Friday, June 18, 2010

Fog and summer heat

Hi folks, Been a good week of fishing in our streams.  Overcast, damp , and cool for most of the week.  However, things are about to change.  Guided the Winooski this early am and the river was in great shape.  Good heavy fog with bright sun breaking through around 8:00am.  62 degrees was the water temperature at 6:00am.  Level was right around the seasonal average and clarity was excellent.  Today the air temperatures are going to rise to 90 degrees which will heat our rivers.  Early morning on the big rivers will be best and our small cool mountain streams for the afternoon.  Fishing this morning was very good.  Not much for hatching insects though we did see some small #18 black caddis hatching and some #16 tan bodied caddis hatching.  Saw one random fish rise and it was surely junk feeding or either a hatching caddis, a spent caddis, or it was chasing bait.  We swung a #16 tungsten gold bead hare's ear nymph with a #16 olive caddis pupa.  Also, used a #12 double tungsten stonefly with a caddis dropper and my favorite red thread #12 prince nymph.  Hooked most of our wild rainbows on the hare's ear nymph.  We tight lined drifted and let the fly swing in the riffles.  Real violent takes resulting in some missed fish.  The fish of the day was a measured, released, photoed, and deep bodied 15" wild rainbow.  The fish went nuts coming out of the water 6 different times and really spun the reel.  Pretty exciting!  We landed 5 other wild bows between 7" and 11".  As the fog burned off we dead drifted with an indicator in heavy water with good results.  So, get out of the sun and fish early or late.  Carry your thermometer and leave the trout alone when temperature rises above 70 degrees.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy