Water Clarity: Clear
Water Temperatures: 40s-50s
Hatches: Black Stonesflies, Caddis, March Browns, Eggs
Suggested Patterns: Kaufman Stones #8-12, Montana Prince #12-16, Girdle Bugs #6-10, Red Copper Johns #14-16, Egg Patterns, Sucker Spawn, San Juan Worms, Montana Mouthwash, Olive and White Wooly Buggers, Bunny Muddler-White, Complex Twist Buggers, Zonkers, Mongrel Meat-White, Headbanger Sculpin-Olive
We hope everyone had a productive and fun first few days of the trout season! The vast majority of anglers that hit the water this weekend didn’t catch a whole lot of fish, or any so if you got skunked you’re not alone!! Despite good water conditions, the fishing was still tough. Over the next few weeks the rivers should start to become much more “alive” with fish. Levels are incredibly low for this time of the year, looks like we’ll get some rain and snow towards the weekend which might bring water levels up a little. Not too often do we have to deal with low water this time of the year! Water temps have been anywhere from 48-60 degrees on the rivers in our area, the majority between 52 and 56 but some have been a bit warmer than that. Talked to a few people that even got brookies on dries in the past few days which is crazy!
Got out on a trib of the Winooski the other night after work and saw a few stoneflies, caddis and march browns hatching. No fish rising, which is to be expected right now. We were able to hook and land one nice 17-18″ brown on a white articulated streamer. The water was a bit clearer than I would’ve like to see but at least one fish didn’t seem to mind. It was sitting in a super weird spot too, tight to a ledge that has gotten filled in with sand, so only 2ft deep and zero current. It was one of those casts that was made since we were walking past it, one strip of the fly and that brown blew up on it, an awesome, super visual take which always gets the heart pumping.
The steelhead bite in the Kingdom has been ok over the past few days, from the sounds of it, a good portion of the fish have already moved through, there will be some stragglers plus once they’re done spawning you can have some great days fishing for dropbacks.
For everyone looking to get out over the next few days, I’d still be fishing the medium sized tribs. If you’re going to hit the main Winooski or Lamoille I’d be focusing on areas below dams in the big deep pools. With the lower water you may be able to put your fly in front of a really large fish that would otherwise be unreachable, especially with a fly. Rivers may blow out with the rain, it’s hard to say what will happen as the precipitation amounts seem to be all over the place. Good luck to everyone getting out!!
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River: Winooski
Water Temp:52
Water Clarity: Clear-a touch green
Last Update: 4/14/21
USGS FI: 413
River: Dog
Water Temp: 54
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 4/13/21
USGS FI: 93
River: Lamoille
Water Temp: 53
Water Clarity: Clear-a touch green
Last Update: 4/13/20
USGS FI: 396