River Conditions: 5/4/18

Water Clarity: Muddy-Clear Bigger Rivers will be shot for a while

Water Temperatures:  Low 40’s

Hatches: Black Stoneflies, EGGS, Maybe a few Caddis and Hendricksons

Suggested Patterns: #12-14 Pheasant Tails, #12-14 Olive Hare’s Ears, Montana Prince Nymphs #12-14, Smethurts 20bomb #6-10, Kaufman Stone-Black #4-12, Glo Bugs, Copper Johns #12-14, Girdle Bugs #6-10, San Juan Worms, Sucker Spawn, Wooly Buggers-Black or White #4-8, Zonkers-Black, Montana Mouthwash-White, Sculpin and other Baitfish Patterns.

Seems as though summer has hit! Water temps are on the rise and the fishing should improve from here on out. Flows on the larger rivers are still up there and depending on what happens tonight with the thunderstorms they may come up even more. The flows on the mid sized to smaller streams should all be in good shape for the weekend, a few here and there might get affected by the rain as well but they will be clearing up quicker. The streams around that are still being affected by snow run off are getting pretty cloudy in the afternoon although that shouldn’t continue for that much longer. I got out the other day for a few hours and was able to stick a couple browns, one around 17″ and one around 19″ The first fish took a #12 black stone and the second one went for a #14 Pheasant tail. If the waters on the dirty side it’d be a good idea to stick with bushier streamers. In clear water scale down on streamer size and go with more neutral colors or fish nymphs. The first fish I caught I spotted hanging on the soft side of a heavy run just off the bank. This is the time of the year to sight fish to some of those larger Wild Browns that are scattered through the state. In a few weeks once the water warms up a bit more it will seem as they have disappeared into thin air. Until we get a good push of water to dirty things up. The VT Steelhead scene is picking up up north and has remained pretty consistent in the Champ Tribs when the flows and clarity have allowed it. We’ve found over the years on both the Champ tribs and up north that the fly selection usually isn’t that crucial. It’s more to do with getting your fly to the fish, lots of the guys that aren’t catching fish think it’s got to do with their fly, and although in some situations it may, most of the time it’s because they’re flies right under the surface. Change flies all you want, if you’re not in the zone it won’t matter. Not to say that you should be dragging the bottom either, if your flies under the fish that won’t do you much good. A perfect reason why Raven floats can be so deadly…

The weather over the next week looks pretty awesome! Make sure you get out there and enjoy the weather.

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