lots of action

Hi folks, Double duty on the guiding front yesterday with a trout trip on the Winooski in the am and a smallmouth excursion with the canoe in the afternoon.  Another sunny day with warm air temperatures in the upper 70's and a persistent haze from fires up north in Canada.  The Winooski was 64 degrees with flows below average and good water clarity.  You know the fishing will be good when your guest hooks a fish on their first cast.  We fished some big pocket water with a variety of nymph rigs under an indicator.  A few hatching caddis but not much for rising fish.  It did not seem to matter though we did have two trout come up and almost try to eat the strike indicator.  We fished a #12 prince nymph with a #15 olive caddis pupa as the dropper and a #10 stonefly nymph with a caddis pupa dropper.  Lots of dark brown stone fly shucks on the rocks plus a few still born bugs.  We landed 20 trout in the 6" to 13" range with a combination of stocked brown trout and wild rainbows.  Probably had another 20 fish eat.  Really good fishing with a good angler.  The afternoon was not quite as busy, but still good.  Surface temperature was 68 degrees on the lake we fished and we did see some occupied spawning beds but mostly ones that had been abandoned.  Fished a chartruse popper with rubbed legs and never changed flies.  Had 10 smallmouth come to the fly and landed 4 fish between 10" and 14".  A lot of fun catching smallies off the surface.  The fish did not seem to located in one spot and we covered a bit of ground to catch them.  Still all related to rocky points and shorelines.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy