Water Clarity: Clear
Water Temperatures: 58-72
Hatches: Brown and Gold Stones. Tan/Olive Caddis, Sulfurs, Cahils, Yellow Sallies, Hoppers,
Suggested Patterns: Light Cahills-16-18, Blond Wulfs (#12-16), Adams-16-18, Micro Chubbies-12-14, Hex, Yellow Stimulators 10-16, Griffith Gnats 18-22, Soft Hackles 12-16 (cream and yellow colors) Pheasant Tails-14-18, Prince Nymphs-16-18, Copper Johns-16-18, Trina’s Micro Stone-14-18, Anderson’s Bird of Prey-14-16.
We’ve still been getting out on the water a bunch lately! The brook trout fishing has been great! Running into some pretty nice sized fish in some of the smaller streams, it’s always fun running into a brown or a rainbow that’s got some shoulders to it while fishing with a 2wt or 3wt! As far as the flies go it doesn’t really seem to make a big difference, use a fly that floats well and is visible, often with smaller, harder to see flies you’ll have fish come up and eat your fly but if you’re not ready (and can’t see your fly) you’ll end up missing them. We love fishing White Wulfs in a #14 or 16! Micro Chubbies, Hoppers and Goddard Caddis all work really well too! Running a small dropper off the dry fly will likely get you a few more fish but it often seems to create more of a headache in the smaller streams than it’s worth! If you’re going to run a dropper, a small zug bug, prince nymph or red copper john would be a great choice with 16-24″ of tippet in 5x or 6x.
Water temps on the bigger rivers have still been a bit warm for trout fishing but we have been spending some time on the lower ends of them targeting smallmouth bass as well as fall fish; great species to target on bigger dries when things get warm! One of our guests landed a 19″ fall fish the other morning, it was the first fish they had ever caught on a fly rod and it put an awesome bend in the rod!! Any of the glassy water should be stuffed with them and they’re usually quite willing to take a dry fly!
As far as hatches go, we haven’t seen a whole lot lately, some yellow sallies flying around, cahils, and some Pale Evening Duns. Finally saw some tricos yesterday morning as well. On another note, the first big flying ant hatch I saw last year was on August 5th, not that there’s a ton of rhyme or reason to those but those could be around the corner. We often see them after we have a couple of hot, dry days.
The forecast is looking a bit more tolerable over the next week, a few nights getting a little bit cooler, looks like we may have some thunderstorms Thursday and Friday, hopefully they’ll bring some rain with them. Water temps on the bigger rivers will likely be real close to the 70 degree mark in the AM, if you go out be sure to fish early and make sure you’ve got a thermometer, otherwise go hit some brookie streams or try for bass and fall fish! The brookie streams will remain cold, try fishing them right after a spike in water flow, it’s amazing how active the fish get after we get a push of water. Still water bass are also a great option for right now, if you’ve got access to a canoe or kayak there’s tons of good water around to hit that doesn’t get crowded with other people!! Good luck to everyone getting out!
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River: Winooski
Water Temp: 69AM
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 7/26/22
USGS FI: 245
River: Dog
Water Temp: 66
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 7/26/22
USGS FI: 26.9
River: Lamoille
Water Temp:68am
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 7/26/22
USGS FI: 173