Alfie Rylander Fly Fishing New Hampshire

Tuesday was a work day for me. I decided to wait until the last day to make my video and poster board for Express Fest. I started by catching up on my blogs, I had a few from last week to write. Then I started my poster board but didn't get to far because I had to wait for the pictures I printed out on campus later in the day. I also organized my props for Express Fest. I'll have different turkey calls, flies that I tied, maybe a turkey fan on display. I also enjoyed writing my reflection essay. I set a personal record for the fastest four pages I have ever written. Despite all of the tedious work I had to do, I did have a chance to appreciate the past few weeks. I could not have asked to end Highschool any better way.

Last Monday of Senior Project. It has gone by so quick. I made my way to Warner NH to fish a small stream that we use to fish during a fishing derby every spring. The derby was last weekend but I hoped that there would still be some fish hiding in there. But to my disappointment signs line the roadway, " reserved for kids 16 and under. Please corporate". Not exactly the start to my morning that I had hoped for. I called an audible and went to Stevens Brook, one that I fished last week with no success. I picked through my fly box looking for something different, a fly that might bring some new luck. I picked a size 14 green emerger with a white poly yarn wing. In English that's a little green thing that floats just below the surface. On my second cast I hook into a nice 10 inch brook trout. After an hour or so I headed to New London Hospital to say hi to my dad, and talked to his coworker that talked me into taking him turkey hunting on Thursday. Not like it took much conv

Week three was another exciting week for my Senior Project. Like the past weeks I tried to balance my time between hunting and fishing evenly as best I could, but this week seemed to be more fishing than hunting. This week I learned that a loss can't keep you down. A quick ten hours after the final horn sounded on my lacrosse career, I called in a strutting turkey to 20 yards. The loss sucked, I was really disappointed. But nothing improves my mood like hearing a turkey gobble at 4:50 in the morning. I learned to keep my head up, to focus on the future because that is the direction that I'm heading. I did not enjoy the fact that I only got to hunt Thursday morning. Granted I had a blast fishing, but I can only chase turkeys one month out of the year so I like to spend as much time as possible hunting. Nonetheless hunting for only 45 minutes and killing a bird does make a great story. I think that mentally I shifted gears from my lacrosse game to hunting very quickly because as

Started out my Friday with setting up my Dad's turkey for its mount. I trim the excess meat off the bottom of the tail fan before coating it in borax and pinning it to a large piece of cardboard. I make sure that the feathers are all evenly spaced so the mount will look the best it can, had to look good as it is his first turkey. Also it has to look good for my display at express fest because my dog Jake destroyed the fan from my bird. I was using it as a decoy, which helped lure in my Dad's bird, then left it in the breezeway while went to get it registered. Jake had a field day and ripped the thing to shreds. So much for that display. The weather was gorgeous out so my girlfriend and I thought it would be fun to hike Mount Kearsarge. We could see all the way to campus from the top since there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Beautiful day to spend outside, I felt bad thinking of the kids stuck in classrooms. I ended my evening with a little fly tying, trying some new streamers

Losing sucks. Losing in the playoffs, in my last high school lacrosse game really sucks. There are numerous quotes that I could write here about how you can't let a loss keep you down, never quit and all of that jazz. Instead I made my own. Walking off the lighted turf field I looked at my dad and simply said, "time to go kill one." Regardless of how the game went, my dad and I were hunting Thursday morning. Thinking of the game kept me up until the wee hours of the night, but I was able to catch a quick 4 hours of sleep before the alarm went off. Still groggy we made our way down the skidder trail. We joked how it would be nice to be home before the coffee stops brewing, a quick hunt so we could go back to bed. Before we got to where we figured the birds would be, a lone bird gobbled on the ridge above us. I knew from previous hunts that there was a clearing in top of the ridge, our first plan was to set up in the opposite end and hope the bird would work his way to us.

Woke up today with an hour and a half before my woodshop block. I headed to a new spot on the Blackwater River about 400 yards up stream of where I fished early last week. The river dumped into a small widened section that looks alot like a small pond. Greg told me that he has caught fish here before. I figured that with an hour to fish it would be a good place to try. In 15 minutes I had landed 3 fall fish. Not a bad start. I went up stream 30 yards or so to a decent sized pool. I stayed with the same wooly bugger that already caught me the three fish. Casting across the current pulled my line through the current, I know this as swinging a streamer but could be called dragging or something similar, to the fish waiting down stream. In another 20 minutes I had caught fish on every other or every third cast. Incredible action, the fall fish fight extremely hard. The only trouble was the bugs. The black flies swarmed my head to the point it was almost suffocating. You know the bugs are te

I pulled into Rulon at 9:00 sharp to pick up AJ. We loaded his his gear in the truck and headed to Profile Falls on the Smith River in Bristol NH. He and Finn had fished this spot last week and said they saw a ton of fish. We parked at the parking lot just below the falls and before we could step out of the truck Finn whipped the minivan into the adjacent parking spot. Finn had trouble waking up so we told him to meet us there. The falls were much bigger than I was expecting. The water crashed from 40 feet above the pool, we got fishing right away. I started with a wooly bugger that I tied the day before. I was hoping that it would sink into the depths of the deep pool hopefully to fish that were held up along the bottom. AJ struck first, landing his first fish of senior project. I missed a fish while I was spacing off looking at little song birds. I decided to work down stream, trying to find smaller pools. With no luck I went back to AJ and Finn. That's when I saw it. From the de

I woke up a little late today so I decided instead of rushing out to go fishing I could tie a few flies to replenish the ones I had lost so far. I started simple with a few bead head hares ears before I got adventurous. I know that stocked fish haven't really adjusted to natural food sources yet. Mostly mayflies, stoneflies and bugs of that nature. The best flies to catch them on are variations of these natural flies but with more color and flash. So I tried tying some variations with more colored wire and different colored threads. I also tied a few wooly bugger streamers because some fishermen will say it can catch any fish on any day, a must have fly. I continued to tie fora few hours before heading into woodshop where I applied my first coat of finish. Hopefully it will be presentable before the art show. Hours spent on project: 2.5

Week two is in the books and it was a good week. I am leaving week two with some great learning moments. The first one is that animals and fish are creatures of habit. When I returned to fishing spots that I had not fished in years, I found fish in the exact same places. I talked to older gentlemen that said how they have fished that section of river for years with great success. Looking at it from a scientific view, a section of river that is healthy, has ample food, with structure and depth to protect fish, is always going to hold fish. I learned the same thing with turkeys. We found birds this week in a spot that we have thought of as, “ That place always has birds”. Why wouldn't it? The area has everything a bird could need so it only makes sense that new generations of turkeys fill those areas. My best learning moment from came from the toughest morning of the week. My dad and I were going hunting, but the only problem was that he had to work until 7:30 that morning. No probl

"I don't want to go to my class tomorrow, want to go hunting instead?" Possibly the best thing that my dad could have said on Thursday night. Needless to say I was ready to go when my 3:40 alarm (sun is rising earlier now so have to give myself a few extra minutes) sounded off. I wanted to go back to our opening day area. We knew a bird was in there this year, on years past it has alway held turkeys. We walked in on the fresh skidder trail, following the topography to the back side of the swampy pond. We stood on the end of the ridge listening out over a clear cut. Just like that the sound of spring brings my attention to the creek bottom on the other side of the clear cut. The first gobble. We quickly make a plan to move in closer, hoping that we would be able to pull the bird in closer. We set up in the clear cut, on the back edge of a knoll so that the turkey could hear our calls but couldn't see us until he crested the top and by that time he would be in gun range

I woke up early today, but not crazy early like I would if I were hunting. Probably around 7:30 or so I had breakfast before loading up my kayak and fishing gear. I was going to follow my plan and start my day fishing Hopkins pond. Before I could get in the truck and leave my ears caught a familiar sound, one that seemingly controls my life during the month of May. A lone turkey gobble echos through the trees from right behind my house. I sat a listen for a while, the bird gobbles a few more times. Now I can't wait for the weekend. Jumped in the truck, driving past campus to my morning destination. It was funny to see how quiet and asleep campus looked while I had already had a bright start to my morning. Bouncing over the deep ruts on the little single lane road that leads to the boat launch I catch a glimpse of the fog rising off the water. I did not stay long, mostly becsuse of my uncomfortable kayak seat and picky fish that didn't want to bite. Couldn't let a beautiful

Wednesday was not up to par with my other days on senior project. I woke up tired and sluggish. Knowing that we had a game with a long bus ride to go with it I didn't go fishing. I did however use my time to work on my dinning room table in the wood shop. This has actually become a common occurrence during my senior project, making time around my project to work in my table. Because this table has taken all year to make and still needs a bit of work so luckily I have the time to work on it. I also took time to plan the rest of my week. Thursday my plan is to fish Hopkins pond for the first time this year, and maybe a new stretch of the Blackwater river. On another note my dad still has a turkey tag so I am itching to get back out there. Hopfully we can get out later this week but if not then this weekend we will be back in action chasing long beards. Hours spent on project today:0

Tuesday morning I woke up excited for the day. My plan was to head south and Fish the Warner River. When my family first moved to New Hampshire in 2009 we moved to Warner NH. We also lived very close to this river so I do have some prior knowledge of this river. I started at the first covered bridge that's just south of Riverside Park. It's funny who you meet while out and about. First right as I was getting out of my truck a older gentleman that as out for his daily walk, stopped and asked if I had fished here before. He said how he use to fish this river back in the day and how he would catch fish every time he went. We talk for a little while about fly fishing and the river, before he went on his way he told me about another covered bridge upstream where he thought they were more likely to stock. I didn't tell him that I knew the exact bridge he was talking about because I crossed it daily years ago. I didn't spend long at this next bridge though. I hadn't been i

A Monday morning without a case of the Mondays, one very bright side to Senior Project. I started my day with finalizing the taxidermy work from my turkey. Just laying out the tailfan, beard and spurs to dry. Then I loaded the truck with my fishing gear and headed to Stevens Brook in Warner NH to fish. This was another find from the Fish and Game stocking report. I first tried this large pool which looked fairly deep and was probably 40 yards wide. Plus being off the road I figure it would be the first place they stocked fish. But other boot marks on the bank lead me to believe that these fish have already had everything but the kitchen sink thrown at them, so I went up stream to other big pools of water. From my fishing last week, and just prior knowledge I have found there to be more fish in the pools of rivers and streams. Upon further online research this is one of a fishes favorite places to be. The water slows down enough so they can save energy but flows just enough to bring foo

Week one of Senior Project is in the books. My week started out with a trip to find a new stream that was recently stocked with brook trout. I was able to find it no problem, but finding fish was another story. I fished for several hours with no fish to show for it. That night while in woodshop extra help I talked to Greg Allen about it and he told about a section that always holds some fish. I returned the next day and was rewarded with two solid brook trout. While I did do some fishing my focus for the week and weekend has been turkey hunting. I have been anxiously waiting for the season to open, which it did on Thursday of this week. I hunted hard. Waking up at 3:45 am not one, not two but three out of the first four days of the season. I did sleep in on Friday because of my lacrosse game later that day but went out around 9:30 to try and locate a bird. Sunday Morning, though it was not a senior project day, I could not give up a beautiful day in the woods. I went into the same area

Just like the prior two days my alarm sounds off at a bright and early 3:45 am. This is the first season that I have been able to consistently hunt from the start, so needless to say I can feel the early mornings catching up to me. Nothing an afternoon cat nap can't fix. But the drowsiness is worth it because I am doing what I love. Today I went to a different spot in the same area as yesterday. I was probably only two miles away from the opening day location. I had the same strategy though, get in early to sit and listen as the sun came up. I got to watch an awesome sun rise. The thicker clouds grabbed all of the extra redish orange color. Unfortunately though the sunrise and a distant owl was the only excitement from this mornings hunt. On the way home I started to scout new areas to hunt. Two days of limited gobbling action is a frustrating start to a season. I'm trying to stay hopeful though because I have plenty of time to get it done and I know my season can take a positi

They said that it couldn't be done, that the record for earliest wake up on Senior Project would not be beaten. Until I woke up 30 minutes before my alarm, 3:45 am on the dot. My dad was awake too. We both were too excited to sleep. Opening day of the 2018 New Hampshire turkey season was finally here. We loaded our packs into the truck and made our way to our hunting spot. Climbing up the path, our red headlamps lighting the way. We weren't able to roost a bird the night before so our plan was to get up to the top of the ridge and listen as the sun came up, hoping to hear one. It wasn't until about an hour after sunrise that we heard a bird gobble all the way back down the path, on the opposite side of the road from where we went. Eager to get an opening day bird we hoofed it down the ridge in hopes to cross the road and find this bird. I stepped onto the road first, my eyes focused on the woods opposite of us. I stopped quick when my dad pointed out the truck parked just d

I have self proclaimed set a record for the earliest wake up while on Senior Project. 4:15 am my alarm sounds, today I was heading out early to listen for turkeys. Evenings and mornings are the times when make turkeys are most vocal so being out there to hear them helps pattern them for opening day. I heard one bird right when I got there, and one more later in the morning. But my excitement for the morning was that while I was sitting and listening a bobcat walked to within 25 yards of me. This was my first time seeing a bobcat in real life and with it creeping so close to me, definitely got my heart pumping. I returned home for a quick breakfast before heading back to Kimpton Brook again to do a little midday fishing. I was lucky and hooked up with two beautiful brook trout, both about 12 inches in length. I was shocked because they came out of a pool that might have been 10 feet wide and a foot and a half deep. But not bad for my first fish of the year. Tomorrow, Thursday, is the da

Finally, Senior Project is here. I started the day off with an adventure. Driving up route 4a looking for Kimpton Brook in Wilmont New Hampshire. The latest fish stocking report from New Hampshire Fish and Game said that this brook along with 2 others in Wilmont was stocked with brook trout last week. Since I had never fished this little stream before and it was very close to home I figured that it would be a great spot to start my senior project. I was successful in finding fishable water but unfortunately my efforts did not yield any fish. Around noon I changed gears from fish to turkeys. Turkey season doesn't start until Thursday but I need to find the birds first in order to hunt them. I stopped by one of my spots on the way home, coincidentally where I shot my bird last spring and saw a bunch of birds this fall. I didn't make it 100 yards from my truck before I heard a bird gobbling. Perfect. My scouting mission was a success. To build off that, tomorrow morning I will be