Risers

Hi folks, Guided trout with the fly rods the last couple of days.  Fished a Winooski tributary yesterday afternoon and the Lamoille main stem this morning.  Fishing is really good right now.  Lots of water in our rivers, but the clarity is fine.  If you can see your boots in the river, then the trout can see your fly.  Water temperatures have ranged from 58 degrees in the morning to 63 in the afternoon.  Lots of bug activity currently with #14/#16 olive bodied caddis hatching to tan bodied caddis hatching and egg laying at dusk.  Been seeing some large #10/#12 March Browns, #14 Grey fox, and some larger #14 sulphurs.  Found rising trout both days.  Yesterday the fish were rising in big back eddies sipping spinners.  We watched several nice rainbow swimming circles slurping up bugs.  Sunny day yesterday so the rising activity really began in earnest when the sun started to set.  We actually fished the trout from an up stream position and feed the fly into the eddy.  We caught some smaller rainbows, but no the big pig that was rising.  For another day.  This particular Winooski tributary was hammered by Hurricane Irene and it was nice to see that it still has some quality trout and is pretty decent shape.  Lots of bugs in the riffles.  The main stem of the Lamoille today was twice its average flow but still fished really well.  We nymphed off the get go with a #12 tungsten prince nymph and a #16 olive hare and cooper.  Caught stocked and wild bows on both flies.  Nice little hatch of may flies around mid morning with rising trout in the tail outs of pools.  My client had a 0 weight rod for dry fly fishing and it was a lot of fun watching in bend in half.  We caught all of our dry fly trout on an inverted wisp fly that imitated the Grey Fox or I should say was the right size with a good drift.  Off to trout fish all weekend.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

Solid

Hi folks, Ran the boat yesterday with spin anglers chasing smallmouth bass.  Nice overcast day with a lot of humidity in the air.  Surface temperature of the water was 68 degrees and the clarity of the water was stained.  More dirty where the wind was blowing.  Lots of nice 2lb smallmouth yesterday and large yellow perch.  Solid fishing.  We never changed lures as we caught everything on a Big O crawfish crankbait.  A stop and go retrieve was the method.  Still locating fish in and around rocky points.  Most of the bass appeared to be holding in deeper water away from the shoreline will the perch where in tight.  I had the boat positioned in 20' of water casting into 5' to 12' of water.  Finally we were driven off the water by thunderstorms.  Lucky for the fish.  More rain has driven up the levels of our trout streams.  Could be high water for fishing for the near future.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

Memorial trout fishing

Hi folks, Put in a full day guiding trout with the fly rods yesterday on the Lamoille.  The Lamoille is still slightly high for this time of year, but the clarity was excellent.  Water temperature was 61 degrees.  It did rain on and off all afternoon.  Nice hatch of #14 sulphers in the late afternoon with some rising activity.  A few #14/#16 caddis and a #14 Midge as well.  We landed 11 trout with 8 being stocked rainbows and the other 4 wild fish.  The stocked trout look pretty good this year.  All rainbows yesterday and no brown trout.  We hooked fish in every pool we fished and probably missed or lost another 10 fish.  The flies of the day were a #12 red headed tungsten prince nymph with a #16 olive wire caddis dropper for sub surface presentation.  the dry fly of the day was a #14 hare's ear parachute.  I love watching trout eat dry flies!  Even with the water up the fish were feeding and we had some really impressive strikes.  If it would stop raining and let things settle out, I imagine the fishing will only continue to be good until things really warm up.  Off in the boat today to chase smallmouth.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  have fun, Willy

not today

Hi folks, Guided a double from the boat yesterday.  Nice beautiful sunny day with a slight south breeze.  Water temperature was between 60 degrees in the morning to 64 degrees in the late afternoon.  Both trips we cast fly rods for pike and bass.  Used 9wt. and 8wt. outfits with floating lines and sinking lines.  Lots of casting as we focused on water depths between 2' to 12'.  Worked new emerging weed beds and rocky bottoms and shore lines as well as big drop offs. Casting heavier fly lines with large bunny buggers tires your arm out.  We could drum up a fish to save our lives.  The fish were completely and totally unresponsive.  Not even so much as a follow or strike.  I can't say that it happens that often, but it is fishing and we are casting flies which is a bit more tricky then spin fishing.  Today I am heading back to trout fishing on the Lamoille watershed.  The water is up but theh clarity is fine and suspect the fishing will be good.  Nice overcast damp day.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

