Water Clarity: Muddy to Clear
Water Temperatures: Upper 50s-Mid 60s
Hatches: Golden Stoneflies, Caddis Flies, PMDs, Light Cahils, Sulfurs, March Browns, Brown Drakes, Green Drakes
Suggested Patterns: Olive and Yellow Soft Hackles, Pheasant Tails (#12-18) Hare’s Ear #14-18) Bird of Prey-Olive #14-16) Golden Stoneflies (#8-10) Elk Hair Caddis Olive and Tan (#14-16) Tan X Caddis (#14-18) Parachute Adams (#12-18) CDC Sulfur (#16-18) CDC PMDS (#14-18) Wooly Buggers-Olive (#8-10) Zonkers-Olive and Natural (#4-8) Sculpin Olive or Tan, El Sculpito-Tan (#1)
The fishing over the past few days has been pretty good. We’re now seeing good dry fly action in both the morning and afternoon depending on the spot we’re at. We blind cast stimulators and wulfs yesterday am on a trib of the Winooski and had pretty good action; despite the fish being stockies, they fought like most wild fish, very acrobatic and pulled some line! Must be due to the higher cooler water the fish have a little more steam in them, could’ve just been that stream too. The rain we got today may have muddied up some rivers and streams around, it’s hard to say how much rain we’ve got and what exactly it’s going to do. The Winooski and Lamoille were in great shape this morning, our fingers are crossed that tomorrow they’ll be in similar shape although I wouldn’t get my hopes up. Having said that, there’s plenty out there to fish, just once again we may end up on the smaller streams. And if the larger rivers are fishable tomorrow, the fishing should be great.
We’ve been seeing a decent amount of bugs coming off throughout the day, Sulfurs, PMDs, Cahils and Caddis have all been present along with a few BWOs. The hex hatch has begun on many of the lakes in the area bringing some giant bass and trout up to the surface. If your favorite stretch of river is blown out over the next week or so, load up the kayak or canoe and hit the stillwater. The 5-day forecast is looking like we’ll see some rain/thunderstorms in the afternoon which doesn’t mean much as it seems as though half of the time those never appear. Or, they tend to be very localized so if one stream is shot the one in the next valley may be untouched. The afternoon rain that we do see will hopefully keep water temps down a little lower. The night temps are forecasted to be between 55 and 60 which should also help with keeping lower water temperatures.
If you’re out there and it’s not happening for you switch things up. If you do the same thing over and over again don’t expect a different outcome. Anglers are too quick to blame their fly pattern too. In our area, the fish aren’t that selective. Changing the depth your fly is at, the speed your fly is moving (streamer only) and completely changing the column of water your fly is in is where you should first be varying your presentation. Sure, some days one fly works better than another, but what works even better is getting a dead-drift, getting your fly deeper and finding the spots where the fish are. If it’s broke, doing the same thing over and over again surely won’t fix it. Good luck to everyone getting out over the next few days.
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River: Winooski
Water Temp: 61
Water Clarity: Dirty
Last Update: 06-25-2019
USGS FI: 1050 @ Montpelier
River: Dog
Water Temp: 61
Water Clarity:
Last Update: 06-25-2019
USGS FI: 307 @ Falls
River: Lamoille
Water Temp: 62
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 06-25-2019
USGS FI: 454 @ Johnson