Water Clarity: Clear
Water Temperatures: 45-55
Hatches: Brown and Gold Stones. Tan/Grey and October Caddis, Hoppers, BWOs,
Suggested Patterns: Tan X Caddis, BWOs, Hoppers/Chubbies, Adams, Pheasant Tails-#14-18, Zug Bugs #14-16, Copper Johns #16-18, Bird of Prey-Brown (#14-16) Black Magic Soft Hackles-#16-18, Wooly Buggers, Zonkers, Complex Twist Buggers, Hornbergs, Black Nosed Dace, Mickey Finns
The fishing has continued to be good. We’re running into the most activity now in the afternoons, mainly due to the warmer temps in the afternoons and increased bug activity. Still been seeing BWOs coming off, on the sunny days pretty close to dark and the cloudy days all afternoon long. There’s spots where the fish have been gorging on them and other spots that they pay no attention to. We’ve primarily been focusing on the larger rivers. Both the Winooski and Lamoille have been fishing pretty well, there are stretches of both rivers that seem to be void of fish but then there’s other stretches that seem to have quite a few fish! The majority of the fish we’ve been getting have been nymphing with beadheaded flies and a small unweighted soft hackle off the back. The majority of the fish have been eating the soft hackle, both on the dead drift as well as the swing at the end of the drift.
The water levels have already dropped a bit too much, luckily the temps are good. Take advantage of the low flows and cool temps and go wade to some spots you wouldn’t normally fish. When the flows are this low this time of the year if you cover a bit more water you’ll find spots full of fish that are normally inaccessible to wade fishing.
The salmon have shown up in the normal tributaries on Champlain and the NEK and the fishing has been pretty good, had a few slows days but for the most part they seem to be quite willing to eat a fly. The big push of water last week came at the perfect time and brought lots of fish in out of the lakes. We generally do the best while nymphing for them although if you can hit a good streamer bite that’s a tough one to beat. Watching 3-6lb fish come up and eat a streamer 6-12 inches under the surface is something you won’t forget.
For those getting out over the next few days your best bet would likely to be to hit one of the larger rivers. Try nymphing, or swinging small streamers but make sure you’ve got a few dry fly leaders and BWOs with you in case you hit a good hatch. Try to fish mid-late morning through the afternoon and into the evening, there’s no sense in hitting the river at 7am right now. Be careful is fishing the smaller brooks! Lots of the brook trout in the area seem to be currently spawning, if you come across a pool that you can see a good concentration of fish sitting in it’s likely they’re spawning. Leave them alone and go hit a bigger river and target rainbows!!!
Good luck and enjoy the fishing!
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River: Winooski
Water Temp: 54AM
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 10/5/22
USGS FI: 135
River: Mad
Water Temp: 53
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 10/5/22
USGS FI: 74.5
River: Lamoille
Water Temp 54 am
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 10/5/22
USGS FI: 109