend equipped with an engine with extra about it, and Brown is tougher on more time that you have paid for. If horsepower. It also features a himself than the clients are. you do spend some extra time glittering metalflake decor popular because the fish start biting at the end with bass anglers. A Few Tips for Clients of the day, be thankful. I was impressed when his old boat If you want to hire a guide to help 3. Understand that a guide is a reached interstate highway speeds on you improve your skills while regulated professional who is the wide-open expanses of the lake. learning local waters, here are a few responsible for your safety. If a Hold onto your hat if you decide to tips gleaned from several trips with driftboat guide tells you sit down hire him next summer. His theory is the professionals. through a heavy set of rapids, take a that less time spent traveling to a seat. If the guide wants to get off the fishing destination allows that much 1. Above all, treat your guide with river when a thunderstorm more time for fishing. respect. Be honest about your skills approaches, don’t argue. A graphite and what you are hoping to learn. rod will act as a lightening rod. Knowledge of the Water Your goal is not to impress your 4. Be prepared to pay a premium If you’re looking to hire a guide, guide or show off your skills. A fee for a boat guide. It takes a lot of Brown suggests that you make sure guide’s job is to put you in the right money to purchase and maintain it’s “someone who has the knowledge place and help you improve, not to be either a high-powered bass boat or of the water. If he is supplying tackle, amazed at what a great angler you drift boat. it should be in good working have become. 5. When appropriate, especially if condition. An adequate or more than 2. If you are uncertain about what fishing alone with a guide, invite him adequate boat – that should be a the guide fee covers, ask about it. or her to fish with you. Many won’t priority. I have been with someone Sometimes the guide fee for a full day cast a line unless invited because they down south who would scare you.” on the water includes lunch or other have so many other responsibilities. A good guide “should know what snacks. Find out about this in When a guide catches fish, you know he (or she) is fishing for, what their advance. You may have to pack your you have been taken to prime water.

Most guides are independent professionals who earned the license Guide’s Creed: because they love fishing and want to 1. I will do all in my ability to fulfill what is promised to a client. pass it on to others. They also need to 2. I will be aware and sensitive to all of the necessary things I must do to be compensated for their time and make a client’s trip worthwhile and a happy experience. investment. Hiring a guide can be a 3. I will honor my client’s wishes above my own. worthwhile investment in your own 4. I will practice good sportsmanship and a sense of responsibility at all fishing future. times. For a complete list of New 5. I will abide by all New Hampshire Fish and Game laws and rules. Hampshire fishing guides, visit 6. I will avoid the use of alcohol while working. www.wildlife.state.nh.us/ fishing_guides.html.

WILDLIFEILDLIFE JJOURNAL •• November/DecemberMarch/April 2002 2001 5