River Conditions: 10/22/16

Water Clarity: Bigger streams are stained and may become dirtier as the day progresses. Very Leafy out there right now!

Water Temperatures:  50-58

Hatches: BWOs, October Caddis

Suggested Patterns: Parachute Adams (16-18) BWO (#16-20) October Caddis/Orange Elk Hair (#8-12) Pheasant Tails (#14-18) Prince Nymphs (16-18) Bird of Prey (#16) Copper Johns-Red (#12-14) Dirty Bird-Rust (#12-14) Montana Prince (#14)  Soft Hackle PT (#12-14) Wooly Buggers, Muddler Minnows, Sparkle Minnows, Keller’s Nightmare, Philips Flu Shot

We finally got rain!! With a week left in the trout season it looks like we might finish strong. Flow came up significantly around us yesterday and into this morning. Some are still on the rise. The Winooski was at 70cfs yesterday morning and is now up to 810cfs, when I drove over it this morning it didn’t look too muddy. From what I saw it looked pretty fishable, lots of leaves though. It may muddy up as the day progresses. The Lamoille didn’t seem to receive as much water as it’s at 187cfs right now, it’s still climbing though. If the bigger rivers become muddy as the day progresses lots of the small to mid sized streams should be perfect. In the higher flows streamers may not be a bad choice, something with a little flash may be good as it will standout a bit more with all the leaves in the rivers. If you have any streamers with weedguards, now is a good time to use them in the trout streams. Over the past few days we’ve still been seeing some BWO hatches with fish responding to them. Water temps were a bit warmer than normal but I am sure they’re cooling off and will continue to cool off over the next few days. We’ve been doing a few trips for LLS and although it’s been slim pickings we’ve been getting fish on every trip. Yesterday we went 3 for 8, a lot of the fish we lost were big too. Red Copper Johns, Pheasant Tails and Bird of Prey were the flies that got the most eats. Fished a streamer for a little bit and got no interest so we nymphed for 95% of the time. Action wasn’t hot and heavy but we probably hooked one an hour which isn’t too bad. Over the next few days we’re going to continue to see rain and some snow showers. Things are going to cool off drastically with highs in the low 40’s on some days. Afternoons will definitely be the most productive time to fish in those conditions. I’d keep to rods ready from now through the end of the season, one rigged up with a sink-tip and a streamer and another rigged up with a couple of nymphs and a bobber. May see fish feeding on the surface as well but there’s probably going to be more activity under the surface. The fish are probably going to slowly move into the slower, deeper pools as the water continues to cool off. Up until now most of the trout we were getting into had been within a few feet of white water in pretty swift moving water. Now that we have more water they’ll spread out a bit more and as things cool off they’re going to end up moving into the slower stuff. The Dog river came up to 42 cfs today, might be just enough to get some browns fired up and willing to chase some big streamers. The Salmon River in NY is currently running at 2,400cfs at Pineville!! Way better than 200-300cfs. It’s looking like it could be epic over there in a few days if the water levels stay up. Tons of Salmon in the river right now and with a push of water like that you can only imagine tons of steelhead moved up out of Lake Ontario. Good luck out there on the river this week!

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