fall is here

Hi folks, Guided a full day yesterday in the rain.  Nice cold wet day that lets you know you live in Vermont and that the weather is part of life.  No worries, my client and I had good waders and rain gear and the right attitude.  Water levels rose throughout the day after beginning to recede from the previous days of rain.  Water temperatures ranged from 54 degrees to 56 degrees.  The foliage is really starting to come on and downed leaves in the water can be a pain.  We fly fished two different streams and caught a variety of fish.  In the first brook we visited we nymph fished with a #12 tungsten prince and a #20 BWO dropper under an indicator.  Managed to catch 3 wild rainbows and miss a few more.  We bailed out when the brook began rise and wading became tricky.  The next stream we fished we were looking for lake run brown trout.  We cast streamers that we swung across pools with a a long 3x leader and some weight attached a coupled of inches above the fly.  The streamer that drew the most interest was a #8 white zonker.  It is fun for me as a guided to stand down stream of my client when they are streamer fishing and watch the fly swing and fish respond to it.  We managed to land a smallmouth bass and a decent fall fish.  Did see two trout chase the fly but not really hit it hard.  Also had a few subtle takes we missed.  It appeared to me that the fish were tentative and I think the weather played a role in that behavior.  Looks like more rain.  Too bad because the fishing has been good.  October is a fine month to fish in Vermont and time of the year when fishing pressure is non-existent.  Matter of fact I had a client tell me that a guide in this area told him that river fishing was done in October.  That guide is a dummy and does not know his waters.  I will guide through October and my clients will catch all of the fish that dummy does not know how to hook!  Massive hatch of #22 Blue Winged Olives yesterday. Too bad the water conditions did not allow the fish to rise.  More rain on the way and lets hope it does not blow things out too badly.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy