I made a trip up to the mountains on Sunday. My plan was to explore some new water I scouted during a family hike early last week. However, I heard some positive reports from the Androscoggin River, so I decided to call an audible at the last minute.

Despite the recent stretch of cool, wet weather up north, I still had my doubts. With the hot and muggy weather of the past two weeks, I expected conditions to be less than ideal. To my surprise however, the water was quite cold and high.

It wasn’t long before I had my first take. Unfortunately, I looked away from the indicator briefly and missed the set. After losing another one to “rusty technique,” I started hooking up more consistently. Over the next hour or so, I pulled out a mix of stocked and wild bows and browns.

Most of the fish fought very well, using the swift current to their advantage once hooked. A couple of wild bows even tried to swim between my legs to break free. I forgot how fun it is to fish for these guys.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was a 12-inch landlocked salmon. It fought very well, cartwheeling all over the place and pulling above its weight. I thought for sure I hooked a giant bow before it broke the surface. Although it isn’t unusual to catch salmon at the Andro, I was still surprised to catch one that far downstream.

A little while later, I saw a group of anglers arrive just upstream of me, so I decided to call it early. I had a long drive back and the fishing already surpassed my expectations. Overall, I went 11-for-13.