Check here for Vermont fly fishing reports during the season.
Big browns live in Vermont!
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Check here for Vermont fly fishing reports during the season.
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Rain has fallen in many parts of Vermont, but not everywhere, so lots of small streams are in very good shape right now. The Winooski and Lamoille are still up and dirty, and various tribs of each have been getting hit with the random t-storms and downpours. The upper reaches of both "may" be fishable by the weekend if those reaches get little to no rain...but we'll just have to see how it shakes out. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
I do recall calling mother nature a bitch back in May...and while some folks may have questioned the karmic implications of such a comment, the fact is after the past week...she has not proven me wrong! I had a couple of glorious days on the Big C before the rains arrived last Friday; with good numbers of wild bows and browns up to 16", highlighted by a monster wild brown of 21" that took a dry and then took me into my backing, which I normally do everything to avoid. By Saturday the river was stuffed and is even worse now. So, I'm back to N. Underhill early, though no rivers of any size are in any better shape right now. We received 2.3" of rain from Friday-Monday, and the Lamoille and the Winooski will be unfishable for a week I suspect becasue more big rains are coming. Small stuff will be the way to go for now, and even small streams will be subject to quick rises and dirty water since the ground is so saturated. Hatches consist of Sulphurs #16-20, Lt. Cahills #12-16, Tan Caddis #14-20, BWO's #18-22, Golden and Yellow Drakes #8-12, Blue Quills #18-20, and ants and beetles #12-20. Good luck finding clear water and be safe out there!
We've had some windy, weird weather over the past two days, and I'll be happy when its gone. It's kept temps down enough to keep the big rivers from hitting 70, but I saw very little bug activity and rising fish seemed to be a bit rarer despite lowering water levels. I was on the Big C yesterday and we had some of the strongest winds I've ever had to guide on. Northeasterly winds of 10-30 mph, blew downriver all day. We hooked over a dozen fish, but it was tough going in the casting department. I came back home to do trip on a trib of the Lamoille today where I taught a 12 yr old kid to fish and he did great, landing a native brookie on a dry as his first trout. He hooked a few more brookies and browns and made some tough sidearm casts under trees and bushes. I'll be back up on the Big C starting tomarrow through 7/6. I have some openings to do trips up there if anyone is interested in either a float trip or wading. With the Big C reaching some of its lowest levels of the year and the local big rivers reaching the low 70's by this Thursday, this is the time of year when the Upper Ct. really come into its own. Cool water, lots of fish, and literally hardly a soul on the river from Canaan to Bloomfield. We've got one more day of "weird" easterly weather, and then summer arrives bigtime with heat, humidity and t-storms on Thursday. With highs in the mid 80's, the outstanding streak of water under 70F on the big rivers will come to an end on many reaches. Mornings should still be ok, as weather later in the weekend and early next week looks a bit wetter and cooler. Obviously t-storms could bring levels up and dinge up some rivers, so just pay attention to the river flows before heading out after t-storms have been in the area. Thur-Friday looks the wettest over the next 5-7 days. Hatches consist of Sulphurs #16-20, Light Cahills #12-16, Tan Caddis #14-18, Blue Winged Olives #18-20, Summer Blue Quills #18-20, Big Golden and Brown Stones #6-12, and ants/beetles #12-20. The Hex hatches should start on the Northeastern Kingdom lakes by the end of the weekend and early next week. I'll try to do some reports while I'm up on the Big C. Good luck on the water!
The Winooski had a big drop in flows overnight, and is now is very good shape. The Lamoille continues to drop and should fish really well. I've got some guiding up on the Upper Ct. over the next couple of days, so my reports will pick up on Tuesday. In the meantime, get out there and fish while water temps are still low enough on the big rivers. By the middle of the week, I suspect we'll start to see our first 70 degree water temps. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
I guided on the Lamoille below Johnson and a trib of the Lamoille today and for doing an afternoon trip on June 20th....it could not be much better. We found rising fish on both rivers, the trib was 60 degrees at 3pm, and the Lamoille was 65 degrees at 5pm. Usually by now if you went to the Lamoille at 5pm, you'd find 72 degree water....not this season! We ended up catching a bunch of browns and rainbows on dries. The Lamoille is still running well above average for the date, so finding fish in the faster, deeper water can still be tough. The Winooski is also still up a bit below Montpelier. The Big C has fallen a bunch over the past 24 hrs, and is in good shape. Aside from southern Vermont which will see some light rain over the next 24 hrs, most of the state will be dry, with perhaps some drizzle in central and eastern regions. Lots of clouds thru Tuesday/Wednesday and easterly winds will make for some interesting fishing. Right now the fishing is very good, but we rarely get prolonged easterly winds in Vermont during the summer. I suspect the fishing will hold up fine as water levels will be dropping at the same time, making for better dry fly fishing conditions. If you're interested in getting out on the Upper Ct. from 6/25-7/5, drop me a line. Float or wade options are available. Hatches are the same as previous days, with the addition of some Blue Winged Olives #18-22; good luck on the water!
I was down on a trib of the Winooski this am doing a site visit for a stream restoration project our local TU chapter will be working on, and the Winooski is up and dirty. Some heavier rain fell last evening around central Vt. and the Mad river came up 2 feet and has made the Winooski very muddy downstream. In Montpelier the river is not quite as fidrty, but is high. The Lamoille, on the other hand, has not seen a big bump in water levels and overall is in better shape; particularly above Johnson. Small streams are mostly in good shape, though southern VT. streams are much higher than further north. We've got bit more rain for Saturday, though most of it "should" fall in the southern third of the state. Hatches consist of Sulphurs #14-20, Lt. Cahill (Cream Cahill/Stenonema) #12-16, Tan Caddis #14-18, Big Stones #6-12, and ants/beetles #12-20. Water temps range throughout the upper 50's and 60's. Good luck on the water!
It looks like a change in the storm track further south has put us in a really good position in the northern 2/3 rds of the state. We're now looking at only .30-.75" thru Saturday, which really should not do anything to the rivers except keep them nice and cool! Looks like summer arrives with warmer weather next week. Hatches consist of Sulphurs #16-20, Tan Caddis #14-18, Lt. Cahills #12-16, big black and golden Stones #6-12, and ant/beetles #12-20. Good luck on the water!
A buddy of mine and I took the new raft down the Winooski for its maiden voyage below Middlesex Dam today, and while river levels and clarity were far from ideal due to high flows out of Wrightsville Reservoir, we had a blast. Flows were actually good for floating, but the clarity was around 3 feet or so...not too flash. The water temp was an incredible 61F at 11:30am! We pretty much avoided the fast rainbow water, and concentrated on the slower brown trout looking water that is mostly unreachable to wading anglers most of the season. I didn't fish, but my buddy did and landed a beautiful 18" wild brown, a 9" wild brown, and hooked another around 20" as well! And where we got those fish, there was no way to get to them by wading under all but the lowest flows, and even then it would be a stretch. The Lamoille is down quite a bit, but still running at about twice its normal flow; just like the Winooski. These current flows around most of the state are more like mid-May water levels and thats keeping water temps down, which is great! That being said, we are going to have another wet spell thru Saturday. The Lamoille valley is forecast to get .50-1.25" of rain through Saturday; while the Winooski valley is looking more like 1-2" of rain over the same period. It looks like .25"-50" of rain a day more or less, which is not alot over 24 hrs, but it will have a compounding effect by the weekend I think. I'd say fish in the rain until flows just get too high or less than 3 feet of visability, because water temps are great, and there are plenty of fish around. Smaller rivers and streams should stay pretty clear and fishable throughout the timeframe. Flows on the Big C are back down and the river is in great shape. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
The results of yesterdays rains are in; and most areas got hit pretty hrad. The Lamoille is high and unfishable, while the Winooski fared much better, the only real increase in flows is coming from the N Branch out of Wrightsville Reservoir and a good bump from the Mad. So, the best fishing on the Winooski will be above Montpelier. When the drop flows out of Wrightsville, conditions will be great. The Big C came up quite a bit, but I think most of it is from the Nulhegan River, which enters the Big C just upstream from the USGS river flow gauge. Baseline flows out of Lake Francis are at a great fishing flow of 300cfs. From the White River south and west river levels are also high and/or unfishable. Most small streams are in great shape, especially for the time of year. I'm trying to remember the last time we had largely fishable conditions and water temps on the big rivers staying under 70F this far into June. The 2000 season was mildy wet and very cool, and made for great fishing on all waters all season long. So far, we seem to lucking out this summer, just like in 2000. Today will be sunny and in the 70's and Wednesday will be sunny and around 74-78, but with the recent rains, I doubt the Lamoille or Winooski will hit 70. The new raft is ready to go, and flows are high enough to drift parts of the Lamoille, Winooski, and Upper Ct. rivers, so if you're interested in having a great day on the water, drop me a line. Hatches consist of Sulphurs #16-20, Tan Caddis #14-16, Light Cahills #12-16, Big brown, black, and golden stones #6-12, and terrestrials like ants and beetles #12-20. Good luck on the water!
I guided an excellant angler in the late morning before the weather went crazy and we did really well. We hit a small wild trout stream on the western flanks of the Greens and hooked countless numbers of wild bows, browns and brookies up to 10" on dries. Tough casting, often sidearm and under branches was the order of the day and she did fantastic. I went thru a hellacious t-storm with hail and heavy rain later in the afternoon in Williston, but have seen no bumps up in river flows as of 7 pm, and saw no dirty water on my home to N. Underhill, but we'll just have to see what happens overnight. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
I know a lot of guides wouldn't dare admit this, but sometimes freshly stocked brown trout can be tougher to catch on dries in slow pools than wild fish! I was guiding on a trib of the Lamoille today, and we found a bunch of stocked fish swimming around and rising when they weren't chasing each other. We got fish to eat on 5 different flies, but none were the meal ticket. This has happened enough, that I figure these fish really don't know what they really want to eat. There were no bugs hatching, but yet there they were, rising every so often. I told my client lets go upstream and find some wild fish that I said would be easier, and sure enough, we got a bunch of smaller wild bows and browns to take dries, and topped it off by a beautiful 13" wild brown that screamed around the stream. And none of these fish were rising like those stockers! In another week, if those stockers aren't in someones freezer, thye'll figure out what food looks like! Water temp was 63 at 5 pm. We've got some interesting weather for Monday. Slow moving, pop-up thunder storms are forecast over most of Vt., and given they have the potential for isolated 1-2" rainfalls in these storms, its hard to say what watersheds will get hit and which won't. But with the Lamoille just coming right from Johnson upstream, and the Winooski just a bit higher and dingier than normal, we won't need much rain to enter either river before they may get mucked up. We'll just have to see. Major tribs are clear right now and running just a tad high for the time of year. Small streams are in great shape. Hatches consist of Tan Caddis #14-18, Sulphurs #16-20, Light Cahill #12-16, Black Stones #6-12, and Ants/Beetles #12-20. Water temps are in the upper 50's to upper 60's depending on stream size and time of day, good luck on the water!
