Water Clarity: Muddy-Clear
Water Temperatures: 45-52
Hatches: Stones, Midge, Some Caddis
Suggested Patterns: Jig Head Girdle Bugs (#8-10), Any Smaller Jighead Streamer, Montana Prince-BLACK (#10-14), Red Copper Johns (#12-14) Pheasant Tails (#10-14) Prince Nymphs (#12-16), Juan’s Kryptonite Caddis (#14) Wooly Buggers-(Olive #6-10, White #6-10) Zonkers, Bunny Muddlers, Moto Minnows, Black Ghosts, Mongrel Meat-White, Sex Dungeons-White or Olive.
Hard to believe it’s already almost May!! We hope everyones been able to get on the water recently. The fishing has been tricky with higher flows on pretty much every stream/river in our area. We did have a few trips out this week that focused mostly on some small mountain streams which seemed to be the clearest water around. Fish were caught, it wasn’t lights out by any means but we hooked fish on every trip. We’ve been spending some time poking around on a few of the larger tribs and running into a few nice fish, covering lots of water but we’ve been rewarded with wild browns in the upper teens. We’ve also spent some time on some of the lakes and ponds in the area, pickerel, smallmouth and largemouth have all been willing to bite a fly. Given the forecast, hitting some of the lakes and ponds would not be a bad idea over the next week. It looks like most of the rivers will likely be pretty high and likely dirty with the incoming rain. This weekend will likely be fine on the mid sized rivers as well as the smaller streams but it looks like we’re in for a good soaking next week. Now is also a great time to go do some exploring on beaver ponds for brookies. Not many mosquitoes out yet, and not much foliage on the trees will make it a lot easier to get to and from the ponds. We hiked into one the other day that was boiling with fish on the surface, there was some sort of beetle flying around that they seemed to key in on, a hopper seemed to be close enough to get a handful of fish. A golden retriever also worked great for a sub surface pattern.
Heard some great reports on the Willoughby of good numbers of fish moving through the falls, a decent number of fish have been landed as well. With the water levels currently a little lower and clearer, don’t be afraid to downsize flies and tippet when targeting these migrators. The Lewis is starting to fill up with smallies, and is stuffed with suckers, there’s still a couple steelhead around but over the next few weeks a lot of them will work back to the lake. Another spot worth keeping on the radar would be the Clyde, the water is still quite high (700cfs) but the water won’t be too dirty. Fish the softer seams and edges and you may run into a salmon, smallies, lake run bow, brown…. Lots of fish make their way into that river this time of the year.
Good luck to everyone getting out this weekend! Don’t let the weather forecast dictate your fishing!!!!
On another note, if you’re around May 7th, the Mad Dog TU will be hosting a 2fly competition! Proceeds go to the Vermont Trout Camp which is a fantastic program for getting teens on the water and exposed to fly fishing! For more info go to https://www.maddogtu.org/2fly-competition/
The Fly Rod Shop is Northern Vermont’s finest fly fishing guide service and fly fishing gear retailer. Visit our shop on Route 100 in Stowe, VT or shop our online store to find gear from Simms Fishing Products, Redington, Loon Products, Montana Fly Company, Lamson Waterworks, Winston, Sage, Rio, Scientific Angler, Thomas and Thomas and more!
River: Winooski
Water Temp: 47
Water Clarity: Muddy-Not Fishable
Last Update: 4/28/23
USGS FI: 1020
River: Mad
Water Temp: 52
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 4/28/23
USGS FI: 417
River: Lamoille
Water Temp 50
Water Clarity: Muddy-Not Fishable
Last Update: 4/28/23
USGS FI: 1130