River Conditions: 6/25/17

Water Clarity: Muddy-Clear

Water Temperatures:  58-66

Hatches: Golden Stoneflies, Olive and Tan Caddis, Quil Gordon, Sulfurs, Brown and Green Drakes, Light Cahils, Hex

Suggested Patterns: Elk Hair Caddis (Olive-#12-16) Light Cahills (#12-16) Stimulators (Orange) Royal Wulfs (#12-16) Blonde Wulf (#12-16) Gray Wulf (#12-16) Copper Johns (Chart. #14-18) Pheasant Tails (#14-16) Prine Nymphs (#14-18) Strolis Quil Jig (#12-16) Bird of Prey (Olive #12-16) Hare’s Ears (#12-16) Wooly Buggers (Black/Olive #4-10) Zonkers, Sex Dungeons Olive, Black, White, Keller’s Dream Catcher (Olive or Brown) Montana Mouthwash (Olive, White)

We got plenty more rain than we needed over the past few days. The bigger rivers are still moving very swift and will take some time to settle down. Some of the Mid Sized tribs are in good shape now and will be fine provided we don’t get too much more rain. I’d imagine if things don’t come up more in the next few days which they may given the forecast the Lamoille may be fishable by Tuesday, the Winooski will take a little longer, more likely Thursday. The Hex hatch is in full swing so it may not be a bad idea to go hit some lakes and ponds over the next few evening and get after some bass or possible some lake trout or rainbows! All of the smaller tribs are back to fishable levels at this point. They may require wet flies if they are still little up or a little off colored as sometimes and increase in water will keep fish deeper and less willing to eat a dry. We had a few trips out yesterday and every single trip got into fish. We had to drive a little bit more to find fishable water but we made it happen. Streamers were the ticket in the stained water. The visibility in a few spots we fished was about 2ft which is perfect for throwing big flies for big predatory browns. We didn’t get any giants but moved some fish and landed healthy looking 14″ brown on an Olive Sex Dungeon. When unhooking him I noticed his mouth was packed full of slugs which makes sense given two hours earlier the water was up over it’s banks washing anything clinging onto low tree branches and bushes into the river. Might have to tie up some slug patterns for the next heavy rain we get… As water levels hopefully recede the fishing should become pretty good. There should be a good variety of insects on the water and with the rain we got water temps are going to slowly cool down. We’re also going to be seeing much cooler night time temps which will help the fishing on the larger rivers drastically! Good luck to everyone getting out over the next few days!

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