One inch on the nose has fallen in N. Underhill as of noon; and most areas of the state got between .50-1.5" of rain. The Lamoille in Jeffersonville "had" about 2 feet of visability to it, but looking at the river flows on the USGS, the river was starting to crest up in Johnson, so dirtier water is on the way downstream. The Winooski has also come up quite a bit and will be dirty from atleast Montpelier downstream. Many small streams I drove by were actually clear, so there will be some opportunities this weekend. We do have a chance of widespread showers both afternoons this weekend, but they shouldn't muck things up any more than they already are. Water temps range from the upper 50's to mid 60's. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
As of 3pm, a line of heavy rain is moving out the northern 'Dacks into the northwestern portion of Vt. It looks Franklin County will get hit the hardest early on...but that isn't exactly trout country. Portions of the Lamoille watershed will get a bit, and then in the next few hours portions of central Vermont should see some of these pop up downpours. Then the main event will come tonight and with 1-2" of rain forecast statewide. We're going to be dealing with some dirty water tomarrow. As usual, the small stuff will be the most fishable tomarrow. While we're not dealing with low water by any stretch, we've had a real good run of fishing weather of late, and there has been a fair bit of fishing pressure (for Vermont atleast) as well, so these upcoming days off for the big rivers will "reshuffle the deck" a bit. It'll give the wild fish a break and will scatter the stocked trout around a bit more. We just don't want to have a repeat of last summer, where starting this time last year, through August 10, we had well over 20" of rain! In days to come, we'll finally start to see a shift into more summer like weather patterns...more humidity, warmer air temps, not as cold as night. We won't be hitting 80 for another 5-7 days, but the fish in the big rivers are starting to show their early am/late evening preferences. I've added a few more openings to do trips on the Upper Ct. during the longest days of summer. I'll be available from 6/23-7/2 atleast. Some of those days are already taken, so for those interested in getting out to float or wade the Big C, just drop me a line with your preferred dates. Hatches consist of Sulphurs #14-18, Tan Caddis #14-18, Golden and Brown Stones #8-14, Light Cahills #12-16, a few Grey Drake spinners #10-12, and terrestrials like Ants and Beetles #12-20. Good luck on the water!
The rains of yesterday did not effect most waters in any significant way, and the small streams were needing a bit of a top off. The Winooski stayed clear bit did come up a bit; same with the Lamoille and other big rivers around the state. I guided on the Winooski this evening and there was not much bug activity, but we did land a handful of wild rainbows 10-14" on both dries and nymphs. Water temps range from the upper 50's to mid 60's. Hatches consist of Sulphurs #16-18, Tan Caddis #14-18, Golden Stones #8-12, A few Grey Drake spinners #10-12, and terrestrials like ants ants and beetles #12-20. Good luck on the water!
Last evenings light rain north of Rte. 2 did nothing to river levels, and while we have a bright sunny day today, there is some pretty wet weather on the way for Tuesday-Friday. .50" should fall Tuesday statewide, while areas to the north and east could see as much as 1.00". Wednesday should be a bit drier, before the next wave of showers and rain arrives Wed.pm/Thur. River levels are starting to really drop, so we should be able to handle most of this rain, provided it doesn't come down too hard at once in a t-storm. Big rivers will still get pretty dirty regardless. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
I guided on a nice little wild trout stream in Central Vt. today that was a chilly 54 degrees at 11:30am! We did pretty well, catching a bunch of smaller to mid-size wild bows and browns. Looking at the long term forecast, I know alot of non-agling types won't like it...but I love it! Highs in the low 60's on Wednesday?! That is fantastic for the water temps on our big rivers. I still have a couple of openings during the June 16-19 timeframe; thereafter I'll be up on the Big C for a few days, so if you're interested in getting out in some great June conditions, drop me a line. Hatches consist of Sulphurs #14-18, March Browns #10-14, the very rare Grey Drake #10-12 (only the spinnerfall is fishable;the Battenkill and parts of the Winooski are the only places I've seen them, but you never know), Tan Caddis #14-#20, and terrestrials like ants and beetles #12-20. Water temps range from the low 50's to mid 60's depending on stream size, elevation and time of day. Good luck on the water!
I did a couple of trips on the Winooski today, the first was a bit of an instructional trip, so catching fish was not the main objective; the second trip was with a good local angler and we hit the Winooski and a trib. We did very well, landing around 6 bows from the Winooski 8-12" on dries, and hooking many more. On the trib we also did very well, landing 4 bows of 9-14" and we hooked two other in the 13-15" class. The real highlight of the day was watching one of the biggest trout I've seen in VT...a true monster, sitting about 6-7 feet down in a nice little ledge cubby hole...an absolute fortified bunker for this fish. Getting a drift on this fish is next to impossible due to the ledge rock wrapping around 3 sides of the fish. If you cast upstream, no matter how far, you can't get the fly down becasue it rolls over ledge about 3-4 feet over the trouts head. And this fish ain't rising for nobody! Maybe in lower flows the drift may open up....but not now. Aside from a 20% chance of t-showers on Saturday, we have dry weather until Tuesday. With no real heat forecast, water temps should be excellant on the bigger rivers, which were in the low 60's today. It will be bright on some days, so don't expect great fishing during mid afternoon. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
I saw a couple of Brown Drakes on the Lamoille this evening, but the Caddis and Sulphur hatches stole the show. I found rising fish in places, but I was on the lower river and it looked like I was in the midst of a bit of a rise in water level due to a dam release upstream. We've got dry and generally cooler than normal temps for the next 5-7 days, which means we should have some great fishing coming up. I still have a couple of openings left for the week of 6/22 where I'll be up on the Big C to do wade or float trips. Water temps range from the low 50's to low 60's statewide. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
I had a great day today with a new client on the middle reaches of the Winooski. It was one of those days where you kinda lost count after awhile. But we took browns and bows on dries and nymphs. Because of the cooler weather, there were sulphurs around from about 2pm on. Not alot, but if you looked around, you'd see one with every glance. Conditions could not look better for the next week or so, with river levels dropping and the froecast calling for cooler than normal weather. The Brown Drake hatch on parts of the Lamoille will start any day now, and is a fun somewhat rare hatch. When it comes off right, it'll bring most every fish in the river up to the surface. Big Bugs. Aside from the Drakes on the Lamoille, hatches consist of Sulphurs #14-18, Tan Caddis #14-18, a few March Browns #10-14, Stoneflies #8-12, and terrestrials like ants and beetles #12-20. Water temps range throughout the 50's into the low 60's. Good luck on the water!
Today reminded me of the spring weather that hits southern NZ routinely...all 4 seasons in one day! I took a group up to the Upper Ct today, and while conditions were far from ideal, everyone managed to catch fish on nymphs. Once the hail started floating down the river and piling up on the ground, we called it a day. The big rivers should start to be in ok shpae in their upper reaches by tomarrow. Small streams around the state are in a-ok shape. Hatches consist of Sulphurs #14-18, March Browns #10-14, Tan Caddis #14-16, Stoneflies #8-12, and Ants and Beetles #12-20. Brown Drakes should start hatching this week on select parts of the Lamoille. Good luck on the water!
Any larger streams and rivers that were still in good shape yesterday are now high and dirty; this includes southern Vermont and the northern tier. The flow on the Upper Ct. out of Murphy Dam is still a very nice 409cfs as of 2pm; and if its going to change it'll happen in the next few hours. Further downstream, the "Big C" has come up a bit but won't be anywhere near as dirty as the other rivers in and around Vermont. Many small streams are fishable and clear enough to fish, and should remain in good shape thru the weekend. The big rivers will take atleast 3 days to clean up....further rainfalls aside. No big rains are forecast in the next few days, but there is a chance of showers for the next 5-7 days, so things will dry out slowly. All major river stockings have been completed at this point. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
Well, I guess I should start out by saying, with the somwhat lighter rainfalls in some areas of the state, I was wrong in saying most waters will be high and dirty today. More accurately, there are "alot" of waters that are blown out, namely the Winooski and tribs, and Otter Creek and tribs, and the lower White. But the Lamoille has just risen to it average for the date, and some of the smaller tribs I saw today were fine...but the forecast still calls for another 1" in the Lamoille Valley (and the rest of the northern half of Vt)by Friday 8pm, so things look like they could dirty there too. The far northeastern corner of the state has seen the least amount of rain and the Big C currently has very good flows. If the flows stay as they are for the weekend, that will be one of best bigger water options. Parts of far southern Vt have seen some rain, but most waters are fine down there. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
I managed to squeeze in a instructional trip today on the Winooski, and whew, that southeast wind was raw! Nothing was hatching and I only saw two rises, but my client learned the fundamentals and hooked a couple of fish along the way. Water temp was around 58F at noon. We've got some monster rains on the way with a flood watch issued for all of Vermont except Rutland and Windsor counties, but they'll get rain too. 2-4" is expected through Friday. Ugh. We could have used a little bit, but this will stuff up things through the weekend on the bigger waters. Hatches consist of Sulphurs (E. Invaria #14-16), smaller Sulphurs #16-18 (E. Dorothea), March Browns #10-14, Tan Caddis #14-16, and some bigger Stoneflies #8-12. Good luck finding clear water!
I did a full day on the Winooski today with two very good anglers; and the "calm before the storm" conditions made for some very good fishing. They landed around 20 fish or so, topped off by a 17" wild bow and 14" wild brown on both dries and nymphs. The evening brought a great hatch of the first wave of smaller sulphurs (E. Dorothea #16-18, but fish didn't look up until just after 8pm, which made spotting the fly a bit tough with the lighting, or lack thereof. So we've got a major rain event for the next 3 days. The forecast is calling for between 1-3" of rain during the period, with the greatest amounts falling over the northern part of Vt; particularly the Lamoille and Mississquoi Valleys. There is potential for minor flooding despite the current lower than average flows. This all means that we're going to have lots of dirty high water for a few days on the bigger waters and the high gradient small brook trout streams will be the first clear up. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
Rivers around the state are for the most part in great shape right now. Water temps range throughout the 50's and low 60's depending on stream size, location,etc. Just a reminder that it is especially important to clean your gear before moving to different water ways from the Winooski below the confluence of the Mad River. We know the Mad has didymo, and while there have been no algae blooms downstream in the Winooski, the cells are still in the water. I've still got some openings during the first half of June for those interested in getting out and learning and hopefully catching some nice fish! Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
I did a couple of trips on the Winooski today, and the fish were much more active in the morning under lower flows and the drizzle. We caught all wild fish, breaking off one of about 17" that went absolute bonkers all over the river. Sulphurs and a few March Browns were hatching in the am, while Caddis were much more active in the afternoon. The afternoon stint was a bit tougher due to the brighter conditions and the fact the Winooski came up about 3-4 inches after 2pm below Middlesex Dam. We've got some dry weather for the next two days so the fishing should hold up well. Water temp on the Winooski was 59F at 4pm near Waterbury. Hatches consist of Sulphurs #14-16, March Browns #10-14, Tan Caddis #14-16, and a few Quill Gordons #14. Good luck on the water!
The Lamoille was in perfect shape today, and despite a lack of a hatch during the afternoon on the stretch I was on, my client caught 6 wild bows and 1 native brookie nymphing, and hooked a bunch more. There were some scattered risers, but they were hitting nymphs much more readily. It does not look like this front coming thru has much punch to it, which means river levels will continue to drop and surface action will really pick up. Wednesday looks a bit wet, especially down south, but we'll see how it shakes out. Water temps range from the low 50's on the smaller, colder streams to mid 60's on the big rivers in the pm. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
I guided on a stretch of the Winooski above Montpelier today, and we did real well, landing over a dozen browns and wild bows up to 14". They took both nymphs and dries. Water levels have improved big time on the Winooski below Montpelier as releases out of Wrightsville Reservoir have been reduced by over 100cfs. The Lamoille is also in great shape. It has now been stocked below Cady's Falls in Morrisville, and I saw rising fish on my way home this evening. No river impacting rains are forecast until perhaps Wednesday, so the good fishing should hold up well. We didn't see much hatching where we were today, but expect Quill Gordons #14, Blue Quills #18, Tan Caddis #14-16, March Browns #10-14, and Little Yellow Quills #14-18. Good luck on the water!
The Winooski continues to be a bit high to really do well right now, and the bright hot weather only made it tougher. We did land a 17" brown, but it was tough work. Caddis and a few Sulphurs were hatching late this am, and there were quite a few rusty spinners in the eddies, but no risers. No nasty weather in the forecast, and other than parts of the Winooski and the Upper Ct., water conditions are great. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
Flows out of Wrightsville Resevoir into the North Branch of the Winooski are really delaying some otherwise great conditions on the Winooski. I guided down in Waterbury and it was tough going. You really needed to be able to cast a heavy rig quite far into deep water to get hook-ups, which we did, but it was really tough in most spots. The Winooski above Montpelier is in great shape, but factor in a wait of up to 20 minutes at the Rte. 2 and Rte. 302 intersections due to construction. We saw the first Sulphurs (E. Invaria) today, along with lots of Quill Gordon spinners and a few Caddis. If water levels were down 3-4 inches, fish would have been rising all over the place. The Lamoille is in far better shape level wise. Water temps are in the mid to upper 50's statewide right now. I've still got some openings for doing float and wade trips on the Upper Ct. during the week of 6/22-6/29, and can do trips the week after as well. Overnight camping packages on the river are available also. Drop me a line if interested. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
The Winooski was still high, so I went back to a trib of the Lamoille and saw not quite as good of a Quill Gordon hatch, but there was a really nice Caddis hatch at the same time. Water levels are about a day off from being in "the zone". The Lamoille is in better shape overall than the Winooski clarity and level wise. Once they reduce flows on Wrightsville Resevoir fishing from Montpelier thru Waterbury will really turn on. The water below Bolton Dam is subject to the current high flows on the Little River out of Waterbury Resevoir and is still too high to fish any hatch. We're still atleast 3+ days from Bolton Dam downstream really turning on. As mentioned earlier, the Lamoille looks fine, though a bit high, and is clear down thru Cambridge. Water temps range throughout the 50's. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
The water temp on the trib of the Lamoille I was guiding on today was 53 degrees at 3pm; which I thought was pretty warm considering the air temp was barely 53 while we were out. We caught a bunch of brownies on dries and nymphs and witnessed a great Blue Quill hatch on one stretch of water, and then another great hatch of the somewhat rare Quill Gordon on a different stretch a mile or so upstream. The fish were actively rising to the Quill Gordons, but wow, they were tough...even the stocked fish, which had only been in the river a few days. The fish really did not eat the duns that were all over the surface, but instead were hitting them just as they were emerging. And considering the odd behavior of Quill Gordons when they emerge,(they actually emerge thru the water column without their nymphal shuck and have their wings developed), they weren't easy to fool with the usual meal tickets! We've got a great extended forecast for the next week, and with some real warm temps on the way along with a good drop in water levels, we should see some really good fishing. Hatches consist of Quill Gordons #14, a few Hendricksons #12-16, Blue Quills #18, Tan Caddis #14-16, and March Browns #10-14 and Sulphurs #14-16 should start this week from south to north. Good luck on the water!
1.20" of rain fell yesterday in Underhill, and many parts of the Champlain and Winooski Valleys received about the same amount, and solid rains fell all over the state. All of the big rivers are back up and dirty and will take another 3 days atleast to be in decent shape. The major tribs will take around 2 days or so, and small streams should be in ok shape tomarrow. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
Yesterday afternoon I managed to get out for about an hour and a half and managed to nymph up 3 wild bows of 12",14",15" on a trib of the Winooski. Today I guided on a small stream in the Lamoille Valley and we did pretty well considering the wind and a bit of rain, landing 8 brookies and hooking many more. Rain has arrived around the state and as of 5:20pm it looks like we're going to get a fair amount. With most rivers running at or just below average for the date, .25" should not be a problem, any more and its anyones guess. Most smaller rivers and streams should be fishable tomarrow, but it will be much cooler. The upcoming week looks good, with no big rains forecast for the week and good temps. It appears that the Hendricksons have indeed run their course. I think that some of the best remaining hatches may have come off during the dirty water and rain last weekend. I have not seen more than a couple at any given time on any of the waters I've been on this past week. There may be a few more some of the colder or high elevation waters, but its now time to be looking for Sulphurs #14-16, March Browns #10-14, Tan Caddis #14-16, some remaining Hendrickson spinnerfalls (Rusty Spinner #12-16) and some Stoneflies #8-12. Good luck on the water!
Its a super windy day out there, and some showers are moving through the state this afternoon. It does not look like we'll get more than .25" which is great. The Lamoille is now in good shape and runnning at average for the year. The Winooski is still a bit high due to extra water coming out of the resevoirs, but the upper river is in good shape. All major tribs are also in good shape. Water temps range throughout the 50's. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
The Winooski below Montpelier and the Lamoille below Morrisville are still a bit high and dingy, but are fishable. In fact I guided in "the dinge" on the Winooski today. We had to use dark streamers which personally is not my favorite type of fishing, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do when faced with adverse conditions like high dingy water. We actually hooked a fair number of fish including a 14" wild bow that jumped off during the battle, and we even saw one crazed fish rise in the torrent. We've got some serious winds forecast for tomarrow, which I think will keep most everyone off the water...25-45 mph winds and showers. Hopefully we don't much rain from this so conditions can continue to improve. The forecast for early next week is great, so aside from some rain on the weekend (.50-75"), things are gradually improving river level wise. I still have Tuesday 5/26 available to guide and a few days in early June as well. I also plan on being on the Upper Ct. during the week of 6/22 to do both wade and float trips. Drop me a line if you're interested in getting out. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
I went up to the Clyde today to look for some salmon, but struck out, just catching the little guys. Flows are a bit nutty up there with no more than 3 feet of visability. The Lamoille is still stuffed below Morrisville. Major tribs are clear and fishable. I saw a good Caddis hatch on the Gihon, but nobody rising. The Winooski is also still high and dingy below E. Montpelier. Its tribs are fishable, though the Mad is still a bit too high to fish well. Looks like Thursdays rain will be no more than .25"...yes! The potential wet weather for the weekend is looking not quite as significant but its still a bit early yet. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
I had a hard time guiding out there today, conditions are far from prime, thats for sure. The far south of Vermont is in much better shape right now than further north. The Winooski and Lamoille may be ok except in the lower reaches by Wednesday, but thats assuming some of the resevoir releases are reduced a bit as well. The major tribs of both rivers are still high and a bit off color, but many will come around by tomarrow. Most small streams are "fast", but clear and fishable. As for the next few days, it'll be dry until Thursday am, and thankfully the amount of rain forecast has dropped to .25-50". If we get closer to .50" region wide, rivers and streams will come right back up. Friday looks dry, and I don't want to even talk about what could set up this weekend. Hatches consist of Hendricksons #12-16, Blue Quills #18, Tan Caddis #14-16, Little Brown Stones #14-16, Little Yellow Stones #14-16. Water temps range from the upper 40's in the am, thru the 50's in the pm. Good luck on the water!
Pardon my french, but mother nature is a real bitch. There, I said it, I can't help it. Yesterday was a mindboggling day. I was over in west central NH and on the Ottauquechee yesterday during the day and you could just feel the atmosphere getting juiced. At around 4:30pm or so we left the Ottauquechee headed back towards home on Route 100. We saw we were driving into something pretty nasty, and nasty it was. The hail was big enough to make me stop driving and pull over. Downed tree limbs everywhere,etc. I did not realize how heavy the rains were until we headed north and saw how much water was in the fields and saw a trib of the Mad almost bursting its banks. When I got home, my raingage read a massive 1.70" of rain. Overnight, we received another 1.00" as of 10am Sunday. Now it feels like early April! Needless to say, the rivers around the state are in complete tatters. While there are some small streams that are clear enough to fish, they are running very high which limits opportunities. The Lamoille went from around 780cfs before the rain, to over 4000cfs this am. The Mad went from 350cfs to 2090 cfs. The Winooski will be stuffed for atleast 3 days, same with any of the big rivers. Clearly mother nature and the trout gods don't see eye to eye..... We do have some improvement starting in Monday, with dry weather forecast until Thursday. By then the rivers should be coming right just in time for...you guessed it, the next big front! It's a bit unnerving that the NWS is already forecasting a rain event of .50-1.00" of rain this far out from Thursday. Hatches will be insignificant over the next 24 hrs+, but they are the same as previous days, Tan Caddis were much more prevelent in NH and southern Vt yesterday. Good luck finding fishable water!
Light rain last evening has kept rivers up a bit longer than I'd like to see at this time of year. The Winooski and Lamoille are only now (2pm) starting to go down, and the major tribs are in the same boat. The small streams certainly have plenty of water in them, but most are clear. I went down to small stream not far from my house for an hour and managed to catch a handful of small wild bows and browns on a Hendrickson dry, so fish are still eating. We've got some popcorn variety showers and t-showers popping up this afternoon around the state, and I'm hoping most areas don't get much rain. Saturday night we have another potentially solid rainfall of .50-1.25"....which we really don't need at the moment. Sunday will be cool and pretty raw, with a gradual warming up early next week. Todays potential rains aside, the uppermost Winooski and Lamoille may be fishable by Saturday am, and the major tribs should be in pretty good shape by tomarrow as well. If those areas get another .25"+ of rain today, all bets are off. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
It seems odd that so little rain did so much to most waterways. Nearest I can tell, rainfall amounts were only around .35" for New Haven, Moretown, Underhill,etc. yet they must have had more rain at higher elevation and in east central Vermont. The Lamoille is dingy from atleast Morrisville downstream, though Jeffersonville and Cambridge had not seen the slug of dirty water as of 3pm. The Lamoilles larger tribs are high and off color. The Winooski and its major tribs are also stuffed. Some of the tribs and the uppermost reaches of the mainstem come around by tomarrow afternoon, current forecast aside. Most water further south in the state are also up and dingy or dirty. As for the forecast, it'll be warmer tomarrow and I expect a good hatch, but the fly in the ointment is a pretty strong front that is supposed to bring a line of t-storms across the northern half of the state Friday afternoon. As it is the lower 2/3rds of both the Winooski and Lamoille will be dingy thru Saturday. Saturday is even warmer (low 70's) w/ only a 30% of showers. Sunday and Monday will be cooler with a minor chance of showers. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
I did a little recon earlier in the afternoon and got on the water a bit later than I'd have prefered. I saw 1 fish rise on a trib of the Winooski and caught it, 13" wild bow. I ran into some fishing buddies and saw pics of a nice 19" brown that was caught upstream of me on a nymph. The hendrickson hatch was decent again, and there were lots of spinners around the water from 4-6:45pm, but no takers. We've got a bit of rain on the way tonight and Thursday morning. It should make the lower 2/3rds of the big rivers dirty for a day or so. Otherwise the showery forecast bodes well for decent hatches....which consist of: Hendricksons #12-16, Blue Quills #18, Tan Caddis #14-16, Little Brown Stones #14-16. The photo of the big brown I caught yesterday is on the photos page, good luck on the water!
I just love days like these. A little light rain and drizzle, stationary front, and a decent hatch. Actually, the hatch did not appear to be as concentrated as yesterday where I was, but the Hendricksons tended to steadily come off from 2:30-4:30pm, but with no big bursts. There fish were looking up, and I got a 10" and a 13" rainbow up top. I got a beautiful 15" wild bow on a nymph, and then I got....the big one. I had seen this brown a few days ago, and it kind of played by rules of own regarding how it dealt with other fish around and how it fed and behaved. It defended its turf anytime a rainbow came by, but never settled enough to rise to anything. After trying a lot of stuff, I got her...a measured 22" wild brown that weighed in at a oversize 4 pounds! One of my top fish in Vermont to be sure. I have photos which I'll post on the site this week. What a fish...I was shaking for about 10 minutes afterwards! The trophy trout zone on the Winooski will be stocked tomarrow for those who enjoy the big slabs. The weather is looking a bit wetter than say, 36 hours ago. Maybe .10-.20" of rain tomarrow, mostly in the am; then some more serious rain overnight Wednesday and Thursday, with up to an inch forecast. Then we're back to showers Friday thru Sunday. That kind of rain will stuff up the big rivers (atleast the mid to lower reaches) on Friday and probobly the weekend. Tribs should stay ok except perhaps on Friday. With levels so low and the ground being dry, we should be able to soak up alot of it. Hatches consist of Hendricksons #12-16, Blue Quills #18, Little Brown Stones #14-16, Tan Caddis #14-16. Water temps range throughout the 50's, good luck on the water!
