back to the basics

Hi Folks, Been keeping out of trouble chasing smallmouth and river trout over the weekend.  Nice fishing weather to be outside. Looks like a heat wave this week and dry weather.  We could use some rain as it is getting a bit dry out there.  Fly fished still water for smallmouth Saturday and the surface temperature was 72 degrees with very little wind and over cast conditions.  Beautiful for popping bass.  The fishing was consistent and with a #6 frog popper with rubber legs we landed 8 smallmouth between 9" and 15".  We found fish resting on the outside edges of weed beds on drop offs.  Any downed wood seemed to really hold fish.  The trick was being patient on the hook set and making sure all of the slack fly line had been recovered prior to hooking.  Good afternoon.  Yesterday morning I took two young boys and their dad trout fishing with spin gear on the Lamoille.  We were on the water at 5:45am and the water temperature was 68 degrees.  We had some back to back cool nights with air temperatures in the mid 50's that lowered the river water temperature a bit.  I taught the boys the basics I learned at their age about river fishing for trout and we even kept a few stocked rainbows for them to eat on the camp fire.  We fished crawfish lures and perch lures actively we limited results.  When started dead drifting baits on #10 red hooks with a little weight we crushed the stocked trout.  All of the fish were holding in large primary pools.  We caught 15 fish and all of the them we removed the hook from.  Barb less hooks actively fished and the hook was not swallowed.  Pretty basic and simple trout fishing.  Our next outing will be with fly rods.  It was fun to watch these kids catch a trout and clean it for dinner.  At the same time they were educated about wild fish and stocked fish and the fine balance of river fishing.   Nice experience and made me  feel like kid.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.