Alessandra Senior Prioject

 Tuesday May 24: Today I got up super early and met my dad at the Sugar River at 7 in the morning.  We hiked about a mile to a spot in the river that had really good water to fish. I started off with a high-stick nymphing rig and an indicator. On only my third cast, a fish ate my wooly bugger and I was so excited. But, as I have learned before, the fish is only caught if it is in your net. So, I kept my rod tip up (like I was taught) and tried to guide the fish into my net. Once the fish was in my net I was so relieved. It was a small rainbow trout but I was so happy that I was finally able to get out of my funk and catch something. I ended up catching two more fish that day, including one more rainbow trout and a brown trout. I had never caught a brown trout before so that was very cool to me.

 Sunday May 21: This week I have spent most of my time researching about fly fishing internationally, learned more about fly tying, and worked on perfecting my back cast. Since my dad was gone at work all week, I was not really able to go fishing as much as I did last week. But, my casting technique has gotten significantly better and I have been using the advice that Hunter Churchill gave me which has been super helpful.  I also tied some wooly bugger flies and some nymphs. I was super excited because they looked just like the flies you can buy online.  Next week I am planning on going fishing with my dad and I hope to have some better luck.

 Monday May 23: Today I prepared for and early morning fishing trip that I will be going on tomorrow. I also worked on my express fest presentation and added a few finishing touches to my video that I made a few days before. I plan on going to thee Sugar river tomorrow in Grantham NH. I am hoping that I can put all of my skills together and catch some fish. Hours Earned: 4 Total Hours: 51.5

 Friday May 20: Today I worked on my presentation for express fest. I started to put together a slideshow of all of the pictures i have taken. Then, I went to highland lake with some friends and we fished there. First I used a spinning rod and caught a few small sunfish with worms as bait. Then, I used my fly rod to practice my back cast because there was nothing that I could get snagged on. We caught a bunch of small sunfish. I caught a few on my fly rod which was super cool. Hours earned: 7 Total Hours: 47.5 

 Thursday May 19: I was supposed to go to highland lake today but it ended up pouring so I had to cancel the trip. Instead, I planned out what I was going to present for express fest. I started putting together a poster board and made a video about my fly fishing trips. I also worked on tying some flies. I plan on going to highland lake tomorrow if the weather allows.  Hours earned: 4.5 Total hours: 40.5

 Tuesday May 18, Today I did some research about fly fishing in lakes for my trip to highland lake tomorrow. I learned that it is a slightly different technique where you back cast far out into the lake and then slowly strip the line in using a streamer. This acts like a small fish swimming in the water. I also tied a few flies that I am going to try out tomorrow.  Hours earned: 4 Total hours: 36

 Tuesday May 17: Today I went to the Blackwater with some friends to try and see if we had any luck there. Unfortunately because it rained so hard the day before the entire river was flooded. It was almost impossible to fish and I ended up losing 3 lures. But, I caught a frog and a tadpole. That night, I worked on tying nymphs because they are so tedious and hard to master.  I also planned a trip to highland lake on Thursday and hopefully I will catch at least something.  Hours earned: 5 hours  Total hours: 32

 Monday May 16:  Today I did not go fishing because it was supposed to thunderstorm. Instead, I honed in on my fly tying skills by tying large streamer fly and a small nymph. I also watched a documentary and learned about international fly fishing. I learned about Icelandic salmon and their migration patterns. I learned that catching fish on the fly is not as easy as using a rod and bait. This helped me regain my confidence because even the pro fly fishermen were only able to catch about 3 fish a week. I am planning on getting back on the water this week to try out my luck again.  Hours earned: 5 Total Hours: 27

  Weekly reflection: This week I began to learn how to fly fish and how to tie my own flies. I learned a couple different fly fishing techniques. First, we started with high stick nymphing. Which includes using a hook that imitates bugs in a bug hatch, it is less back casting and more roll casting. This was thought to be more effective because the water in the rivers was incredibly low and clear. This makes fishing a lot more tedious. High stick nymphing helps reduce the amount of fly line that is touching the water so that the fish won’t be able to see the fishing line. Another fishing technique I learned was streaming. This is where you use a fly that imitates a small minnow in the water. This requires you to backcast upstream as far as possible and let the minnow swim upstream. My dad was also able to teach me how to tie a fly called a wooly bugger along with a few saltwater flies. Although I learned a lot, not everything went as planned. I have gone fishing 5 times at 5 differe...

 Friday May 13: Today I went fishing in Vermont with my dad. I used techniques that I learned from past trips and I actually caught a fish!! It was a rainbow trout! I was so excited because this was the first time I felt like the things I learned actually paid off. I also caught a frog which was pretty cool as well. After I went fishing, my dad helped me hone in on my fly tying skills and I worked on tying some more complicated flies.  Hours completed: 6 Total hours: 22

 Thursday May 12: Today I worked on my fly tying techniques. I learned how to add eyes and weight to the hook. I also worked on making some saltwater flies. This took some time because I had to learn the difference between saltwater and freshwater flies. I did some research on which rivers in Vermont were stocked with fish and I plan on fishing the Black river tomorrow. Which was just stocked with 200 2-year old brown trout.  Hours: 3.5  Total Hours: 16

 Wednesday May 11: Today my dad and I met up with Hunter Churchill so he could show us some new spots around New Hampshire. First we went to the Newfound River in Bristol New Hampshire. I learned how to cast in slow moving water, and worked on my roll cast. The water was incredibly clear and low so there was a lot of technique involved so that you don't scare away the fish. We then moved to the Pemigewasset River in New Hampton New Hampshire which is a much bigger river and has lots of fast moving water. I learned how to accurately cast while wading in the river and used my knowledge from last trip to work on thinking like a trout. Unfortunately we got no fish, or as the advanced fly fishermen would say "we were viciously skunked". It was honestly very disappointing but I am hopeful I will have better muck in the future. Hours earned: 4.5 Total Hours: 12.5

 Tuesday May 10: Today I sat down and began to learn how to tie my own flies. I set up a portable vise and attempted to tie my first fly with no instruction. It turned out looking pretty bad. So I ended up googling how to tie a wooly bugger (which is a specific fly that is easy for beginners to tie) and found a helpful guide and video explaining the steps in detail. After googling and some help from my dad, I was able to get a good start on a fly that actually looks like it is supposed to look.  I also learned about the kinds of things that the trout eat. I learned that we have flies that mimic the food that the fish eat. The most common food for the fish are caddisflies and mayflies. I demonstrated my learning by creating a poster that shows what kind of food rainbow trout like to eat the most often.  Hours Earned: 4 Total Hours: 8

 Monday May 9: Today I went fishing on the Black river in Vermont. I learned about different types of flies: dry flies, wet flies, floating flies, sinking flies, and indicators. I also learned a technique called “high stick nymphing”. Where the rod is held high above my head to keep as little fly line in the water as possible. This makes it so the fish only see the fly and not the fishing line. I learned that to catch a trout, you need to think like one. Which sounds cheesy, but the trout are lazy and do not like to move very far to eat food. So, you need to look for places in the river where the water isn’t moving very fast, like behind rocks and in coves on the sides of the river. Those “eddys” as they’re called are where you want to cast and place your fly . I did not end up catching anything, but I learned a lot and will go back to the river using these techniques and hopefully have some better luck. Hours Earned: 4 Total Hours: 4