I managed to get out this afternoon for a bit, and it was really good. The first fish was a 15" wild bow on a nymph before the Hendrickson hatch. I also spooked a monster of a rainbow that had no business being that big in Vermont. Then the Hendricksons started a bit after 2pm, and was cranking by 2:40pm. The first couple of slow pools I went to had tons of bugs but nobody rising. I worked them with a nymph and got nothing. Then continuing upstream, I covered a huge slow pool and got nothing, saw nothing and then in an eddy about the size of a small car, was the first riser I've seen this spring. I didn't think it was more than 14" or so, but after sneaking up real close to get a good drift, I hooked her and she was way bigger than I thought...19" on the nose, on a Pink Lady. I got two other bows of 12-13" on dries and 1 14" wild brown. A great day to be sure. Look like some showers tomarrow w/ less than .10" from I-89 north, and up to .30" in southern Vt. It won't make the rivers dirty, but should provide for some good fishing! Wednesday looks a bit drier and then we have light rain or showers thru the weekend. It does not look like this will blow out most rivers, so this should be a great week. Hatches consist of Hendricksons #12-16, Blue Quills #18, Little Brown Stones #14-16, and a couple of Tan Caddis #14-16. Water temps range throughout the 50's, good luck on the water!
I went down to a trib of the Winooski today and fished with the Mrs. for a little while. One thing is for sure....the bugs are out! At around 2:20 we saw our first Hendrickson, and they were going strong through most of the 3 o'clock hour, and then continued to dribble off the water for another hour or so. I wasn't exactly fishing the best dry fly water, but we did see some really nice fish, including a couple of 18'+ monsters, and I landed to nice wild rainbows, one of 15" and a 16"er, both on nymphs, and I got 2 more to eat but missed them. Water temps are in the low 50's. We also saw a few Blue Quills and even a couple of Caddis. We've got an interesting forecast for the week that could set up to be either epic, or a tad "too wet". Don't get me wrong, I'll be happy either way, but we have some potentially decent rains forcast for Tuesday and Thursday thru Friday am. I think we'll be ok except on perhaps the lower stretches of the Lamoille, Winooski, White, and Otter. They are still a bit up and off color, and I'm not sure they'll be low and clear enough to handle Tuesdays rain. But, when you think about it, most years the lowest ends of these rivers aren't usually in fishable shape until atleast mid-May, so we can't complain really. I've got a few openings left for May and early June, so drop me a line if you're looking to improve your skills and get in on some great fishing. Hatches consist of Hendricksons #12-16, Blue Quills #18, Tan Caddis (Grannom) #14-16, Little Brown Stones #14-16. Good luck on the water!
Over the past 36 hrs or so we have gotten about .50" of rain here in Underhill. Some areas like parts of the Winooski watershed have received upwards of .70". I was quite surprised how much water levels went up overnight. Both the Winooski and Lamoille are back up and dingy, and the larger tribs of both are also off-color. I know for you weekend warriors that this is not waht you wanted to see, but it's good for two reasons: it keeps the river levels from getting too low too early in the season; and it gave our wild rainbow populations a push of water to make it into the more stable small tribs to spawn. With no rain forecast until around Tuesday pm, water levels and clarity should shape up pretty quick. The Winooski below Bolton Dam has been stocked with a tad over 3400 browns in the past couple of days. With water levels up a foot on the Winooski, it'll distribute those brownies around a bit and keep them from getting hammered and removed early. With cooler and sunny weather today I'm not expecting much of a hatch, and water levels would have squashed any fish from looking up anyway. With the current forecast, I'm going to go out on a limb and say the first decent Hendrickson hatch in central and northern Vermont that may have fish looking up will be on Wednesday....just a hunch! There are a few Hendricksons hatching in the far south, along with some Blue Quills and the ever present Little Brown Stones #14-16. Good luck on the water!
I went down to the Lamoille in Cambridge today at "bug time" to see how things were progressing hatch wise. Nothing but Little Brown Stones and nobody rising. Looking at the Trout Lilies on the bank, I would say that it'll be another 2-4 days or so before we say many Hendricksons. Water levels everywhere are very low and are more like early June levels. Some notable waters have now been stocked, including the Walloomsac, Poultney and Ottauquechee rivers in southern Vermont; the Lamoille below Fairfax Falls got another 400 "trophy" browns, for a total of 600 out of 800 being stocked down there and fish are being caught. The Winooski below Bolton Dam has gotten a bunch of Browns as well. We've got a slug of rain in the forecast for tomarrow, and then the weekend looks to be cool and blustery with big winds on atleast Saturday. Showers should return towards next Tuesday. Water temps range from the 40's on the colder mountain streams, to the low to mid 50's on the bigger water. Hatches consist of Little Brown Stones #14-16, a few Hendricksons #12-16, and a few Blue Quills #18. Good luck on the water!
As I suspected, we did not get much rain out of yesterdays cold front and rivers levels are continuing their slow steady drop. Rivers like the Mad came up quite a bit in recent days due to the hot weather and lots of snow melt, but that is a bit more "artificial" compared to most waterways since there are ski areas and man made snow in the Mad River valley. It looks like we've got more seasonal weather on the way with chances of showers on Friday, Saturday am, and early next week. Farmers are starting to plow thier fields, so Hendricksons won't be far away. Hatches are mostly non-existent, but there may be the odd Blue Quill #18, and Hendrickson #12-16 in the far south and lower Champlain Valley. Little Brown Stoneflies #14-16 are around a bit, but fish tend not to go crazy over them. Don't forget the Mad-Dog Trout Unlimited annual fundraiser this Saturday at 6pm at the Best Western in Waterbury. There are lots of great prizes, and a great presentation from "bug guru" Tom Ames. Hope to see you there, and good luck on the water!
The current weather is a real shock to the system, thats for sure. Temps in the mid to upper 80's have set some records, and water temps around the state have gotten as high as atleast 60F, which is a bit of shock to some of the wild trout in our waters as well. With the lack of rainfall, the wild rainbows around the state won't be entering the tiny tribs of our better waters to spawn, and will have to use larger river stretches instead. Hatches of Hendricksons should start in far southern Vermont any day now. I think they won't show up further north until atleast the weekend, and I think we'll need to get some rain to get it really going as well. So, water levels could not be much lower, and water temps could not be much higher for this time of year, I'd say get out and enjoy it while you can, because if we head into a drought during the summer, you'll cherish those spring fishing trips! There are still a couple of openings for May and early June left in my guiding schedule, so drop me a line if you're interested in getting out. Hatches consist of Little Brown Stones #14-16, a few Blue Quills #18, and perhaps a couple of Hendricksons in the far south and lower Champlain Valley #12-16. Good luck on the water!
Well, we're back in Vermont after some hellacious travelling screw-ups thanks to the muppets at United Airlines. Driving up from Boston it became very obvious that we have some very low water levels for this time of year. The White and Winooski are still pretty high overall, but they are both actually fishable. 85 degrees in April seems nice, but we don't want to see these "Bermuda Highs" developing too often as that is a weather pattern that can bring on drought conditions. Hopefully we get some rain over the next few days, but it looks pretty spotty. Most anything that falls at this point will be absorbed by the ground and sucked by forests that are trying to leaf out, so I don't expect water levels to really rise or get dirty from any rain. The state is starting to stock some rivers now, and I think things will really get cranking by the end of next week. I'm in the midst of some serious jetlag, so my reports will pick up in a day or two once I figure out whats am and whats pm! Hatches consist of Little Brown Stoneflies, and some Blue Quills #18 and maybe the odd early Hendricksons #12-16 down in far southern Vt. Good luck on the water!
Look like some much needed rain has arrived to most of Vermont. It is sorely needed, and this system won't bring more than a half inch or so of rain to most areas. By Friday the showery weather will be gone and some warm sunny weather is on the way. I got a report of some Blue Quills down on the Battenkill a few days ago, which would not surprise me this spring. Expect to see more Little Brown Stones, a few Olives and Blue Quills around, especially in the lower elevation streams around the Champlain Valley and southeastern Vermont. We're starting the packing process down here in New Zealand, and I've been fishing for a couple of hours the past few days and usually catching a handful of browns and rainbows in the 3-4 pound class. It's interesting how some browns are really thinking of spawning, while others are busy feeding away downstream in bigger water. As a species they really stagger out their spawning season, from Mid April thur July, and I suspect its the same in the states, by being staggered out they are certainly less exploited than rainbow trout. We'll be heading back to Vermont on Thursday, so my reports will pick up shortly thereafter. Good luck on the water!
Dry weather continues in Vermont, which has allowed water levels to drop well below normal for the time of year and water temperatures have gotten warm enough that the state has started to stock some rivers. Both the Missisquoi and the Lamoille trophy trout zones got a "starter package" of 200 fish apiece today. With river flows not expected to go up until atleast Tuesday, I suppose its not too early to be starting to stock these pretty pricey fish. All three branches of the White and the mainstem above Rochester got stocked with brookies today as well. The Rochester area usually gets rainbows, but the state is short of rainbows this year, so it's 1300 brookies instead. They won't last near as long as the rainbows, so enjoy them while you can. The problem I've seen with stocking brookies this early is if we get a cold snap (forecast this weekend), they tend to run downstream for warmer water not to be seen again. On the flipside, the weather has been nice and folks want to catch some fish, and those stretches of the White are not banner wild trout water by any stretch, so I guess its a healthy compromise. Down here in NZ, there is a real fall feel to the air, but temps have stayed in the 60's all week which is nice. Today I went down to my local big river for a couple of hours and had a great day with a nice late season mayfly hatch. It brought up all sizes of rainbows from 12" up to 4 pounds and 24". I landed 8 rainbows on dries and got a real monster brown of 6.5 pounds in a spring fed wetland adjacent to the river. Back to Vermont, expect some cooler weather this weekend due to a "backdoor" cold front dropping down from the northeast. Not much if any rain is going to fall from it. Starting Tuesday it looks like the wet weather should arrive, which is a good thing for spawning bows and general fishing conditions. I've still got a couple of days left in May and early June to guide if any of you are interested in getting out during the prime time of the season. Some Little Brown Stoneflies should be moving now, but fish at this time of year tend not to key in on any one insect. Fish deep, dark and slow, and good luck on the water!
Dry, sunny conditions persist over Vermont, and water levels are dropping like rocks. We could really use some rain to keep from running into a defecit going into summer. It looks like it will be wetter starting next week which is good. Water temps have reached the mid 40's on many water for the past couple of days or so, which means wild rainbows will be busy spawning. The browns and brookies should be pretty hungry right now, so concentrate on rivers where there are good populations of them. The state has not started to stock rivers in earnest yet, but I think they'll start in a week or so. Down here in New Zealand, I had a great couple of hours on a local stream that sees big runs of browns out of the lake. My first fish was a 3.3lb rainbow which took me into my backing and was just a super hot fish. I got a 4 lb. brown on a dry, a 2.5 "little" guy, and a beautiful 5 pound hen that had great color and markings. I spooked a few other browns that were sitting in shallow riffles I otherwise would have ignored. I'll be back in Vt. in a week, but hopefully I'll get out atleast once more in NZ before we head home. Good luck on the water!
With river flows around Vermont at or just below average for the date, and water temps reaching the low to mid 40's under sunshine, you really couldn't have much better condtions for opening day. I hope everyone enjoyed their time out. Here in New Zealand, my wife and I went out for a couple of hours on a stream about 30 minutes from our house. We didn't see many fish, and landed 3; I got a 3.5 pound brown, a 4.5 pound rainbow, and Lisa got a beautiful 4.5 pound brown. The lower angle of the sun is making much harder to sight fish on many waters, but we did ok. Looks like conditions back in Vt. will be dry and slightly below average in terms of air temps for the next 5 days or so. Most smaller rivers and streams will have great clarity and ok water temps in the afternoon, so if you fish deep, dark, and slow you may bump the odd brown or brookie. I'll have another report in a couple of days or so. Good luck on the water!
Just a couple thoughts on opening weekend in Vermont,etc. It looks like some waters are hitting the low to maybe even mid 40's today, and are not running too high. The forecast for Saturday is sunny and in the upper 40's, and any time you can get sun and air temps over water temps, thats generally a good thing. The best time of day to fish will be between 1-6pm, as water temps will be at their warmest then, and you may see the odd stonefly or two hatch. It will be getting windy in the afternoon though, 10-25 mph northerlies. The best waters to fish will be lowland brook trout/brown trout fisheries that reach the 40's. If you're fishing small streams and happen to see rainbows spawning, please leave them alone to "do the deed", and perhaps respect the fact we are fortunate to have wild rainbows in Vermont...I know I do! Thanks to those of you have recently booked trips with me. I still have a couple openings in May, and a few left for early June. I am also taking bookings for float or wade trips on the Upper Ct. during the 6/22-7/5 window. These trips will be based from my property on the river in the no-kill zone in Bloomfield. As many of you know, by late June most of our big waters in Vermont and New Hampshire start to get a bit too warm to have "great" trout fishing, let alone all day long. The Upper Ct. is the big exception to that. I have only seen the water in front of my property hit 70F a couple of times, and just for a couple of hours at that. For some 30 odd miles upstream the water just gets colder and colder due to cold bottom releases from Lake Francis up in Pittsburg, NH. So if you're interested in fishing the "Great North Woods" region, drop me a line! Good luck on the water!
The weather has cleared and the mountains are now covered in snow, which really adds to the NZ scenery. I went down to my neighbors spring creek since most of the freestone streams are not quite clear enough to fish yet. I caught a couple of "small" browns that definitely weren't interested in spawning, around 18" and 2.5 lbs. There were a couple of nice 4-4.5 pounders nymphing away, but I either biffed the hookset or spooked them with the cast ( a little rusty!), and then I found a monster. This fish made those 4 pounders look like runts. It is over 7 pounds for sure, and until I hopefully land him, he may even be a 10 lber. Down here, sometimes the biggest fish aren't the ones that "look" as huge in the water due to their density and more stout appearance. But this one was certifiablely huge. Regardless, I got her to look at a nymph, but on the next cast, I caught a stick on the bottom and that was it, game over. But I now know where he/she is, and sitting in a pool 12 feet wide and 4-5 ft. deep with good cover....it's a homebody, and was still eating nymphs; no interest in spawning! My goal before I head back to Vermont is to hook the bugger. Some new photos are up on my photo page. All are from the wet 2008 season. As you can see, some really nice fish were caught, and there were plenty of others that I just didn't bother photographing or the client took the pics on their camera. Looks like the mrs. and I will fish tomarrow while the weather holds on, so I'll have another report in a day or so.
Not much new to report down here in New Zealand; we've had 4 days of rain capped off by good snows down to 300 metres this morning. This weather will definetly get the brownies moving upriver! Now I just need some nicer weather. Speaking of nicer weather, looks like opening day in Vermont will as usual, be in "name only". Lots of cold rain and snow has puffed up most of Vermonts waters, and the warmer weather of a week or so ago will be negated by temps in the low 40's by day and low 20's at night. Aside from fishing the Steelhead runs in the Northeast Kingdom, April is largely casting practice and getting the kinks out. My only advice for catching April trout is to find low elevation streams with now snowpack in their headwaters, and hopefully you can find some water atleast 43F. I talked with someone with the F&W department, and it looks like the proposal to close the state hatcheries is not going anywhere...which is GREAT news. As for the upcoming season in Vermont, I still have a few days left at the end of May and early June that are open for guiding. This year I will have a new "toy" for my guiding....a top of the line inflateable drift boat! Like most drift boats, it holds two clients, and I will be doing trips on the Upper Ct. mostly, with some trips on the lower Lamoille and Winooski when water conditions allow. So if you and a fishing buddy are looking to cover some water in style while having some great fishing, drop me a line about booking a date. And don't forget about Smallmouth bass fishing on those lower rivers during the dog days of summer! Also, I'll have some new photos from this past 2008 season posted on my website in the next few days. Considering how many days were unfishable on many of our better trout waters, some impressive fish were caught last season. Thats all for now, hopefully I can get out in the next day or so.
What a difference two days can make. Yesterday, I went over to one of NZ's top big brown trout rivers in hopes of seeing a fresh run of fish from the sea, but it was not to be. The stretch I was on had really been hammered by high water in January and the river had braided alot. I only saw a couple of old brownies who were not interested in much. I then went to another stream closer to my place, but the didymo was flushing down the river making fishing too tough to try. It happens rarely, but when the algae is loose for whatever reason, it's a pain to pain fish. I then went to my neighbors spring creek and redeemed myself with a mice 3.5 pound brownie on a dry. Today, however, was as good as it gets. A friend and I went way up a river valley 30 minutes from our neck of the woods, and got access from the runholder to take the farm tracks even further up the valley than I had ever been before. The stream was about 20-30 feet wide, and looks like the upper White above Rochester; except it fish...lots and lots of big wild bows! We each got 12 to eat, and landed 8 rainbows apiece from 3-4.4 pounds. We saw atleast 35 fish for the day. It was sunny, calm and really was a perfect day. I'm taking the mrs. to Dunedin for the weekend for her birthday, so I don't think I'll be fishing until Monday, so check in ealry next week!
Hi folks. Nothing to new to report down here in New Zealand, but there is some big news ptonetially in Vermont. The House Appropriations Commitee has proposed CLOSING VERMONTS FISH HATCHERIES to fund "other" projects!! Now, I'm as big of a fan of wild trout as the next guy, but without hatchery fish beginners would have an awfully hard time getting into fishing, and "consumptive" anglers would destroy most wild stocks of trout because of our overly generous high creel limits. Economically, it would effect a great deal of the tourism industry, small business owners like myself and fishing shop owners would be potentially out of business in only a few years once anglers realize there's no "fishable" trout fishing left in Vermont. And, I suppose you could argue that at a time of high unemployment, we don't need to get rid of decent paying jobs w/ benefits at the state level. Traditionally, most of these are stable jobs, not usually subject to absurd bills and proposals such as this. So, personally, I can't see this happening when the numbers are crunched, but we all need to get in touch with these House members: Heath of Westford (Chair) Larson of Burlington (Vice Chair) Helm of Castleton Acinapura of Brandon Bostic of St. Johnsbury Hunt of Essex Johnson of South Hero Keenen of St. Albans City Miller of Shaftsbury Morley of Barton The phone number is 1-800-322-5616. Call the one closest to you and/or Heath and Larson. If you know the rep in your town and can get in thier ear about how you "may vote next time around" if thier fellow house members vote for this, that would certainly help out. As for the 2009 season, the fish are already produced, so this season will not be affected; but we can't afford to be complacent on this. In looking at the list of Appropriations members, I noticed an interesting thing: most members live in towns that have wild trout streams that aren't really stocked, or, they live near Lake Champlain where our popular warm water fisheries are not stocked. Hmmm, very interesting....I wonder what the reps in Waterbury, Stowe, Cambridge, Johnson, Wolcott, Montpelier, Waitsfield, Bethal, Woodstock,etc,etc. think about folks no longer coming to thier town to fish, eat, gas up, stay at loding, hire characters like me,etc.? I guess we'll have to see, but we should all get involved....thats the magic of a small state, its easier for us to be heard. It would also make for a great time to get involved in a Trout Unlimited chapter of other angling orgnaization! Thats all for now...
The string of cloudless beautiful weather is over, but I had a great day yesterday on a backcountry lake sight fishing the outlet and the flats along the shoreline. I landed a bunch of rainbows that were 3.5-4.25 pounds and 20-24". My best fish was a 5.5 lb. brown who charged 8 ft to take my big terrestrial. I hooked another rainbow that was so headstrong it broke the hook in half on its first run! Clouds and rain are on the way, but I'll get another report in as soon as I head out.
The weather here in Fiordland has been bright and sunny since Saturday, but there is a definite fall tinge to the air. Despite all the sun, the cold nights have kept the temp from getting over 68F. I went down to my local big river today and got a handfull of browns and rainbows up to 4 pounds or so. I got a nice bow of just over 4 pounds on a dry which was real nice. The browns are getting tougher to catch as they are starting to ponder spawning in another month or so. Despite not getting much pressure throughout the season, they are tougher to catch now than in the Nov-Jan. period. I plan on going back up to a backcountry lake and do some flats fishing tomarrow while the weather is still sweet. I only have a handful of days left available for guiding in early May and during the last week of May, while early June is a bit more open; so if you're interested in booking a trip drop me a line. I'll let you know how the flats fishing goes!
This past weekend my wife and I went up to one our favorite high country lakes to do some fishing and mountain biking. The biking was fun, I only crashed once! The fishing was challenging but memorable and we caught fish. This lake does not allow motorized boats on it and the water is so clear that you can see fish on the flats from over 100 feet away when its calm. I got a handful of browns from 3-6.25 lbs and was refused many more times by some smart fish! But it was playing the 6+ pounder that was truly amazing. I hooked him on a #14 Adams Para; and he didn't really fight too hard at first, kind of like he didn't beleive he was hooked. He then swung below me, and when he smelled my scent in the water he went berserk. Since the water was all clouded up by me wading on the silty,sandy flat, he didn't see me and when he accelerated and jumped....he hit me on the waist! I didn't see him in the cloudy water below me either, but he jumped from about 5 feet away and slamnmed onto me. I had my rod in my left hand, the net under my left armpit. After he bopped me, I put the net in my right hand to get ready to land him...and he jumped again about 3 feet out of the air and landed right in the net!! It was a bit surreal. About 26", it was an absolute gem of a fish. Not a mark on it. I've seen fish jump out of the water and land on the bank or bushes (ouch) before, but I've never had a 6 pound projectile hit me on my right hip bone!! I'm sure if he had the visibility to see me standing there he would not have done that. We've had some great weather of late, and it looks to continue until mid-week, so I should be able to get out a bit more this week before a friend of ours from Vermont arrives to stay with us. Check in later this week!
The weather has put a bit of a damper on my fishing of late. If I was only down here for a couple of weeks, I would bundle up and give it a go each day, but over the years I've learned that this kind of weather is tough to say the least. Since last Friday, we've had about 1.3" of rain, air temps of 41-56 during the course of the day, and the worst of it....the winds. They've been running at 15-30mph, with gusts to over 50mph, and its been real chilly for a westerly. We're bracing for the "southerly change" later today and Wednesday, which will bring snow down to 1200 ft in the mtns. I think I'm going to be patient, and wait until Thursday or Friday which should be close to 70 and much nicer! I just found out that there will be some subtle but significant changes to this years stockings on inland waters in Vermont. In a very smart move, the F&W department has moved all production of trout for inland waters to thier inland hatcheries. This is smart since it keeps the lethal virus VHS in the Champlain basin if/when it turns up. So, the Ed Weed Hatchery in Grand Isle which uses water from the lake, will only produce fish for the lake and tribs below first falls or dam. The net result is that this year there will be a 15% shortage of rainbows, and a few extra brookies. In noticed the Mad, White, and Ottauquechee have noticable drops in numbers of rainbows compared to recent years. There are some brown trout reductions as well, like in the Clyde, Gihon, and N. Branch of the Lamoille. So, the reduced stocking numbers are not because of budgetary concerns, it's the F&W department doing a very pro-active manuever by doing thier best to keep the spread of VHS out of its inland state hatchery systems. Good work, I say. It would take a significant good string of weather variables for folks to actually notice these reduced numbers of fish in those certain streams. You would essentially need alteast a week or more of perfect fishing weather and water levels/temps juuust after these fish were stocked....and, you'd need to avoid any real high floods in the summer that push stocked fish around. If those two things happened, the "consumptive anglers" would do a number on them early on; and if we had no high water events, alot of these waters would be low and getting real warm. Stocked fish, whether there are 50 or 75 left in a given stretch, are gonna die if the water gets over the mid 70's anyhow. It just means on some of those waters with reduced numbers, you may not catch many stocked fish in the fall (unless we have a real cool summer), but all those streams have decent wild trout populations in stretches as well, so I don't think we'll see any drop in the quality of the fishing in the long run. It's noon and hailing out, I think it's time to start a fire!
Yesterday I got out and fished with a really nice couple I met up on the Central South Island a month ago. They were down in Southland and we fished a nice backcountry river and caught some nice brownies on dries up to 5 lbs. It was great talking to them as the husband was a former coach in the NFL so I got to pick his brain about certain players in the league! Today I went down and fished the flats at the mouth of my neighbors spring creek for about 45 minutes. I got 3 browns to eat, and landed 2, one of 3 pounds and an older "long" fish of about 26" and 4.5 lbs. The big one refused all my smaller dries and nymphs, and then I said "screw it" and put on the biggest Cicada pattern in my box...a #6 dry that must be 2" long. He ate it on the first cast! Gotta love it. We have some dirty weather coming in over the next couple of days, but I'll try to get another report done in the next few days. A couple of final notes/thoughts: Saturday May 2 is the Mad-Dog Chapter of TU annual banquet at the Best Western in Waterbury. Go to www.maddogtu.org for more info. There will be some great prizes and Tom Ames will be the guest speaker that night. It'll be a great night to be sure. Lastly, I've been getting my schedule sorted out for the upcoming guiding season, and I plan on being up on the Upper Ct. the week of 6/22-6/28, and maybe later. If anyone is interested in cooling off during the longest days of summer on Big C, drop me a line. Overnight camping (I can provide gear) options are available on my property. Thats all for now...thanks!
I went out and hit my local big river for a bit yesterday and fished a spring fed wetland that lies adjacent to the river. The wetland is slightly tea colored and right now is very weedy (it looks like Bluegill water in Vermont), but there are some very big browns swimming around in it. Earlier in the season I landed one 6.6lbs on a dry, and my guiding buddy saw one he estimated in the 10-12 pound class a couple of weeks ago. I spotted one by its opening and closing of its huge mouth as it ate nymphs and made a cast with a dry and he came up and sipped it. He jumped twice before breaking me off at my 3x to 4x connection...I'm not going to say he was that 10+lb fish....but he was over 7 and very strong! I then went down to the river and caught a bunch of rainbows up to 3.5 lbs and about 23". The small 8-10" bows are dropping out of the mtn tribs and entering the big river now, so there are more little guys you have to try and avoid to catch the adults. When I got home, I walked down to my next door neighbors spring creek and fished the mouth where it enters the lake and found about 5 fish swinging around and playing chase with each other. I got 2 brownies, one of 3.3 lbs, and a smaller one of 2.5 lbs. The 2 I landed took the fly on the first cast, while the others were very difficult and I threw a bit of everything at them to no avail. We're heading up to Queenstown with some friends for the weekend to do some mountain biking and going to a concert, so I don't think I'll be fishing until early next week. My reports will pick up sometime next week. Have a great weekend!
Well, it's been awhile since my last New Zealand fishing report, but I have been fishing a bit; some of it has been as great as ever, while my visit up the west coast to some of the beautiful big spring creeks was a bit of a bust due in part to poor weather, and also sadly, due to a substantial increase in fishing pressure on some of these streams, the fish have become completely neorotic...making fish in rivers like the Dog or Battenkill look like politicians at a fourth of July parade. Closer to my place, the fishing has held up very well thru the summer since we had such a wet spell just after the new year. Air temps have not been real hot either; the odd day over 78F., but mostly 63-73F on most days and 41-54F at night. Cicada and terrestrial fishing is at a fever pitch right now, with the cicadas chirping at a deafening level in many places. This is about the time my wife and I usually head back to Vermont, and we can tell the days are getting shorter down here. This will be our first autumn in NZ and I'm looking forward to seeing some big sea run and lake run browns moving up the rivers in later March. It loks like Vermont had a bit of a thaw a few days ago and the rivers puffed up a bunch...a sure sign spring is not "too far" away. If not spring, perhaps no more below zero weather! I've got a couple of days still open in the last week of May and a few openings before 5/14, but the rest of the month is booked up which I'm happy and grateful to see. There are still some prime openings in June, and if anyone is thinking about a summer weekend or the like cooling off on the Upper Ct. the fishing is usually at its best anytime after 6/7. I can provide quality camping gear (tents,etc) to do overnight camping/fishing trips on my property in the middle of the No-Kill section of the river. I'll be doing both wade and float trips on the Big C. Just some food for thought. After a nice Valentines weekend in Dunedin with the Mrs., I'll be hitting some streams this week...I'll let you know how it goes!
I'm back down in Manapouri after spending a couple of days fishing up in the Central South Island district. The climate is 180 degrees different from where I live further south. Dry, Hot, and usually windy. On Saturday, I got up at 7am and headed up to the famous big trout river in the area. It was 62F, clear, and most importantly was dead calm! I started fishing at about 8:30 am, and the fishing was epic all morning. The wind picked up around noon and by then I decided to quite while I was ahead. I got 8 fish to eat, and landed 6 of them. The 2 I missed were on the nymphing hookset, which can be a pretty easy thing to do when you're trying to hook a #14 nymph into the mouth of a trout you can stick your whole hand into! The 6 I landed were taken on a #14 Adams Irresistable, 1 was 5lbs, and perhaps fought the hardest in many respects, a 6 lber that moved almost 10 feet for my fly, 3 fish of 7 pounds, and the biggest was 8.25 lbs. and just under 30". After that I headed back to the town I was staying in, and sought out some shade. It reached 90F that afternoon. As good as Saturday was, Sunday was not to be...clouds, cooler, and a bunch of real stiff, dour fish that were not looking up and weren't swingers either. I did discover a new spring creek in my travels which was cool. It had 10 fish in it; all were 4-6 lbs, except one which looked to be in the 7-9 lb. class. Tough fish! I also fished a small freestone/spring fed combo stream for a an hour or so and caught 3 "smaller" browns of 16-18", 2.2-2.75 lbs, and one monster for a 12 foot wide stream of 5.5 lbs and around 25". I'll be fishing my local waters closer to my house in the next couple of weeks, and I'll be sure to report any decent fishing!
The blustery weather has rolled back in to my neck of the woods down here in NZ. Windy, cloudy, and in the 50's. Last week my friend and I had some great fishing on a variety of waters. We fished a Fiordland backcountry stream and caught browns from 5-6.25 lbs and rainbows up to 4lbs. Then we hit some of the smaller lowland streams for more exciting willow grub action. Our best day we landed 9 browns of 3-5+ lbs; broke off 2 fish over 5lbs, and had one straighten a hook! The weather forecast for the rest of the week is not too flash down here, but I may make a roadtrip north into the arid central south island for a few days. I'll let you know how it goes!
Today is the first day of the year down here that it has not rained. We've had over 4 inches of rain since 12/31. That said, I've had some great fishing on some lowland streams with great mayfly hatches along with the super challenging Willow Grub fishing. On one stream, I parked at a bridge and looking upstream I saw around 8 fish in the 2-4 lb. class rising all over the place. I managed to hook 6 of them, and landed 4 on dries. One fish that I did not land actually straightened out my hook! I also fished the lower Matuara River a couple of days ago, and caught a bit of the world famous "Mad Mataura Rise..." The river is anywhere from 75-200 ft. wide, and had fish rising all over the place, eating mostly #16 spinners that have a nack for keeing their wings more upright than spinners in the states. I hooked 5 and landed 4 in about 2 hours with the biggest about 3 pounds or so. It's one of the rare times I go down to 5x tippet. This week I'll be fishing most every day, as a good friend will be coming down to do some photography stuff. Check in later this week!
A belated Happy New Year to everyone! Things are going well in NZ, though since I last wrote a report I have not fished very much due to my wifes vacation time, holiday get togethers, and a 4 day mountain biking trip with some friends, and 3"+ of rainover the last 5 days, but I did manage to get out for an hour or so on a couple of occasions and caught some nice browns in the 5 pound class. Today I explored a tributary of a well known NZ river that I had never fished before and was impressed with the number and quality of the fish. I hooked 5 of them, but only landed 1 of 4 pounds. They all took dries, but they were extremely difficult to get to eat as they were completely obsessed with Willow Grubs that were falling out of the Willows along the bank. These grubs are kind of like parasites on the Willow trees, burying themsleves in the leaf making a red bulge on the leaf before they chew out of it and on windy days they fall into the rivers in large numbers. They are about a size 18-20 and do not float for more than a few seconds, so imitating them with a fly is very tough to say the least! A green Humpy #16 worked fine as long as they water was moving a bit. If it was flat, forget it! The stream was less than 25 ft. wide so stealthiness was essential, but these guys were pretty brazen zooming around the willows that were overhanging. I had one fish LIFT the flyline out of the water on his back to eat a grub near my line. Thanks to those of you who have booked early for those prime May and early June slots. Most of the second half of May is now booked, but I still have a fair share of openings before 5/14 and a few after 5/26. Well, thats all for now, and hopefully Vermont gets a bit of new snow to replenish the slopes for all the skiers and boarders out there!
Well, the weather down in the far south of New Zealand has been pretty wet, cloudy and windy with very few sunny calm days so far this month and this has made the sight fishing pretty tough. Some friends of mine from British Columbia have been down in Southland and on the first day we fished a backcountry lake doing the sight fishing on the flats thing. It poured on us off and on throughout the day, but we saw plenty of fish and I even managed to hook 3 of them and land one brown of about 3.5 lbs that took me close to my backing before jumping a couple of times. The next day, the guys really wanted to get on one of the "trophy" waters in our area and despite the wind, we gave it a go. And "a go" was about it, as winds came down the valley at 50-90km/hour!! Ever tried to cast a 5 or 6 wt. into tropical storm strength winds?!? A challenge to say the least. It would make a FFF casting instructor look like a raw beginner! After about an hour or so in this river, I suggested we peal off into a smaller trib (under 35 feet wide) where the wind may actually help us a bit. We found 12 fish, all in the 5-8 lb. class. We managed to get 5 to eat, and landed 3 of them. My biggest was 5.5 lbs and about 26". My hat blew off 6 times that day, and at one point the loose fly line at my feet got swept up in the air behind me and managed to wrap itself around the handle of net so tight, I had to take my pack off to undo the mother of all windknots! Short power casts with the tip were the way to go on that day, and even then it was brutally tough, but in a kinda twisted way fun too. It reminded me of the priest and Bill Murray (Carl) in Caddyshack...the weather was bad but the preist had the round of his life (literally!). This past weekend, a kiwi mate of mine took his boat into the wilds of Fiordland National Park, where we fished two smallish streams running into one of the lakes. The rainbows in these streams were about as nieve as you could get. All were 3-4lb., and they would move 6 feet across the river to eat your dry if your cast was errant! I even caught one as I was picking my fly up to cast to a fish upstream! The smaller of the two streams was under 15 ft. wide and had fish in every little run and pool. It was like fishing the upper Mad, except the fish were NZ size. At the end of the day, I landed 14 fish, and my buddy got 8 or 9, and missed a bunch more. Today I'm off to the local big river with the BC boys again, I'll let you know how it goes! Oh yea, for the 2009 guiding season, I'm already starting to get bookings for the May/June window, so if anyone is looking for one of the popular weekend dates, dropping me a line a sooner than later may be the best bet. Also, I've decided to keep my rates the same for the 2009 season. Thanks!
