Water Clarity: Clear-Tea Colored
Water Temperatures: 50s-70
Hatches: Golden Stoneflies, Tan Caddis, Light Cahils, Sulfurs, PMDs, Hex
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) Montana Mouth Wash, MFGA Prince, El Sculpito, Muddler Minnows, Bunny Muddlers, Complex Twist Buggers
Finally a bit more rain than just a sprinkle. Water levels have come up, not as much as we had hoped but they did come up a bit more than they have recently. It seems like the Winooski watershed picked up a bit more water than the Lamoille as water levels came up a bit more down there. The Winooski was looking good this morning from a clarity standpoint. By the end of today it should have cooled down quite a bit. The cooler air temps the past two nights and the rain plus todays cooler daytime temps will be really helpful. The Mad river was looking fantastic this morning as well. A bit off colored-tea colored and quite a bit more water than there has been. Wouldn’t be a bad day to fish some big streamers if you can find the tea/coffee colored water. Some of the bigger wild and holdover browns will definitely be on the prowl with weather like this.
Over the past week we’ve spent more time fishing for brook trout and bass than anything. It looks like that may change with the forecast over the next week, we have a few warmer days but in general it’s going to be much cooler. The brook trout fishing was productive, but the fish were definitely spooky. Every fish we landed on one afternoon trip was glued right to the head of the pool in the faster water or directly adjacent to the faster stuff. The water temp was 58 on one stream I fished and 62 on the other. We definitely spooked a lot but still managed to land enough.
On the stillwater front, the Hex Hatch is on. If you want to go catch some giant smallies on dries, or try your luck at a stillwater bow or laker on a dry now’s the time. The bugs have been hatching on the warmer evenings, days with less wind will be key to having lots of bugs on the water. All the usual lakes have been getting pretty good hatches, we should continue to see them hatch over the next 2-3 weeks.
For anyone getting out this weekend the fishing should be decent. Be sure to keep your thermometer handy. If the bigger water you were hoping to target is a bit too warm go fish the smaller streams. With the slight increase in flows they should all be fishing well. Cover lots of water and you’ll get into fish. On the smaller tribs, if you don’t get into fish right off the bat with dries don’t be afraid to fish a smaller streamer. Sometimes when the flows come up a bit on the smaller tribs the fish won’t be willing to come up to dries, but if you fish a streamer, even if it’s only 6″ under the surface they’ll come up and hammer it.
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River: Winooski
Water Temp: 67am
Water Clarity: Slightly Off Colored
Last Update: 7/3/21
USGS FI: 193
River: Dog
Water Temp: 64
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 7/3/21
USGS FI: 77
River: Lamoille
Water Temp:68
Water Clarity: Slightly Off
Last Update: 7/3/21
USGS FI: 124