nice afternoon

Hi Folks, Guided from the boat yesterday afternoon with spin gear for smallmouth bass. Really nice weather day with big blue skies and a slight breeze from the northwest.  Surface water temperature was 76 degrees.  Water clarity was not great as it still off colored from Sunday night's big rains.  We worked below the surface with 4" crawfish colored Senkos in 10' to 15' of water around downed wood.  We landed 9 smallmouth bass.  Most of the takes were pretty subtle. In addition we were able take several fish off the surface with baby bass popper.  Nice easy afternoon on a lake.  I am off to chase river bass this morning.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have fun, Willy

finesse fishing the surface

Hi Folks, Guided another double yesterday with fly fishing for trout in the morning and fly fishing for smallmouth bass in the afternoon.  I got blown out this morning for river fishing as we just had a big rain storm push through last night and dirty up the rivers as well as the levels rose significantly.  We started on the main stem of the Lamoille yesterday morning as the water temperature was 67 degrees.  We did not even get a strike.  So instead of flogging a dead race horse we moved to a tributary where the water temperature was 65 degrees.  We experienced a hatch of micro caddis.  Size #20 tan bodied caddis hatching with very subtle rise forms form wild rainbows.  We lengthened our leader and fixed a 6x tippet to the end and cast and swung a #20 tan bodied x-caddis.  We had 5 fish eat the fly and landed two really nice wild rainbows.  Really subtle takes and you would not have realized the size of the fish until they were hooked.  In the afternoon I took guests to fly cast poppers in clear water for smallmouth.  Water temperature was 70 degrees and the water was extremely clear.  We had to pay attention to our approach and not step in the river to fish unless we had to.  We landed 9 bass all on frog colored and chartreuse colored poppers.  The fish were holding tight to cover in the river like downed wood, rocks, and clumps of fallen knot weed.  Spots out of the main current were the best.  Nice low light for surface fishing and the casting had to be good as bad casts put fish down in the clear water.  We missed another half a dozen fish.  Man, smallmouths really bend a fly rod and make some great jumps.  We had some slurps for takes but also some takes towards dark where the fish just crushed the popper.  Good fun.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

top water

Dog Days of Summer

Hi folks, Guided a double yesterday chasing smallmouth bass in the morning and fly fishing for trout in the afternoon.  Big bright day with the sun poking out its nose very early in the morning.  Not the best of fishing weather with big sun and warm air temperatures.  Surface temperature on the lake we fished in the morning was 78 degrees.  Slight wind from the south east.  It was one of the those days where we should have been on the water as the sun came up.  Our best fishing was for the first hour of the morning.  We had 3 large smallmouth eat a popper within our first 4 casts.  We landed a beauty of a fish in the 3lb. class.  After that we worked for fish and managed to land 5 other smallies and a large pickerel.  Shade was the key and weed beds and wood around deeper shoreline edges.  Afternoon trout fishing was slow.  Fished a small tributary of the Lamoille where the water was 65 degrees.  Pretty warm for a brook trout stream.  Water was low and we certainly spooked some fish.  We had a dozen brook trout come to the dry fly and landed half dozen of the fish.  A #12 royal wulff was the fly of the day.  The fish were tight.  A lot of the takes were fairly subtle and even there were instances where the fish just refused the fly.  Lower water levels and warmer water temperatures had an impact.  Well it is the middle of the summer after all.  I am off to chase trout this morning and bass in the afternoon.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

