first vermont trout of the season

Hi folks, Fished up in the kingdom today on the Willoughby River for lake run Rainbow Trout.  Nice day with air temps. warming into the 60's and perfect water conditions on the Willoughby.  The water temperature was 36 degrees at 8:00am and warmed to 42 degrees by 2:00pm.  Clarity was okay with off colored water that was slightly high.  My preferred clarity and level for steelheading on the Willoughby.  Landed two rainbows with the largest fish weighing in at 2lbs.  I caught 1 trout on a orange glow bug and second on a salmon colored spring wiggler.  Each fish was caught in a fast riffle indicating to me that they were moving up stream.  Both silver fish that were fresh from the lake.  There were several fish jumping the falls in Orleans and the suckers had also arrived in the river.  Great hatch of #14 brown stone flies and I suspect the wiggler is a pretty good imitator of the stone fly.  The Willoughby should be decent for few weeks.  However, lots of rain forecast for this week and it could create unfishable water.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Take the felt off!.  have Fun, Willy

still April fishing elsewhere

Hi Folks, Still seems like winter out there with the snow coming down.  Just returned from PA where I fished trout on limestone springs creeks.  Lot of water down there and the fishing was limited as many creeks where unfishable due to high water.  Still managed to catch a handful of wild brown trout everyday with the largest fish being 15.5".  Saw a great hatch of grannoms #14 to #16 and some #18 Blue Quills.  Not much for rising fish due to water levels.  Temperatures were in the mid 40's.  Our streams are still in the high 30's at best and are not going to warm up too quickly at this rate.  My take on my trip to PA is that it will be a cold slow spring in Vermont might take awhile for our trout to turn on.  We have freestone rivers and not spring influenced limestone creeks.  I did check some pike lakes yesterday afternoon and the ice is off.  I canceled a boat trip today due to wind and snow, but will be chasing northern this week.  The cold spring will only benefit the season as hopefully our rivers and brooks will maintain their levels and temperature.  Well, hope for better weather.  Remember to clean your gear and leave the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

trout season open???

Hi folks, Trout season is here on the calender,  but in reality, it might be awhile before the river fishing picks up.  The snow is finally melting and we have had over an 1" of rain in Stowe.  Our rivers are very high, dirty, and cold.  I took an opening day temperature on a local stream and it was 34 degrees (ouch).  A couple of lakes I like to fish early season for pike are still covered in ice.  Should break soon.  The best bet for April will be chasing lake run rainbows and fishing for northern pike.  My motorboat is ready to go if the snow would melt in front of my barn and I could hook it to the truck.  Our early season hatches consist of #14 little brown stone flies.  A heavy stonefly nymph can work really well on the lake run rainbows besides various egg patterns.  I have done very well over the years with any egg pattern in yellow.  It represent sucker spawn.  Loads of suckers move up our rivers to reproduce in conjunction with the rainbows.  Edges of lakes where the ice is out can attract landlocked salmon in search of smelt and emerald shiners.  Fun to cast streamers to these fish.  Well, I hope to fish in the next couple of days in the weather permits.  Felt wading boots are now banned in Vermont.  Remember to still clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy