Water Clarity: Muddy to Clear
Water Temperatures: 60s- Mid 70s
Hatches: Golden Stoneflies, Caddis Flies, Light Cahils, Sulfurs, Tricos, Hoppers, ISOs, PMDs, BWOs
Suggested Patterns: Hoppers: More or Less, KK Henberrys, Project Hoppers, Ants, HI VIS Beetles, Parachute Adams #12-18, Light Cahills #12-16, PMD Comparaduns, BWOs #16-18, Flying Ants Black and Cinnamon #14-18, Griffith Gnat #18-20, Pheasant Tails #16-20, Zebra Midge #18-20, Taylor’s Gut Instinct-Green #16, Hare’s Ears #16-18, Joca’s Caddis Pupa #14-16
Fall was in the air this morning!! The cooler weather is a welcoming sight. The rain we were forecasted to get the other day didn’t really amount to anything. Nothing really came up more than a couple CFS in our area. (Sigh) At least the temps have dropped, looks like we’re gonna have a few nights with temps in the mid 40s which will really help the fish out. The Winooski is still pretty warm, the Lamoille up towards Wolcot was 67 this am and I’d expect to see it a bit cooler than that tomorrow am.
The fishing over the past week has been a little challenging but we’ve still been able to find some good fish. Lots of smaller streams for trout, found a few absolute giants in some of the little brook trout streams. None landed but my client on Tuesday hooked a 6-8″ brown and had a wayyyy bigger one come out and eat the one we had hooked, we almost got him to the net despite him not being hooked. Almost… The brook trout streams are all still pretty low but the fish don’t really seem to mind since the temps are good. They are being a little bit spookier so longer casts and trying to stay out of the water will increase your catch. We’ve also ended up on the lower Winooski targeting smallies and fallfish-both of which are great species to target when the water temps are warm and we’ve got a couple beginners who are happy with anything. While on the lower Winooski we’ve been seeing some ISOs coming off which is par for the course this time of the year.
For the anglers getting out this weekend if you’re gonna fish early the Lamoille above Morrisville should be a good option-be sure to bring the ‘ol thermometer with you. You could also hit some of the smaller streams and go after brookies, or pick a stream that you’ve gotten browns out of and go hunt for the trophy that you know is hiding somewhere. If you wanted a real challenge you could try to go fish a trico spinner fall on some of the slightly larger bodies of water like the dog. The tricos hatch super early but tend to do their spinner fall between 8am and 10am. 6 and 7x and a very delicate presentation is a must to catch fish on these. Not something we often get to do so it’s fun when we have the chance. Good luck to everyone getting on the river this weekend
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River: Winooski
Water Temp: 72am
Water Clarity: Clear-Muddy below Little Confluence
Last Update: 08-23-2019
USGS FI: 232 @ Montpelier
River: Dog
Water Temp: 64
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 08-23-2019
USGS FI: 42 @ Falls
River: Lamoille
Water Temp: 67am
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 08-23-2019
USGS FI: 148 @ Johnson