I didn't get to do very much fishing while my wife had a week off, but lately I've been fishing my local big river and catching some nice rainbows and browns up to 4.5 lbs on dries. Yesterday I fished the lower end of a tributary of this big river and caught a nice brown that went 5.5 lbs and about 25" on a heavy nymph in some very fast water. I could see him clear as a bell, but really had to tinker with my nymph rig to get it to him. Tomarrow I'm heading out with a couple of friends from B.C. to flats fish for browns and bows on a backcountry lake which is always a blast. It's very similar to bonefishing on the flats, but with dry flies!. That's all for now, I'll do another report in the next day or two.
Due to a change in the weather, my friend and I did not take a boat into the wilds this past Saturday, but instead we hoofed it into a different backcountry river last Friday. I started the day off on a pretty poor note, breaking off a brown of atleast 6.5 lbs on my hookset. We ended up seeing 21 fish for the day and hiked about 8km of river. We may have missed a couple of fish in the shade, but most fish in NZ won't sit in the shade unless its their only safe feeding lie. Between us, we landed 10 fish,5 browns up to 6.75 lbs and 27", and 5 bows that were all over 20" and 3.5-4.75 lbs. About 50% of them took dries, which is always a blast with fish this big. A couple of days ago, I battled some nasty winds for about 90 minutes, and caught two 3-4lb browns in a pretty small stream close to my house. The winds and cold rain squalls have been a bit nasty lately, but I hope to get in a few days on some water a few hours north of where I live when my wife and I head out on the road tomarrow for a week or so. I may not have another report for a week, but keep checking in!
I've been fishing a mix of really small water and my local big river during the past week or so. The big river is indeed big, about 125-200ft. wide in most places, and contains fish of all sizes; not just big oversize fish, but younger rainbows that range from 8-20" as well. These smaller "American" sized fish are found in astounding numbers; with recent population surveys showing up to 2000 fish per kilometre which also includes all of the bigger 3-5+ lb rainbows and browns. You can sight fish on the edges for browns that are usually all 2.5-5lbs or blind fish the riffs and runs and pick up rainbows of all sizes. What I like most though is that for such a big clear river, I fished it twice for a total of 6 hrs and did not see another angler! The first day I fished it I got humbled by a couple of cruising browns, but landed about a dozen bows up to 3lbs and one brown of 4 lbs in the fast stuff. I hooked about twice as many, but it was sleeting with rain squalls and a nasty southerly which made my hands and reflexes a bit slow. The second day was in the 60's and sunny and I picked up the same kind of rainbows as the time before, mostly on nymphs. I drove about 75 minutes yesterday and explored a small (less than 20 ft wide) stream I'd heard some locals talk about but had never bothered to fish. I found 8 browns, all in the 3.5-5.0 lb range. I landed 4 of them, one was dying of old age and was in 4 inches of water which I bypassed, I spooked two that were in the shade, and spooked another by simply giving him a nymph he apparently found really insulting because he swam over, gave it a look, and then proceeded to take off 15 ft. upstream under a willow tree! A friend of mine and I are planning a long day trip involving a boat for Saturday so I'll let you know how it goes!
This past Sunday my wife and I fished a very small stream (about the size of the Mettawee in Dorset or Lewis Creek in Starksboro) that runs into one of the lakes in our neck of the woods and we did pretty well; especially since there only 9 fish in the stretch we covered. Lisa got 3 to eat, landing a 4.4 lb brown; and I got 4 to eat, landing browns of 4, 5.25, and 4.5 lbs all on some early season dry fly action! Yesterday (Monday in NZ...we're 18 hours ahead of Vt.), I got in a little spring training casting in the fierce "Norwester" winds that blow so often in many parts of NZ. It was a doozy yesterday, blowing mostly downriver at anywhere from 15-45 miles an hour. I went to a small stream about 1 hour from our house that I'd never fished before (this is my 11th year coming to NZ, so that should give you an idea of how much water is available to fish!), and I found 8 very large browns that were truly some of the smarter, sneakier and spookier trout I've ever seen. The stream was about the size of the Browns River in Underhill, and the first two fish I saw were in the 26-29" range and atleast 6.5-8.5 pounds. They sat in very shallow water (2-3 ft., so they still had a good window) under a row of trees tight against a bank knowing no angler could come up from behind on their bank because of the bush. The problem with coming up the opposite bank even though it was my strong casting side, was that the pool just dropped off to around 10 feet deep and the fish just sat in the shade where you couldn't see them...but boy they sure saw me! I did get a drift over another in the run going into the pool, but he did not appreciate my offering. Upstream, I did finally hook one of about 6 pounds or so before he shook the fly out of his mouth, and I landed the smallest fish I saw of the day...a 4 lb. brown. It may be spring in NZ, but we've got some crazy weather coming for the next 48 hours...up to 5" of rain in the Alps, followed by a heavy SNOW warning down to 200 metres above sea level (lucky me, my house is at exactly 200 metres) with 6-16" of snow falling depending on elevation. They say the cold southerly is coming from 70 degrees south on the globe! I would be happy to send it north to Vermont to make all the skiers and boarders happy! Thats all for now; it's supposed to be back in the 60's on Friday so I'll get out then for sure.
The weather in New Zealand over the past few days has been wacky to say the least. This past Friday a good friend of mine and I hit some small (less than 20 feet wide) backcountry streams and got some nice brownies in the 4-5.5lb range including a few on dries. The weather was perfect, about 68F. and strangely for NZ...no wind. Saturday started out fine, but at around 5 pm, my wife an I were at happy hour and watched "the southerly" roll in. This is a COLD wind and precip from the Southern Ocean, and the temp dropped about 20 degrees in about 15 minutes....no kidding. Hail, then sleet started falling. An hour later at our house it started snowing, though nothing stuck due to our proximity to the lake. Today it was very nice and warm (68-70F) again, but the winds were blowing 15-45 mph downstream. We hit another small backcountry stream about an hour from our house that is one of my favorites. I guess I like it because it's real small...less than 15 ft. wide in most places; and the smallest fish I've seen in it was 4 pounds! True to form, we saw 13 fish in about 3km of water and I got 7 brownies to eat my fly, landing 5 of them from 4-5lbs. Naturally, the two I lost were bigger, in the 6-7lb. range; and my wife hooked the biggest of the day which promptly went bonkers and tailwalked, then sprinted upsteam about 30 ft. in 2 seconds and cleaned her clock. Nice fish though. More nasty weather on the way down here, so it may be a few days before I head out again. 'Till next time....
We got to New Zealand on Monday, and after getting sorted, I hit a river about 10 minutes from our house and fished for a couple of hours. I got 5 rainbows to eat, and landed 3 of them. The smallest was 3 lbs; while the other 2 were 4 lbs. apiece. One of the 4 lbers took me for a big ride down river about 2 football fields before I put the brakes on her and got her in the net. Not bad for a couple of hours! I'll try to do some NZ "blogs" in the future, but there will be periods of up to a week when I'm in the bush and won't be able to write anything, so just check in periodically if you're interested. Good luck on the water if you're still fishing!
Well, it looks like the colder weather has arrived and will be here for atleast the next week. There may even be some snow by the middle of next week. Once we get that cold rain in the middle of October along with a bump in water levels and a drop in water temps the fishing tends to really slow down. Good nymphers will still drum up fish but they won't swinging nearly as much. As for looking for risers at this point in the season, the lower ends of the bigger rivers will have warmer temps and a better chance to find fish eating olives and random "stuff". My guiding season has now come to a close and my wife and I are headed down to New Zealand on Saturday. We'll be down there for awhile, until April 23, but I check my email daily down there so just drop me a line to book a trip for Spring 2009. Personally, I'm a bit glad to have 2008 over with; the spring fishing was ok, inconsistent would be the best word to describe it. And the fall was good in the sense that there were plenty of fish around, lots of smaller ones, and then in the past two weeks or so, we got the big ones. But the summer....oh the summer...over 20" of rain many places from 6/15 thru 8/10. The big rivers were largely unfishable for weeks. Judging from the numbers of smaller wild rainbows, we should have some good numbers of fish for next season, provided we don't get a bad winter flood. A big thanks to all of you who hired me this season, it was appreciated more than ever with the kind of year it's been! I may try to do a bit of a "blog" on this reports page while I'm in NZ...but it may be a bit spotty. Thanks again and good luck on the water!
Other than the wind, conditions were great for mid-October today. My clients did pretty well, landing a bunch of wild bows in the small to mid sizes, and a 16" brown as well. We were fishing some pretty fast water, so we picked them up on nymphs. Looks like the cooldown will begin on Friday; get out there while its still warm. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
Lots of wild bows rising today on the Winooski. The flats were alive as well as the slow eddies near fast seams. BWO's are the name of the game right now, good luck on the water!
Well, after doing a pretty early morning trip due to client schedules, I can say that things are pretty slow early in the am right now. Water temps are running under 50 in the am, and the fish just won't move as much as when the water is 3-5 degrees warmer. Enjoy the fine weasther and conditions this week, as we're going to have the big cooldown by next weekend. Hatches consist of a few Cinammon Caddis and some BWO's #18-22. Good luck on the water!
Lots of folks on the water today, which comes as no real surprise with the weather and foliage season; but we did get sandwiched on part of the upper Winooski which was a bummer. We did ok though, landing a 14" brown, and a bunch wild bows up to 12". All on nymphs. Conditions should continue to be good with no big rains or real cold days in the next 5 days. Hatches are sparse, but the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
I did a bit of fishing this afternoon with me brother in law and we did very well for a couple of hours fishing. We managed a 12", 15", 16", and 2 18"; all wild bows. We also got a 9" wild bow and your truly got 2 4" brookies as well. The bigger bows are really packing on the weight right now, and the fish were willing to eat most any nymph if it got to them. We've got a great forecast coming for the holiday weekend and the Winooski is now down to a very manageable level for most folks. The Lamoille remains at an excellant flow for fishing the BWO hatch. Hatches consist of BWO's, and a few Iso's #10-14, and Cinammon Caddis #14-16. Good luck on the water!
I guided on a trib of the Winooski today that I had not bothered with too much over the past few years...and the fish were there! My client was just getting back into the sport after many years away from it and he caught a 12", 14", and 16" wild rainbows and we found a HUUUGE wild bow that was in that magical "true" 20" size. He was so deep under heavy current, we just couldn't get him to see our fly. Under average flows we would've had a shot. The Winooski below Middlsex Dam is totally fishable though it there is a lot of water. The Lamoille is in fine shape and has been fishing pretty well also. There was a good BWO hatch this afternoon, but no fish were looking up in the fast high water we were on. Hatches consist of BWO's and Cinammon Caddis, and a few Isonychias. Ants will still get fish rising on flats. Good luck on the water!
