Water Clarity: Clear
Water Temperatures: 50s-60s
Hatches: Black and Golden Stoneflies, Black and Olive Caddis, Hendricksons, Light Cahils
Suggested Patterns: Anderson’s Bird of Prey (Olive-#14-16) Pheasant Tails #14-18) Strolis Quil Body Jig (#12-16) Green Copper Johns (#12-14) Kaufman Stone Flies (#10-12) Girdle Bugs (8-12) Zug Bugs #12-18) Parachute Adams (#12-16) Elk Hair Caddis-Olive and Tan (#14-18) Goddard Caddis #14-18, Light Cahils (#12-14)
What a difference from a few days ago! These cooler temps are a welcome sight given what was happening earlier this week. We didn’t see any rivers hit 70 but some were pretty close and I’m sure some in the area did hit the 70 mark. The fishing had still been relatively good, we were just hitting higher up on the watershed where the temps were cooler. After the past two cold nights, water temps will be down in the mid to upper 50s and maybe the low 60s. It looks like it’s going to be a great weekend to hit the rivers. With the lower flows, I wouldn’t anticipate doing all that well with streamers but I’m sure in the right place they’ll still get the job done. We’ve been nymphing in the am and mid afternoon then breaking out the dry fly rods around 6-7pm. The other day, while guiding on the upper Winooski we saw a good amount of what looked to be light cahils in 10s and 12s. Never caught one to get a positive ID on it but that’s what they looked like. We also saw quite a few Caddis buzzing around along with some Stoneflies. The Hendricksons seem to be winding down, I’d anticipate seeing more and more lighter colored bugs over the next few weeks. Cahils will be one of the main ones we see for a while followed by some smaller sulfurs. We could definitely use some more rain, the storms that rolled through the other day were very localized and didn’t amount to much. The Winooski watershed definitely saw more precip than the Lamoille but still nothing all that significant, the Winooski came up a touch and was pretty dirty yesterday but was looking good today, still a little off colored but very fishable.
For those getting out this weekend, hit the bigger rivers while they’re good. Keep in mind the water is super low so be sure to focus on faster runs, choke points and other areas with concentrations of faster flowing water. The bigger, slower moving pools we were fishing two weeks ago may not have much depth now and won’t have much for current. Plan to do more nymphing than anything, but be ready for some bugs to start hatching in the afternoon. Bring your dry fly box and floatant and don’t make any plans until after 9pm!!
Good luck to everyone getting out this weekend!
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River: Winooski
Water Temp: 59
Water Clarity: Slightly Off
Last Update: 5/28/21
USGS FI: 232
River: Dog
Water Temp: 57
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 5/28/21
USGS FI: 44
River: Lamoille
Water Temp: 58
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 5/28/21
USGS FI: 139