upper Winooski

Hi Folks, I have not fished on the Winooski main stem since the Hurricane.  The last month I have spent most of my time trout fishing on tribs. of the Winooski or the Lamoille watershed.  I was pleased to see the Winooski in good shape yesterday afternoon.  Real summer day with air temps almost to 80 and pretty bright and sunny.  Looks like that is all going to change here shortly.  The foliage is starting to come around.  Water temperature was 65 degrees.  It was interesting to see that all of the holes i visited were still intact.  Of course there was some wood and big rocks moved around and the bank beat up in places, but the riffles and pools still held together. Subsequently the fish were there for the taking.  Saw a decent number of #20 BWO's hatching, but no rising fish.  I rigged a #16 hare' ear flashback with a #20 BWO nymph as a dropper.  Caught 3 wild rainbows and lost 2 all on the #20 BWO nymph.  Good sized trout between 11" and 14".  I did hook and play a real monster rainbow for about 30 seconds.  Got the fish pretty close to me before it ripped off a bunch of line and ran under some wood.  Did not break off, just had the fly pop out.  I would have guessed this trout in the 18" class.  Put it this way, when hooked it ran up a riffle with its back out of the water like a salmon migrating.  Pretty exciting and it is there for someone to catch still.  The main focus of my trip yesterday was to investigate the state of affairs on the river and I was pleased with what I discovered.  Off to guide trout over the next week every day so lets hope we do not get too much rain.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy