Sunday, October 4, 2015

Foliage season

Hi Folks, Leaves are starting to look pretty nice in the Stowe area.  Not so sure they will hang around long after all the of the dry weather we experienced this summer.   Guided two trips yesterday on the Lamoille watershed.  A cold Friday night really dropped water temperatures.  We got a good amount of rain last Tuesday and Wednesday that really puffed up our rivers.  It was really needed and I did not mind missing a few days in order to allow things to settle down.  The Lamoille trib. I was on yesterday morning was 50 degrees and the main stem was 54 yesterday afternoon.  The morning fishing was a bit slow.  I think it is important to let the water warm up this time of the year and fish the afternoon.  We did get a couple of trout to eat a nymph, but we made lots of casts. The afternoon was a different game. A massive number of egg laying #14/#16 olive bodied dark winged caddis were flying up the Lamoille late in the day. Found a good pod of rising wild rainbows and had some fun with dry flies.  We cast a #16 Goddard Caddis and a #16 olive bodied X-Caddis.  The trout ate the fly on the swing and on the dead drift. The fish were located on long slow flats that held lots of finger nail sized gravel.  You could see the trout eat in the film and come right out of the water to eat the caddis.  With some water in our streams it has allowed some fish to move out of summer holding areas i.e. spawning salmon and brown trout.  We could still use some more rain, but I can work with what we have currently and next couple of weeks should be good time to be on a Vermont trout stream.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy