Water Clarity: Clear
Water Temperatures: 60s- Mid 70s
Hatches: Golden Stoneflies, Caddis Flies, Light Cahils, Sulfurs, Hexs
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) More or Less Hoppers, Project Hopper, Hog Call Hopper, KK Henberry’s Hopper Wooly Buggers-Olive (#8-10) Zonkers-Olive and Natural (#4-8) Sculpin Olive or Tan, El Sculpito-Tan (#1)
August is here and there’s a few signs to prove it. We’ve been seeing a ton of grasshoppers out over the past week and the fish have to. The bigger rivers have been running pretty warm over the past week. The upper half of the Lamoille has been running a bit cooler and given some opportunities to get after some fish early in the morning. The temps at night and the rain have definitely helped out with the water temps. It was 47 degrees in Stowe early this morning. Fall’s right around the corner… We’ve also started to see Tricos, the past few mornings we’ve seen them do their spinner dance around 9am. Typically these bugs hatch super early, like 4:30am but return to the water mid morning to do their spinner dance before ending up back in the water. Not an easy fly to fish as they’re wicked small but it can be pretty exciting and who doesn’t like a challenge. 6x and a #20 or #22 is typically crucial to matching these insects.
The bass fishing has continued to be productive for us as well. Sallies in the rivers and Largemouth in some local lakes and ponds. We’ve spent more time fishing topwater recently, which isn’t necessarily the most productive way to catch them all the time but seeing fish come up and take a popper or big grasshopper off the surface is definitely worth it. The largemouth we’ve been fishing for have been in the wicked thick vegetation which can get a little tricky when you hook a decent sized fish as they’ll often head straight into the thick of it. A 7-9wt is ideal for this type of fishing. On top of that an aggressive WF line with a shorter head will make casting these bigger poppers a bit easier. As for leader, we often will run 20-25lb maxima in lengths of 5-6ft are ideal. When fishing for river smallies we’ll go with a more traditional approach, a 7.5 OR 9ft leader typically in 3x will work. Any lighter than that and often your leader will get all twisted up and tangled which can be a huge pain to deal with.
As far as getting our there this weekend, it looks like the next couple of days are going to be pretty sunny and dry so keep that in mind when making your plans. A lot of the smaller sized brook trout streams would be a viable option as well as bass in moving water or still water. Also keep in mind the Upper CT, although it’s a little bit of a haul for some of us, the fishing on the uppermost section of the CT in Vermont can provide some phenomenal angling opportunities for trout even during the dog days of summer. Because it’s a tailwater, water temps generally stay pretty cool down to Bloomfield which is close to 30 miles of water to fish. Good luck to everyone getting out this weekend!
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River: Winooski
Water Temp: 71am
Water Clarity: Dirty
Last Update: 08-02-2019
USGS FI: 204 @ Montpelier
River: Dog
Water Temp: 66
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 08-02-2019
USGS FI: 36 @ Falls
River: Lamoille
Water Temp: 68am
Water Clarity: Stained
Last Update: 08-02-2019
USGS FI: 193 @ Johnson