wet day

Hi Folks, Guided from my boat yesterday for smallmouth bass.  Weird weather day with on and off rain showers and even a little passing thunder storm.  Wind was fairly calm except during the brief rain events.  We had the lake to ourselves as the weather must have scared off all of the Memorial Day weekend traffic.  Water temperature held steady at 62 degrees all afternoon.  Spin fished yesterday casting a floating perch rapala and a Big O crawfish colored crank bait.  We landed 9 smallmouth bass.  A lot of 1.5lb to 2lb smallies.  All of the fish were located off rocky points that abutted deep water.  We caught a couple of female smallmouth that were still full of eggs from the look and feel off their bellies.  We could see many spawning beds but then again the water was a little off color.  Pretty interesting watching a percentage of aggressive fish who chased the plugs out into deep water to eat.  All in all it was a solid day of fishing.  The Lamoille is still up and slightly off color so I will be running my boat again today.  Chasing pike with the fly.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

pre front pike

Hi Folks, Guided up north yesterday for northern pike casting fur and feathers.  Nice fishing weather with cool air tempratures, over cast skies, and flat water conditions. The wind did pick up as the day progressed and lightly blew from the east south east.  Had a few heavy rain showers around lunch time as the weather front pushed through.  The water temperature was 59 degrees to 62 degrees.  We saw a few spawning beds that had large smallmouth sitting on them.  Our focus was not smallmouth yesterday but toothy critters instead.  We did land several 2lb to 3lb smallmouth but they were merely a bonus and were pretty lethargic fighters.  Caught 6 northern pike yesterday on the fly rod and missed several other fish as well as multiple follows.  All of the pike were holding in less than 5' of water and the strikes were extremely aggressive.  We located them on downed wood that was lying in new growth weed beds.  The water was very clear were we fished so we were able to witness each take from a pike.  The flies of the day were a 3/0 cream sickle bunny bugger and a 3/0 bright orange and red bunny bugger with copper flashabo and doll eyes that my client named the Dr. Zeuss.  It looks like the bass are beginning to set up to spawn.  Not all of the bass will spawn at the same time as this helps to protect a species from obliteration when catastrophic events unfold.  We did not see or catch any largemouth yesterday.  I will be on the water all weekend mixing it up.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

drifting and casting meat and potatoes

Hi Folks, Guided a full day on the Lamoille yesterday floating in my canoe from Morrisville to Johnson.  Beautiful spring day with partly sunny skies and really no wind to speak of.  Water temperature was 58 to 60 degrees.  The level of the river is right around the seasonal average.  Lots of insect activity yestereday with #14 Hendrickon duns emerging as well as spinners at dusk.  A large number of #14 olive bodied caddis hatching and egg laying at dusk as well as a few #12 stone flies.  We witnessed 4 rising fish all day they were not steady risers.  We resorted to casting a 6wt. rigged with a 220grain sinking tip attache to a lerge #8 root beer bodied tungsten cone headed muddler minnow.  We landed 7 rainbow on this rig and prompted a lot of other follows.  Not pretty casting, but effective in fishing big deep pools and keeping the fly in the zone.  Mostly stocked rainbows yesterday as the river is now full of them.  We also resorted to swing a #14 Hendrickosn nymph and #16 olive wire caddis at days end had a great success hooking fish.   Lots of fun yesterday and off to chase pike this morning.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

working for it

Hi folks, Guided a Lamoille tributary under partly sunny/cloudy conditions.  The water level is still up but the clarity was good. Water temperature was 57 degrees. Actually a little cooler than yesterday, but then again it was 40 degrees at my house in Stowe last night.  Another breezy day with a steady NW west.  Saw a pretty good hatch of #14/#16 Hendricksons today.  No rising fish.  We fished 4 different large stable pools nymphing with double rigs.  Generated a couple of strikes and landed 1 leaping rainbow on #12 black double tungsten stone fly.  There were a few sporadic stone flies hatching, but mostly may flies.  The main stem of the Lamoille and Winooski are still high but slowly but surely clearing up.  I saw both rivers today and the Lamoille is in better shape.  Fishing trout and pike for the rest of the week.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native at home.  Have Fun, Willy

nice hatch

Hi Folks, Spent the afternoon on a Lamoille tributary today.  The main stem of the Lamoille is still high and dirty.  Not to mention I just heard that there was sewage dump into the Lamoille in Hardwick on Friday, great, just what the river does not need.   Pretty bright sunny day with a steady northwest wind.  The water temperature was 58 degrees and we fished a clear stream with slightly high water.  Heck of a good #14 Hendrickson hatch today. The bugs started coming off about 2:45pm and went steady for a good two hours.  The duns were getting blown off the water pretty quickly by the stiff breeze.  We did not see a single rising fish.  I am not surprised about the lack of rising activity due to the bright sun, wind, and high water.  Still had it been overcast we would found a few rising fish in back eddies and tail outs.  There were a lot of bugs blasting off.  We did not stay until dusk to investigate any spinner activity. We nymphed fished with and without indicators and double fly rigs.  A #12 Hare and Copper with a #14 Hendrickson nymph.  Did get a single strike with the indicator on.  Hooked two fish swinging the double rig with weight attached about 10" above the lead fly.  Landed a really nice looking hook jawed male rainbow.  He took the Hendrickson nymph.  I am never surprised when fishing in mid May in Vermont during the Hendrickson hatch.  I have seen epic hatches with no fish and I have caught and guided some off the best trout of the year on the Hendricksons.  Other bugs I saw today were #12 and #14 Brown Stone flies and a couple of #14 caddis.  Off to trout fish again tomorrow.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

new fish

Hi Folks, Been off the water for a few days as my wife and I prepared for the arrival of our little boy. Cameron William Wisse Dietrich was born on 5/14/14 at Fletcher Allen at 6:04pm.  Mom and little Cam are doing really well.  A Hendrickson hatch kid.  Looking like a busy end of the month for me as I will be guiding most days from here on out.  Water levels are up right now after we received almost 3/4" of rain in Stowe last night.  A little cool down is on the way and should be perfect conditions for May trout fishing as the rivers clear up and levels drop.  May is one of those months were there are so many fishing opportunities.  Lake fishing for trout right now can be enjoyed by bank and wading anglers as I know of several nice trout being caught around the mouths of streams.  Large post spawn rainbows, hungry marauding brown trout, and even the denizens of the deep, lake trout are cruising the shallows looking to eat.  Northern pike and pre-spawn bass fishing right now is excellent.  Walleye fishing is full on with old marble eye making their spring spawning run.  Now that our river temperature are over 50 degrees and hatches are going off, trout fishing really begins in earnest.  Look for remnant #14 little brown stone flies, #14/#16 Hendricksons, and #16 American Grannom caddis.  Streamers are always an option and any smelt or emerald shiner pattern will bring some success.  Sink tip lines will be helpful keeping the streamers in the zone longer to prompt strikes.  So, lots of options.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

pike on the fly

Hi Folks, Guided from my motorboat yesterday afternoon.  Always nice to have the boat back on the water in working order.  Boats are a pain and require lots of work, but awful useful in my line of work.  Water temperature was hoovering between 54 degrees and 57 degrees.  Good steady west wind yesterday that affected boat control.  Nice bright sunny day with some late afternoon cloud cover.  The pond or small lake we fished in the Champlain Valley is always off color so brightly colored flies were in order.  The pike are post spawn and the fish we caught looked a little beat up from spawning.  The photo is a northern that my client caught but would not hold.  Pike are slimy and have some nice teeth.  We cast 9 weight outfits with sinking lines.  Used sinking lines to keep the fly down in the water column so the fish had a longer time to see the fly and respond to it. 2/)  Bunny buggers and Deceivers in orange/red and chartreuse were the colors of the day.   We located all of our fish in 10' of water and less.  No visible follows yesterday and all of our fish struck the fly away from the boat.  As a bonus we landed 3 largemouth bass that must be starting to stage fro spawning in a few weeks.  Should be a good few weeks of chasing pike and pre-spawn bass with the fly.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

Green Up Day

Hi Folks, Spent the day on the Lamoille river yesterday floating for Wolcott to Morrisiville.  I floated with members of the Lamoille River Anglers Association and other volunteers picking up trash for Green Up Day. I have always felt that it is important to give back to the watershed especially if you make a living from it.  Whether it be picking up trash, or helping establish riparian buffer zones, or getting involved in the management and decision making for the rivers.  Lot of ways to volunteer and I think it is imperative that professional who profit from the rivers give something back.  Unfortunately not all fishing guides to outfitters feel that way.  So, the Lamoille is still cold and dirty.  The temperature was in the mid forties all day and the level is still up.  The water was off color.  Maybe by weeks ends the water will reach the magical 50 degree mark as we do have some warmer weather on the way with sunshine.  It was nice to see that there were not any major structural changes to the stretch of river we floated.  All of the riffles to pools that fished well last season were still intact and did not look compromised.  Stability is critical in rivers for trout fishing for a number of reasons.  The Lamoille has plenty of issues so it was nice to see that winter did not appear to beat up the river too severely.  Ice out has occurred now and I  got my motor boat ready to roll and will be guiding pike this week.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy