on the surface

Hi Folks, Had a lot of fun today guiding in the morning and evening because the fish were looking up.  I always have fun guiding, but it is really fun to catch trout and bass on the surface with flies and lures.  The small brook we fly fished this morning was 59 degrees and the water level had come up and down significantly in the last 24 hours.  Received an 1" of rain at my house in Stowe from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning.  Much needed and our rivers and streams came up and are already receding. The Winooski might take a little longer to settle due to higher rain amounts in central Vermont.  Water clarity was fine today.  Brookie fishing was steady with 4" to 8" brook trout grabbing big #10 and #12 stimulators off the surface.  Regardless of the size of the brook trout, how cool is it to see a dark shape materialize from under a rock to eat your dry fly in gin clear water?  This afternoon I guided a little bigger water and we fished with spin gear for smallmouth bass.  Water temperature was 70 degrees with good cloud cover.  Low light is preferred in top water fishing.  You know things could be good when a big smallmouth crushes the jointed floating rapala on the first cast.  Really nice steady bite all afternoon.  We landed 11 smallmouth bass using brightly colored rapalas.  Probably missed and lost another dozen and a half.  Not bad.  Well after them again tomorrow and looks like a nice cool down which will bode well for our rivers.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy