Fly fishing is one of the activities that draws people from all over to New Hampshire’s White Mountains. Brook trout thrive throughout the region’s cold waters, so I asked fly fisherman Steve Angers to show me one of his favorite spots for New Hampshire’s state fish.
Angers has literally written the book on fly fishing for brook trout in New Hampshire. He runs the North Country Angler fly shop in North Conway. Rods and fishing gear line the shop walls. In the middle of the room are the flies, brightly colored bait that fishermen use to lure their next catch.
Angers is the shop’s newest owner, but he was once a customer.
“In fact, the North Country Angler was the first fly shop that I ever went to as a kid,” Angers tells me. “Kind of funny how life’s a big circle.”
His family has deep roots here. They fished brook trout for enjoyment, but also for survival during the Great Depression.
“That was the cherished fish that my father's family caught, too,” he says. “So I started fishing for brook trout at [a] very, very early age, and then it just became a passion. It's just got a special special place in my heart.”
According to New Hampshire Fish and Game, wild brook trout were nearly everywhere in the state a couple hundred years ago. They need clean, cold water to survive, but habitat loss from human development and warming water from climate change have reduced the population in the southern parts of the state.
Angers drives us through Crawford Notch towards the upper part of the Saco River where he says we’re guaranteed to catch wild brook trout.
He tells me he doesn’t keep or eat what he catches anymore.
“I haven’t killed a fish in 20 years,” he says. “Now I’ve let them all go.”
He uses barbless hooks so he can release them into the water without badly injuring them.
“When I let that fish go, that's going to give another angler another opportunity to perhaps catch that fish,” he says. “We have so few opportunities anymore to connect with the natural world that when you hold one of these little jewels in your hand and feel it and slide it back into the water, it just gives you another whole perspective of everything that's going on around you.”
Angers leads us down a grassy hill until we arrive at the brook. We wade through the rushing water with our fishing rods, carefully balancing on rocks as we get closer to the deep pools that brook trout prefer.
The water is cool on our ankles, just how the fish like it. The high elevation and forest cover in the White Mountains have created a chilly sanctuary for them.
“Any of the streams that are above 2,500 feet don't get warm,” says Angers. “They're high enough where it stays cooler and the water coming out of the ground there is colder, too.”
Angers plants himself in one of the pools and demonstrates how to cast the line, and he immediately catches a wild brook trout. We see a flash of the wriggling fish before it flips off the hook and back into the water. Wild brook trout are small with brightly colored dots and deep orange fins.
Unfortunately, I don't have Angers’ luck. The fish seem to know I'm a rookie, and I don't catch any today. We pack up and drive back to the shop, where Angers reminds me that this trip isn’t just about catching the fish. It’s about appreciating them and the scenery around us.
“While I feel badly that you didn’t get to hold one of those fish in your hand today, you reach a point where catching the fish is secondary. It's standing in the river and watching a mink sit on the shore and eat a fish, or watching those little guys bop, but not necessarily take your fly.”
I understand his sentiment. Standing in the cool, clear water while practicing my casting, I began to appreciate the beauty in the details of New Hampshire’s iconic White Mountains.
