Water Clarity: Clear
Water Temperatures: 50s-60s
Hatches: Black and Golden Stoneflies, Black and Olive Caddis, Hendricksons, Light Cahils, Brown Drakes, Sulfurs
Suggested Patterns: Anderson’s Bird of Prey (Olive-#14-16) Pheasant Tails #14-18) Strolis Quil Body Jig (#12-16) Green Copper Johns (#12-14) Kaufman Stone Flies (#10-12) Girdle Bugs (8-12) Zug Bugs #12-18) Parachute Adams (#12-16) Elk Hair Caddis-Olive and Tan (#14-18) Goddard Caddis #14-18, Light Cahils (#12-14)
A great week of fishing for almost everyone we talked to. We had lots of great luck on the bigger rivers, especially earlier in the week while the temps were cool We had a few evenings on the Winooski and the Lamoille that we got into some awesome hatches, water temps were in the high 50s and the bugs were plentiful. Saw drakes hatching along with Cahils, Sulfurs, and lots of Caddis flies. The fish in most spots seemed to be very willing to take just about any dry off the surface. We fished one stretch of the Winooski on Tuesday that they weren’t looking up as much as elsewhere but we managed to do quite well nymphing and swinging a light cahil beadheaded soft hackle. Lots of fish taken on the swing, a super fun way to hook into fish as you always feel the take. Also a great method for anglers that have never fly fished before.
We’ve also had some great days bass fishing. Yesterday Matt and Spence spent the day on the reservoir and did really well on the Smallies, they also got into some slab rock bass and Crappie. Poppers and streamers both took their fair share of fish. Seems like lots of the females have dropped off their beds but aren’t far. The smaller males should stick around the beds for the next week or two protecting the fry that should be hatching anyday. The bigger fish, which are typically going to be the females will be close by, usually hanging a bit further off shore along some kind of structure. Gravel, rock ledges and submerged timber will all draw post spawn small mouth. We’ve also had a few trips out on Bristol Pond lately which has provided us with some great topwater largemouth action. The next few days are going to be pretty darn warm. I’d anticipate temps on the Winooski and Lamoille to be up over 70 by tomorrow at noon if they’re not over 70 already. We could really use some serious rain, hopefully we’ll get some tomorrow, the rain we got yesterday was pretty insignificant, we’ll take whatever we can get, but we need a lot more than a 4 hour drizzle.
This weekend would be a great weekend to go after some warmwater species. If you have access to a canoe or kayak you could go hit one of the many awesome ponds/lakes in the area. A few good ones worth checking out would be the Waterbury Reservoir, Lake Iroquois, Shelburne Pond, Bristol Pond, Monkton Pond and Lake Eden. These are all within an hourish drive of us and we’ve had fantastic days on all of them. If trout are going to be your target species tomorrow, fish the bigger rivers early tomorrow am and be sure to have a thermometer with you. As they start to warm up, think about heading upstream into the headwaters of them to target brook trout. Be mindful that the brook trout streams are going to be pretty low so make longer than normal casts and try to stay out of the water. Good luck to everyone getting out this weekend!!
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River: Winooski
Water Temp: 66
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 6/4/21
USGS FI: 309
River: Dog
Water Temp: 62
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 6/4/21
USGS FI: 52
River: Lamoille
Water Temp: 65
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 6/4/21
USGS FI: 145