Thursday, August 8, 2013

fly fishing the big water

Hi folks,  Guided a double yesterday with the fly rods with experienced fly anglers in the morning and beginners in the afternoon.  Really good day of fishing and especially for August.  Fished the upper Winooski in the morning for the first time this year.  Water conditions had limited my ability to get on the Winooski.  Water temperature was 62 degrees.  Not a bad hatch of #16 olive bodied caddis and we found rising fish.  There was also a hatch of small #20 olives.  Started the morning nymphing and fishing dry dropper rigs.  A #14 tungsten prince nymph with a #18 olive caddis pupa.  We caught fish on both flies.  As the fish begin to rise we switched to a #16 Henryville Special and a #16 The Usual.  We had over 20 fish come to the fly and landed 11 wild rainbows.  Some really nice looking strong fish.  It appeared that the water we fished has been pretty free of angling pressure this year.  In the afternoon I ventured to the Lamoille with my clients where the water temperature was 67 degrees.  Not terrible for an August afternoon.  Nice cloud cover made for some decent dry fly fishing.  We found a pod of subtle rising rainbows.  There more hatching caddis and a few #14 light cahills.  The fish were on the caddis.  We cast #16 Henryville special and a #16 x-caddis.  We landed 3 rainbows with 1 fish being wild and 2 being stocked fish.  Missed several fish but still pretty darn good for anglers learning to fly fish.  Looks like humid unstable weather for the next couple of days.  I am off from trout fishing and will be chasing smallmouth next couple of days.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy