Water Clarity: Muddy-Clear
Water Temperatures: 58-68
Hatches: Brown and Gold Stones. Tan/Grey Caddis, Cahils, Yellow Sallies, Hoppers, Flying Ants, Tricos, BWOs, ISOs
Suggested Patterns: Light Cahils-16-18, Blond Wulfs (#12-16), Adams-16-18, Micro Chubbies-12-14, Orange Stimulators 10-16, Griffith Gnats 18-22, RS2 (BWO) #20-22, Flying Ants #12-18, Soft Hackles 12-16 (cream and yellow colors) Pheasant Tails-14-18, Prince Nymphs-16-18, Copper Johns-16-18, Trina’s Micro Stone-14-18, Anderson’s Bird of Prey-14-16.
Finally some rain! We got a decent amount in the Stowe area and other surrounding areas seemed to get quite a bit as well. Between the cooler weather and the rain the bigger rivers should be set up nicely for the weekend! Water temps should be on the drop with the cool air and they shouldn’t warm up too much during over the next few days. We may be over the summer hump and fall fishing conditions may begin. It’s going to be tough to say how the bigger rivers fish this fall as there were definitely some fish that didn’t make it through the summer. Over the next few days it should be pretty obvious how they’re going to be.
If you’re going to hit the bigger rivers this weekend still bring a thermometer with you to be safe but you should be all set. If on the Lamoille, still focus your effort above Cady’s Falls/Lake Lamoille. The water coming out of the Lake will take much longer to cool off, where the water above that should already be cooled off since there’s no larger bodies of water feeding it. On the Winooski temps should be reasonable across the majority of the river. If you get too far below the Bolton dam the water will start to warm up but that also quickly turns into much less “trouty” water. The Winooski in Montpellier is already flowing at 151 cfs so it’s already pretty low again, although much higher than it has been for the past 3 months. Once temps on the bigger rivers are confirmed to be cooler, target the heads of the runs in the fast water, that will likely be where the largest concentrations of fish will be. In low water they usually seem to be less concerned with water depth and seek out the fast flowing water. Pocket water will also be a great place to focus in these early fall conditions. Swinging soft hackles in the shallower rifflely water is a super productive and really fun way to fish in conditions like these, the small and sparse flies always seem to work the best! As far as bug activity goes, be on the look out for ISOs in the afternoons, BWOs mid-day into the afternoon as well as maybe one last late flying ant hatch. There’s still a few tricos around but those will likely disappear rather soon.
The small streams will be in great shape to fish this weekend, with a big push of water they will be fired up and ready to eat just about any fly you throw at them. They’ll be starting to have some pretty awesome colors as we get further into the fall! Over the next few weeks we should start to hopefully see a big push of Landlocks as they enter the rivers out of Champlain and Magog, the biggest factor is going to be a push of water which both the Winooski and Lamoille did see in the most recent rain storm. There will likely be some salmon entering both of the rivers right now-once the lower reaches of these rivers settle down (champlain valley got way more rain than we did so the lower end of the rivers are still rather high) it would be worth going down and swinging some streamers for some of the earlier running fish. The Clyde didn’t seem to get any rain yet so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to hold off on heading north until we do see a bigger push of water (hopefully this year…)
The forecast is looking pretty fantastic over the next 7 days. No super warm days, cold temps at night and even some more rain! It’ll definitely be a good weekend to get out on the water! Enjoy the cooler temps!
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River: Winooski
Water Temp: 64AM
Water Clarity: Clear-Stained-Muddy-the further towards champlain you go the dirtier the water
Last Update: 9/15/22
USGS FI: 151
River: Mad
Water Temp: 60
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 9/15/22
USGS FI: 106
River: Lamoille
Water Temp 63 am
Water Clarity: Clear-stained
Last Update: 9/15/22
USGS FI: 160