I guided up on the Upper Winooski today, and while its was a bit high and visability was about 3 feet or so, we still got 3 nice wild bows of 12",12", and 16"...all nymphing. Looks like the Lamoille is in far better shape than the Winooski level and clarity wise, but the middle and lower Winooski will come around in the next day or so. Besides a few nuisance showers perhaps in the north tomarrow, we've got a dry, sunny and eventually a bit warmer week ahead. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
Well, I stand corrected....we got a bit more rain than was originally forecast, and both the Winooski and Lamoille are up over a foot and dirty. Major tribs have also come up quite a bit too. Some small streams are higher than others, but many are fishable. While water levels should drop pretty quick since overall its been so dry the past month, the time of year will effect that too. Starting when the foliage becomes near peak, the vegetation really slows down in taking up water from the aquafer, and in turn we always get the fall "bump"; where river flows actually can start to increase without any rain by a little bit. Well, combine that with this rain, and things will drop a bit slower than if this played out in July. We'll start to see water temps drop over the next couple of days too, but they should remain over 50 on the big rivers for some time yet. I've got a couple openings left before we head to NZ later in the month if anyone is interested in getting out on the water. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
My client and I managed to dodge some thunder,lightning, and some downpours to squeeze in a good 1/2 day on the water. The Winooski was getting higher and dingier the whole time we were on it, but we still found some rising fish on both the flats and some heavy water. We also picked some up nymphing. The big rivers may be a bit dingy tomarrow but I'm hoping they don't muddy. Some tribs of the big rivers got hit pretty hard, so levels will be bumping up quite a bit. Hatches consist of BWO's #18-22, Isonychias #12-14, a few Cinammon Caddis #14-16, and terrestrials like ants/beetles #12-20. Good luck on the water!
The fishing has been very good of late on most every water I've been on. We've got some rain coming overnight and more showers tomarrow. Then we've got a real big cooldown. We could use a bit of rain, and I don't think we'll have any dirty water as a result of this stuff. Water temps have been in the upper 50's to low 60's on the big water which is great considering how late in the season it is. BWO's have been the meal ticket of late, w/ Iso's running in second. Hatches consist of BWO's #18-22, Isonychias #12-14, Cinammon Caddis #14-16, and terrestrials like ants and beetles #12-20. Good luck on the water!
Looks like a wet one for the next couple of days. The forecast calls for around 1.00" in the Champlain Valley, and 2-3" from the Greens east to the Ct. river valley through Sunday. If it happens gradually enough, I think we can handle 1-1.5" no problem; but if the headwaters of the Winooski and Lamoille get 2-3"...they will go bonkers. The White will get hit hard as well. There were fish rising on the flats on the lower Lamoille this morning. There should be a small break in the weather around mid-day tomarrow and if the rain lets up for any period of time and the river isn't dirty, the fishing should be very, very good. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
I did an instructional today on the Winooski so catching fish was not the main objective, but we did hook a few, and the fish started hitting the surface around 2pm once enough shade hit the water and the Iso's and BWO's got going. Things should only get better as we get more clouds and hopefully some rain as get towards the weekend. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
We've got an interesting forecast from Friday thru next Tuesday for our area that could be great, or it could be a bit too much of a good thing. We will get some rain, and if the tropical "juice" makes it far enough north and inland, we could have real rain maker. In the meantime, water levels on the big rivers are good and with a bit of cloud cover rolling in, things should get even better. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
I did a couple of trips on the Big C over the past two days and while we did catch fish, we had to work for them on both days. Early Sunday morning there were low clouds and drizzle and as soon as we got on the water, Iso's were hatching and fish were rising, but when the sun came out and those northwest breezes kicked in the fishing went south...fast. Then around 3:30pm another round of bugs hatched and we got some nice fish on top. Today was just plain tough in the bright sunny weather, but we got a bunch of fish on dries and nymphs. That being said, we could really use some rain to reshuffle the deck on our area waters. Too many sunny days without cloudy and /or rainy ones and the fish are getting a bit tight in the middle of the day, even when there are bugs hatching. Look like this weekend we'll get some rain, but until then the fishing will be a bit of a crapshoot quality wise, and the last two hours of daylight will be when the bigger fish become active. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
You have to love days like this in late September...I managed to get in one more day of wet wading! I had the same client today as yesterday and I told her "On our fist day we hit a part of the river that sees hardly any fishing pressure and you got used to techniques I use up here and you'll catch lots of smaller fish w/ a shot at some big ones...but today we're going for quality over quantity and we'll try for some spookier, bigger wild bows and browns." I love it when a plan comes together. Despite hardly a bug around the whole afternoon/evening, we managed to land 12",12",14" wild rainbows and she hooked a real whopping big bow that I could see plain as day 15 feet in front of me that was in the 16-17" range. We also had a massive flurry of other fish of all sizes later in the evening that weren't rising but blindly took a couple of my favorite patterns but we couldn't seal the deal. Overall all a great day on some pretty pounded water. We've got a pretty strong cold front coming through tonight, though I don't think there will be much rain with this one...less than .20" and many areas may stay dry. It will be colder and a bit blustery for Sunday, good BWO weather. Water temps are currently on either side of 60 on the big waters which is geat going into the latter part of September. Hatches have been pretty sparse in general but they consist of Isonychias #10-14, Yellow Quills #16-18, BWO's #18-22, a few Tricos #22-24, Cinammon Caddis #14-16, and terrestrials like ants/beetles #12-20 and hoppers #10-14. I'll be guiding up on the Big C the next 2 days so my reports will pick up on Monday evening. Good luck on the water!
I had a busy day today doing two trips on the Winooski. The morning shift was pretty good; we hit the flats and found rising fish eating BWO spinners. We also hooked a big wild bow nymphing some heavy water a bit later. The evening shift was very good, and for my clients first time fishing Vermont, she did outstanding. She managed to land about 20 wild bows nymhping! She hooked atleast one big one that I saw (over 14"), but most of them were on the smaller side and were very eager. Nothing was really hatching in the pm shift. We're starting to need a bit of rain; the small streams are getting real boney, and the big rivers just need a little "bump" and an off day to reshuffle the deck. Popular stretches below Middlesex Dam and Bolton Dam are getting pretty hammered with all this fair weather. In fact, I watched 3 different sets of anglers hit one beat during the course of my day, while other less popular beats had nobody on them. The second and third parties must have had a tough time if that fisrt guy was a good angler. Fish are starting to settle a bit down on the flats right now, so folks who are having slow time on the popular beats should start thinking outside the box and looking for fish in water where they might not normally go in the spring or summer. This applies to the Lamoille as well, though pressure is not quite as high. As for salmon fishing on the Clyde, there have been fish in the river since mid-August when we had real high flows, and while more will start to file in now I'm not too excited to chase salmon in low water with the usual fishing pressure until we get a flow increase. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
I guided on the Winooski today and during the middle of the day and early afternoon I realized once again why I hate northwest winds that blow right after fronts push thru. The fishing was slow, with no one rising and generally nobody home at all. We went to another spot and got some wild bows up to 12" on nymphs and a couple smaller bows on dries, and then towards evening we found some flats where the wind had died and found LOTS of smaller wild bows rising in pods of 4-8 fish in small areas. There was nothing hatching but they ate ants no problem. We should have great conditions over the next week. I still have a couple of openings next week between 9/23 and 9/26 if anyone is interested in getting out. Hatches are the same previous days, good luck on the water!
Wow...I go up to the Big C for two days and the next thing I know we've socialized out countries financial sector. Strange happenings outside of Essex County indeed. We floated the Big C yesterday and I didn't have to bail anyone out...which is always good. The fishing was good, and we took lots of wild bows, browns and brookies on dries and nymphs, though I did have to subsidize one of my clients with one of my fly rods since his did not have proper "backing". That evening was capped off by that wonderful european import...a 17" wild brownie. Today we did fished various sectors of the river by wading and early on the going was actually quite volatile, and there was little in my portfolio that the salmonid market wanted to buy in to. The bright sunshine forcast by the decision makers was not much of a help to the doom and gloom that hit the hatch markets. In the end, we managed a twenty fish day up to 16", many on dries after I leveraged all my guiding assets. Whew....it was a fun day. Hatches consist of Isonychias #10-14, Yellow Quills #16-18, Cinammon Caddis #14-16, BWO's #20-24, Tricos #22-24, and terrestrials like ants/beetles #12-20, and hoppers #10-14. Fishing should be great all week. My financial recommendations? Beer. $10000 investment in 2000 $5 six-packs gets you 30 cents a sixer times 2000= $600 Return on your investment!!! Yea, I know ya gotta drink all that initial 10 grand worth of beer; but atleast you'll enjoy losing your initial investment more than alot of folks right now who have nothing to show for. You've quenched your thirst/drowned your sorrows AND made $600!!! Good luck on the water!
I was up all night with my newly aquired fall allergies and I was just stunned at how warm it was last night for the middle of September. I guess thats tropical moisture for ya. Now, a front has pushed thru and air temps are dropping like a rock. With the exception of a weak front on Wednesday night, we have a sunny and dry forecast through this coming weekend. Air temps should be seasonable. River levels are generally a-ok, though the Wrightsville Reservoir is throwing alot of water down the N. Branch into the Winooski. Flows are a bit high below the confluence; but by the time you get below Middlesex Dam, levels are only up 2-3 inches, and that won't last long with the dry forecast. Hatches consist of Isonychias #10-14, BWO's #20-24, Tricos #22-24, Yellow Quills #16-18, Cinammon Caddis #14-16, and terrestrials like ants/beetles #12-20, and hoppers #10-12. I'll be guiding up on the Big C Tuesday and Wednesday, so my reports will pick up on Wednesday pm. Good luck on the water!
I did a trip on the lower Winooski below Bolton Dam this pm, and quite honestly....it fished like crap. That does happen from time to time, though many guides are hesitant to admit it. We saw one small rise during a half day, and got a few hits. We hit three different pools/riffs which makes me think it wasn't other anglers there before me that stung a bunch of fish. Two things I noticed at the end of the evening that explained what was up....the river had in fact come up about 2-3"; and once again, at dusk fog settled on the water, which I eluded a number of days ago that I rarely if ever have good fishing in those conditions. We've got a high wind advisory thru 11am on Monday; up to 50mph; then the pm has winds out of the NW at 20-25mph. Ugh. Thereafter, the rest of the week looks very good...dry and 60s/40s. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
A pretty raw day is bring some windy showers mostly south of I-89 and the Winooski Valley. The Lamoille is really not getting much rain out of this front as of 5pm. Saturday should be fine and then we'll have increasing chances for showers Sunday into Monday am. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
I had a pleasant evening guiding a good local client of mine on the middle reaches of the Winooski today. There was a pretty good and steady Isonychia hatch along with a few Caddis and some Yellow Quills. The fish were rising a bit, but it was fairly challenging I have to admit. We've got some rain tomarrow that should be in the .25"-.50" range, then Saturday should be fine and then Sunday pm we may get another slug of rain. I don't think we'll have any muddy high water from this, so we should be fine. I still have a couple of openings on the week of 9/22, if anyone is interested in getting out. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!
I know when wet wading season has come to an end when at about 6:30pm I feel like jumping INTO the Winooski to stay warm! I was on it this evening with a couple of clients and we had a blast catching wild rainbows up to 13". We only saw one rise the whole evening and the bug hatches were pretty meager. Then a bit before 7 I saw fog settling on the slower stretches and I knew it was game over. I nev