Aggressive

Hi Folks, Took anglers river fishing for smallmouth bass yesterday morning.  Beautiful day for fishing with calm over cast skies.  Water temperatures was 62 degrees.  Quite the cool down from a week a go.  I like classifying fish activity as aggressive, neutral, or non-aggressive.  I think it is fair to say that the smallmouth bass were super aggressive yesterday morning.  We landed 20 smallies and missed or lost another dozen fish.  Every hole we fished has bass that wanted to eat.  We were able to get them to take off the top and down below.  Small poppers on the surface worked great.  A 3" watermelon Senko on a Red Octopus hook cleaned up the fish that did not want to eat the popper.  The water we fished is very clear and we were able to sight fish a few bass.  Many of the fish were holding on the up stream and dow

n stream edges of large rocks.  You could watch them materialize from the rocks to eat or lures each time.  I think in the clear water earth tone lures and small presentations are the key.  The bass fishing was so good that I am off to do it this morning again and then trout fishing in the afternoon.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

working for them

Hi Folks, Spent yesterday morning on a Lamoille Tributary with clients chasing trout with the fly. Water temperature was a cool 59 degrees and the water clarity was excellent. Pretty bright morning with big sun.  Not much for hatching insects.  We worked up stream casting various stimulator patterns and fishing an indicator rig into plunge pools.  We had 11 trout eat the fly yesterday morning and we landed 3 wild brown trout.  We covered a lot of water to find the trout we did hook.  It was interesting that the trout that did rise to the dry fly did so very tentatively.  Really important to keep focus when fishing on those more difficult mornings.  You never know when a fish will eat your fly.  I can attribute that to the bright sun and weather front.  Looks like we are going to continue to have cool nights for a bit so our trout streams will maintain temperature.  I am off to bass fish this morning.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

Welcomed cool down

Hi Folks, Man, I love the cooler air temperatures and the feel of fall in the air.  Nice cold front has moved into town and really dropped daytime and night time air temperatures.  In turn, the water is cooling off and trout fishing is a go once again.  I guided a double yesterday chasing river smallmouth bass in the morning and trout in the afternoon.  Water temperatures held steady in between 64 and 66 degrees yesterday as the air temperature never really warmed throughout the day.  Water levels were up and the clarity was slightly off from the previous night's rain storm.  We landed 15 smallmouth in the morning dead drifting 3" watermelon colored Senkos on #4 red octopus hooks.  I like the smaller Senkos in rivers versus the larger version I use in lakes and ponds.  Tight casts to downed wood were very productive.  It appeared that the bass were holding under the wood and moved out to eat the dropping Senko.  Never really cleared were I fished yesterday so we had good cloud cover for the most of the day.  The afternoon trout fishing was just as good.  We fished a Lamoille tributary.  I told my client that I thought we would see a big trout today with the weather and conditions.  Big fish like the higher water and especially if it is not gin clear.  We carried two rods one rigged with a #14 light green stimulator and a nymph rig with a #14 double tungsten stone fly and a #18 bird's nest.  We did see a few #18 micro caddis hatching and some sporadic #20 olives, but no rising fish.  We had 6 trout eat the fly including a beautiful measured 17" wild male brown trout.  The fish absolutely gulped on the fly in.  The take sounded like a bass was eating a popper.  Lot of fun for my client landing that fish on a 3wt., stellar! We had one other good take on the dry and we missed the fish.  The rest of our action was on the nymph rig and we did land a beautiful jumping wild rainbow that measured almost 14".  Great afternoon of trout fihsing for July.  I love catching larger fish on dry flies and or nymphs.  I am not a big streamer fisherman though it would have been a good approach yesterday with the higher off colored water.  I just feel like a sinking line and leader with a streamer is like lure fishing.  I rather find the big boy trout when he decides to look up.  Off to chase trout this morning.  Remember to have fun and keep the non-native species at home.  Have fun, Willy

The Gulper

In contact

Hi Folks, Spent all of yesterday chasing smallmouth bass with spin gear.  I guided from the boat in the morning and from a canoe in the afternoon.  All around really good fishing day with lots of smallmouth being landed.  It rained all morning and then cleared with a beautiful afternoon.  I was on two different lakes from morning to afternoon and the water temperature ranged from 75 degrees to 79 degrees.  A slight northwest breeze but not enough to impact fishing.  We caught fish of all sizes classes yesterday from 4" up to 16".  The top water bite was slow in the morning but pretty good at dusk.  The incredible edible Senko on a red hook was magic yesterday.  We found fish in deeper water off fast dropping rock faces and deeper flats that were littered with wood.  Pretty interesting how many times yesterday we had a bass take the Senko on the drop.  Right after being cast and as it was sinking the smallmouth would pick it up.  Really important when fishing soft plastics to manage your line and be in contact with the lure.  You always need to feel it and be able to watch the movement of the line.  Man, smallmouth are just strong fish and fun to catch.  I be bet between my two trips yesterday we saw well over 30 fish.  I am off to chase bass all day today morning and night.  Looks like some rain and maybe a cool down.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have

fun, Willy

introduction

Hi folks, Guided aspiring fly anglers yesterday morning.  Always fun introducing people to great activity of fly fishing.  Of course, I always hope they do not feel overwhelmed as there is a lot to fly fishing.  Water conditions were good with levels just slightly above the seasonal average and the water temperature was a nice 65 degrees.  Still lots of #8/#10 Stone fly shucks everywhere.  There was a small hatch of #18/#20 micro caddis yesterday morning and actually a few randomly rising fish.  We drifted large dry flies as it is hard to teach people how to mend a dry fly if you cannot see it drifting on the water's surface.  #10 orange stimulators and #14 olive grasshoppers were the flies of the day.  We landed 1 rainbow trout and 1 smallmouth bass.  We missed another 5 fish.  Getting the fish to eat is the most difficult part of fly fishing in my opinion.  Hooking and landing a fish comes with doing.  Line management is critical.  Hard to strike any fish when you have too much slack on the water.  Looks like rain today and cool air temperatures for the rest of the week.  I am off to bass fish this morning and tonight.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have fun, Willy

Refreshing

Hi Folks, Guided river smallmouth bass yesterday with the fly rods.  River conditions were pretty good with water temperatures holding steady around 68 degrees and the level and clarity were excellent.  Lots of large #8/#10 stone fly shucks on rocks.  We worked poppers and #10 orange stimulators.  We found bass in the slower sections of the rivers away from heavy riffles.  Big back eddies and tail outs of long slow pools.  Also, in some pretty skinny water were there was any wood or rock.  We had well over a dozen fish eat the fly and the these river bass really put a bend in the rod.  The weather change has been great and with the cooling nights the main stems of the Lamoille and Winooski are coming back online.  Lots of grasshoppers in fields so do not rule out a hopper patter dead drifted and twitched on trout and bass.  Off for a late morning bass trip today.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home. have fun, Willy

Welcome change

Hi Folks, Been of the radar for a couple of days.  Scary thunder storms in Stowe on Friday knocked my power out for little over a day.  Big wind and some rain.  Been guiding smallmouth out of my boat lately and the surface temperature on the lake we fished was between 79 degrees and 82 degrees. Been nice calm morning conditions with increasing north/northwest wind each day around 9:00am.  It pays to get out early to avoid the heat, wind, and afternoon storms.  The bass fishing has been really good.  The hot humid weather seems to really make the top water bite excellent.  It is important to fish the shade and out off the sun, but the fish are looking up.  We have had well over 50 fish come to the top water fly over the last few days.  A wide variety of sized fish with young 4" to 16" adults.  Pretty much been casting foam sliders in blue/silver and chartreuse.  With the cold front now settling in things should cool off.  Looks like some nights ahead so the trout fishing might come back around.  Takes a couple of days to cool things off.  I am off to bass fish.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

Sight fishing and the heat

Hi folks, Guided with the fly rods for smallmouth bass this morning.  Pretty darn hot and humid out there.  The water temperature at 5:45am this morning was 69 degrees and the warmed to 72 degrees in the sun by 11:00am.  Good time to leave the trout alone in the big water of the Lamoille and Winooski.  Find cooler water on the tributary streams and do not fish where they dump into the big rivers.  I have heard and seen of folks tugging on trout that are stacked up in the cool water areas of where tributaries dump into the main stem of the Lamoille.  Shame on them and especially if you are a catch and release fly angler.  Those fish are thermally stressed and hooking and playing them is probably going to result in their mortality.  If you are with a guide that puts you on these fish then I suggest that you call them out fish with someone else.  It is literally like shooting fish in a barrel!  Show the fish some respect.  So back to the fishing this morning.  Pretty good top water bite.  We fished clear water and worked frog poppers and large #10 Stimulators along the bank in slow sections of the river that had downed wood and large rocks.  We were able to sight a few fish by walking on high banks and then positioning ourselves to cast at them.  We had 6 smallmouth eat off the top and we landed 3 of the bass.   The best fish of the day we caught below the surface.  We spotted the big boy swinging behind a large rock and we got it to eat a nymph.  A #12 prince nymph under an indicator was the ticket and the fly was right in the top of the smallies chompers.  Hell of a fish that really jumped and pulled back.  In addition, we caught by accident or pure dumb luck two trout, 1 rainbow and 1 brown and missed a couple of others.  We were not targeting them.  Pretty interesting that the trout were mixed in with the smallmouth.  Found a lot of #8/#10 stone fly shucks on rocks and I am starting to see #10/#12 green/olive grasshoppers in fields.  Never rule out terrestrials in small wooded streams.  Looks like hot steamy weather for the next few days with potential thunderstorms.  Fishing early am is still the best bet.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

Heat Wave

Hi Folks, Awful darn hot out there and the water temperatures are heating up.  I guided a small tributary of the Lamoille yesterday morning and the trout fishing was decent.  Might be the last time I trout fish for a bit until things cool off.  Water temperature was 65 degrees at 6:15am yesterday morning.  The water is warming up quickly.  Honestly the warm water temperatures are always more of a concern than the high water.  Carry your thermometer.  So, we caught the Vermont cycle yesterday landing a native brook trout, wild rainbow, and wild brown trout.  All good fun on a 3wt. outfit.  We cast a #12 yellow foam thing with a #18 olive copper john nymph dropper and even worked a nymph rig with a double tungsten stone fly under an indicator.  We fished heavy pocket water.  We did miss and lose a few fish, but still managed to land half a dozen trout.  The fishing did slow by 10:00am as the sun got high over head.  Will be chasing smallmouths for the rest of the week.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

tugging on smallmouth

Hi Folks, Been running the boat with clients the last couple of days.  Also, ventured onto a small stream on Saturday afternoon.  Finally summer out there and no rain for the last few days, hoorah!  Surface water temperatures have been between 73 degrees and 76 degrees in the morning on the lake I have been fishing.  The small stream I guided was 65 degrees and the water was pretty clear.  The spook factor was in effect as we sent several fish scurrying for cover.  Moving slowly upstream and longer casts were the ticket.  We down scaled our flies and cast a #16 tan bodied caddis.  We had some success landing several small brook trout and 1 decent brown trout.  On the lake front we had better success catching bigger fish.  The lake I have been guiding is gin clear and typically when you spot the fish they also see you.  Man, we have been seeing some fish with shoulders on them. Boat positioning has been important in order to cast to the fish before being seen.   Pretty much focusing on the edges on large Milfoil beds that have grown up on a hard bottom.  We did find some bass cruising a flat with very little cover.  We mixed it up casting the fly rods and a spin rod.  The larger fish have been eating below the surface and the small fish have been taking poppers.  The best fish of the weekend was a 18" smallie that really put on a good aerial show.  Still the best fishing is early morning and late day.  Trout streams are coming down and all of the small streams are in good shape.  The Lamoille and Winooski are both coming around from all of the rain. Only problem is now they are both too warm to fish for trout.  Carry a thermometer.   Off to small stream it in the morning.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

