Water Clarity: Clear
Water Temperatures: Mid 50s to Low 60s
Hatches: Golden Stoneflies, Caddis Flies, Light Cahils, Sulfurs, Hoppers, ISOs, BWOs, Flying Ants
Suggested Patterns: Hoppers: More or Less, KK Henberrys, Flying Ants, Parachute Adams (#10-18), Mccoy’s All Day Dun ISO-(#10-12) Stimulators Yellow or Orange (#12-16) Gray Wulf (#12-14) X Caddis-Tan (#14-18) Light Cahils (#12-14) Pheasant Tails (#12-18) Hare’s Ears (#12-16) Prince Nymphs (#10-16) Taylors Gut Instinct (#14-16) Joca’s Caddis Pupa (#14-16) Bird of Prey-Brown or Olive (#12-16) Morrish Hotwire Caddis (#14-16) Copper Johns (Copper-#14-16)
Things have remained pretty consistent over the past week. The Lamoille watershed received a lot of rain earlier this week and came up a lot, It’s back to a fishable level and color but still moving a bit more than most are used to. Sink tips and big streamers may not be the most effective from a quantity of fish standpoint but it will surely draw interest from some of the larger fish that reside in the mighty lamoille.
The fishing overall has been pretty good, we’re not seeing high numbers of catches for the most part but we’re getting into em. Decent amounts of rising fish mid day into the afternoon along with fish being caught on both dries and nymphs. We definitely are having to work for them but they’ve been willing to play. We’ve been bringing multiple extra rods down to the river so we’ve got at least one rigged up with a dry, one with a nymph rig and one with a soft hackle. The soft hackle on the swing this time of the year some seems to crush it on some days. When you’re nymphing, as the water continues to cool off be sure your flies are getting down where they need to be. All too often anglers will blame their fly for being the reason they’re not catching fish. In a lot of situations it’s not the fly it’s everything else. There’s lots of variables that, in our opinion should be addressed before changing the fly pattern. A few of the important ones would be the depth of your fly-within this variable keep in mind adjusting the indicator depth (if applicable) and adding or removing weight would be the two to focus on the most. Another important variable would be your drift. All too often anglers fish all day without getting a true dead drift. That won’t always be what makes or breaks a day but it’s another good thing to pay attention to. And, on certain days it can make a significant difference. One last variable that would play a very important role, and may seem very obvious to a lot of people would be the location of where you’re fishing. Obviously, if you’re fishing where the fish aren’t you’re going to have trouble catching them. Changing locations within a run or pool is important, even if it’s only a few steps. The difference between covering an entire pool and standing in one spot for an hour and not taking a step can be the difference between 0 fish and 10. Often over the course of a day you may notice patterns within the river that make it easier to find the fish. IE over the course of a morning or afternoon you fish a couple pools and find all the trout to be holding on the edge of a seam on the bottom third of the pool. Day 2 you go fish the river further down or up, and maybe you spend a little more time on that type of water and boom you’re getting into more fish.
Over the weekend I’d be targeting the bigger rivers, both the Lamoille and Winooski will be in good shape, as the water temps have continued to drop, the fish are starting to move into the slower water further down the runs. Last week and the week before we were finding fish more up towards the head of the pool. I’d still fish it all but expect more of the fish to be holding in the slightly slower water. No sense in getting up early tomorrow or Sunday to fish, stay out late tonight, wake up and don’t be in any rush to hit the water early. Maybe around noon-thirty head down and get after it! Good luck to everyone getting out.
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River: Winooski
Water Temp: 57
Water Clarity: Clear-Stained below Little Confluence
Last Update: 10-4-2019
USGS FI: 262 @ Montpelier
River: Dog
Water Temp: 55
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 10-4-2019
USGS FI: 30 @ Falls
River: Lamoille
Water Temp: 56
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 10-4-2019
USGS FI: 476 @ Johnson