tricky wading

Hi folks, Guided a tributary of the Lamoille yesterday morning with fly anglers.  Water level was still higher than the seasonal average and the clarity was a bit off.  Needless to say, wading around this stream through the pocket water was challenging.  The water temperature was 64 degrees.  Nothing for hatching insects.  We nymph fished the entire morning with double fly rigs mixing it up between #12 double tungsten stone flies to #18 flashback olive hare's ear nymphs to some small #16 and #18 black and olive wire copper johns.  We landed 5 trout with all wild rainbows except for one nice wild brown trout.  We worked for our fish and it appeared that the trout did not want to move far to eat the fly.  Probably due to the bright sun and higher flows.  Lots of casts and drifts into holding areas to get the fish to eat.  We missed half a dozen fish, but all in all not bad fishing for the middle of July.  I am off to chase smallmouth with the fly this morning.  Looks like nice weather for the next few days.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

Changing weather

Hi Folks, Looks like a welcome change on the weather is on the way.  Out with the humidity and in with the cooler dry air.  Unfortunately we did receive a good thunder storm on very early Thursday morning that dirtied up small streams and yes brought up the level on the Lamoille.  I guided yesterday morning and evening and it was a bit of challenge finding clean fish-able water in the morning.  In the evening I ran the boat.  We ended up on a brook trout stream where the river level was 3 times the seasonal average and the water temperature was 60 degrees.  We fished a big #10 orange stimulator had a dozen and a half brook trout come to the fly.  Beautiful little creatures that live in some nice spots.  As the front pushed through the wind blew from the north/northwest yesterday afternoon.  It was nice to see the sun and not worry about afternoon thunder storms.  My afternoon trip was with spin gear and with the front pushing through  we slowed down our approach and dragged 5" Watermelon red flake Senkos on 2/0 Red Hooks on the bottom.  The water clarity in the lake we fished was awful.  Lucky for me I had anglers who were extremely patient and loved to fish rubber worms.  We landed 6 smallmouth and lost another half a dozen.  All really subtle takes from the smallies.  You really had to watch your line.  We caught all of our fish in 10' to 14' of water around submerged brush and large boulders.  I am off to chase trout this morning.  Nice and cool out there.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

working around it

Hi Folks, Guided night and day yesterday on small streams in and around my home in Stowe.  Really good fishing day.  Water levels are still up but coming down and it looks like the tropical weather is about to move out.  Cold front on the way tonight which will help things cool down.  The main stem of the Lamoille looks like it is ready to be fished and with the cooling temperatures it could be pretty good over the next few days.  Water temperatures int he two streams I was on yesterday were 61 and 63 degrees.  Water clarity was pretty good, at least good enough for the trout to eat dry flies.  The tactics we used did not vary from one brook to the next.  Carried two rods, one rigged with an #10 orange stimulator and another with an indicator and a #12 double tungsten black stone fly nymph.  I have seen some large stone flies hatching lately and a stone fly nymph is always a good bet in a small bony stream.  Especially when the water is up because the nymphs are not good swimmers and they get tumbled along the bottom and are easy pickings for the trout.  Guided the cycle yesterday as I saw caught a wild brown trout, wild rainbow and native brook trout.  Most of our fish eat the dry fly, but we did selectively use the nymph in some of the bigger plunge pools.  Off to do it again today and then bass fishing in the afternoon.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

eating a dry in high water

Dirty water

Hi Folks, Put in a morning and evening guide trips yesterday as we fished for smallmouth bass.  Took out my boat in the morning and waded in the afternoon.  Seemed to be a day of dirty water yesterday as the lake we fished was off color and the river we waded was off color and rising.  Water temperatures have risen as the lake surface temperature was 75 degrees and the river was 70 degrees.  It is a fricking tropical rain forest out there.  We spin fished in the morning and had a good success with a blue and white Rebel popper.  We had much better luck in the cleaner water with the fish coming to the surface.  There was a percentage of the lake that did not fish well because of the off colored water.  We had a fair number of fish eat the popper.  Working the popper aggressively was the ticket. The moment of the morning was when we hooked a 10" smallmouth and had a huge and I mean huge bass explode on the hooked fish.  It was really impressive watching the big fish try to eat the little one.  Hey, big fish eat little fish.  Afternoon fishing was a little slow with the fly.  We got held up by another afternoon thunderstorm and it caused the water level to rise and begin to dirty.  We landed to fish off the surface on poppers and missed two other.  Off to brook trout fish this morning.  I am sure the water level is up once again.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

changing directions

Hi Folks, Had a nice weekend of guiding and it actually did not rain in the Stowe area for 2 days straight.  Too bad it is back to the same old wet pattern for this week.  Looks like rain today and needless to say the ground is saturated and we can not take any more water presently.  The Winooski is still high and chocolate milk and the Lamoille is 4 times higher than its seasonal average flow for this time of the year, but coming down and clearing up.  Saturday I bass fished with a client from a canoe.  Water temperature was 73 degrees.  We fished a small pond/lake in central Vermont and I was shocked to see all of the fishing traffic.  Not the norm in Vermont.  Fishing was slow as we only landed 3 smallmouth bass and 1 pickerel.  We lost 1 decent fish, but the fishing was tough.  Water is really clear in this lake and I think the fishing pressure made the bass a little tight.  We fed them Senkos in watermelon red flake, baby bass, and craw fish.  There was not one that out produced the other.  Yesterday, totally changed directions and took my clients into a small mountain stream for native brook trout.  Water temperature was 60 degrees and the water clarity was excellent.  The brook we fished was higher than average, but very manageable.  We cast dry flies all afternoon on 2wts. and 3wts.  #12 Stimulators and #12 orange foam things seemed to do the trick.  Lots of french fry brook trout eating the dry.  No larger fish yesterday.  With the current flows and water temperature the fish seemed to be widely dispersed and were able to hold in big pools and secondary water.  I am off to teach the fine art of fly fishing to a young person.  Should be fun.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

4th weekend bass fishing

Hall of fame bass anglers

Watermelon red flake

Hi folks, Guided a double yesterday with the boat and spin gear for bass.  Lake fishing presently as our rivers are pretty darn high and dirty.  These late afternoon thunderstorms are killing us.  Really muggy with heavy air yesterday.  I love that type of weather for bass fishing.  Though we did have to wait a bit in the boat launch for a thunderstorm to pass.  Never good being in a lake in an aluminum boat with graphite rods with thunderstorms in the vicinity.  Not often do I fish the same body of water in the same day, but yesterday was the exception to the rule.  We fished in the kingdom on a lake that is very clear and you can spot a lot of the fish as well as see the take and battle when they are hooked.  Water temperature was 72 degrees in the morning and 75 degrees in the afternoon.  Did see some #6 Hex spinners in the morning and duns in the evening.  Even a few rising trout out on deeper water.  We cast the incredible edible Senko on a 1/0 red worm hook with 4" and 5" watermelon red flake Senkos.  It was a day of good quality fish.  We landed over a dozen and half  smallmouth and largemouth in the morning and almost a dozen in the afternoon.  Even tugged on a few slimy pickerel.  The two best fish on the day were both just shy of 18".  Really good looking specimens.  The key to our success was fishing hard bottoms around Milfoil beds.  The smallmouth like to hang right around the edges of the weeds.  Not in them but on the edges.   A little top water action but the Senko was the trick.  Off the fish smallmouth again this morning.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

holy cow

Hi Folks, I am glad that I did my trip in the morning yesterday because the afternoon thunderstorms and subsequent flash flooding was incredible.  Our rivers are now blown out from small streams to the big water.  Still really muggy out there and should remain that way for a couple more days.  The brook we fly fished yesterday morning had a water temperature of 59 degrees.  The water was up but very manageable.  That is until yesterday afternoon.  We had over a dozen brook trout come to the dry fly.  We did manage to land a legitimate 10" native male brook trout.  Really nice specimen. For the most part though, the fish we we caught we between 4" and 7".  The flies of the day was a #12 yellow foam thing and a #12 orange stimulator.  Nice morning.  Off to chase smallmouth from the boat.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

Brown Trout Mania

Hi Folks, Well, for July I cannot complain that the water temperature was a pleasant 63 degrees this morning on the small stream I guided.  Water is certainly still up on the big rivers.  Matter of fact, the Lamoille was chocolate milk when I crossed it today.  However, tributaries of the big water and small brooks are in fine shape for fishing.  If the water is clear, you can catch trout on a fly.  They have to eat!!!  Its my opinion that when the water is up and down the fish are always pretty aggressive. Especially, when the water is dropping from being high.  So, we waded some really nice pocket wader today under cloudy, misty, damp conditions.  We fished dry dropper rigs and had 1 rod with a #12 double tungsten black stone fly under an indicator.  We landed 8 wild brown trout from 6" to 12" and every fish ate a dry fly with exception of 2 trout.  We missed another half a dozen fish.  One particular brown was very large and swirled under the dry but did not eat.  We could not get the fish to come back and I even resorted to having my client swing a white zonker.  I have the fish marked for the future.  The 2 dry flies of the day were a #10 orange stimulator and #12 yellow foam thing.  Some outstanding takes.  I think because the water is up you have to make more drifts to get the fish to move.  It was interesting how we really did not have many strikes on the subsurface stuff.  Not complaining.  Well, Happy 4th of July. I am going to go wade a stream with some guests.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

Mixing it up

  Hi Folks, Guided a full day yesterday with the boat in the morning and waded a small brook in the afternoon.  Water is still high everywhere and it needs to stop raining.  the main stems of the Lamoille and Winooski are stuffed for sometime to come.  The bass fishing and trout fishing was very good yesterday.  We caught all of our bass on top water flies and hooked most of our trout on dry flies.  Surface temperature was 71 degrees on the lake and 59 degrees in the brook.  We landed almost 30 smallmouth off the top.  We caught two bass with our first 3 casts.  The fly of the day was #4 chartreuse foam slider.  The msot productive spot was a gradually tapering shoreline with lots of wood and boulders.  The fish were close to shore and holding in 5' to 8' of water.  After having fun tugging on bass we moved to a small brook where the level was 5 times the average flow for this time of the year.  We hooked a trout in every pool we fished.  We cast a #10 royal rubber legged stimulator for a dry and #12 Black double tungsten stone fly for the nymph.  We had 7 fish eat the fly and landed two.  Line management is critical when river fishing and recovering slack or holding the line against the rod handle with your trigger finger is important when playing a fish.  Slack  line is a killer.  We hooked both browns and brookies.  Had one very nice brown trout eat a dry fly from under some wood and then made a great leap before a distinguished country club release.  Nice small stream experience especially for the middle of the day.  Off to trout fish right now.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

Not happening

Hi Folks, Spent a really nice afternoon in the canoe casting flies to smallmouth bass.  Surface temperature of the water was 72 degrees with a steady north wind. Very unstable weather and we were spared thunderstorms for a change.  Awful wet June and July looks to start out that way.  Our rivers need a break from the constant rain.  I believe it has rained in some form or another for the last 2 and half weeks.  Complete and total opposite from last year.  So, back to fishing yesterday.  Cast poppers all afternoon to dusk.  We fished shady shorelines and tried several different water types.  We fished an area with good cobble on the banks to sharp dropping shorelines with big boulders and rock faces to woody and weedy areas.  We caught 3 small bass and missed two other fish. Pretty slow.  Each fish we caught did strike the popper aggressively.  Fished a larger #4 frog fly pattern with rubber legs.  I guess we should have got down and dirty with sinking flies and lines, but I hate sub surfacing fishing bass with the fly.  What I can I say, I am top water guy.  Well, day off from fishing, then at it for the next two weeks straight.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  have fun, Willy