Hi folks, Been awful warm for the last few days and with it the water temperature has come up. Actually feels like summer out there. River levels have settled out nicely and are slightly above the seasonal average flow. The lower Lamoille was 73 degrees Thursday and even warmer yesterday. Perfect weather for chasing smallouth bass. I have been seeing a few #10-#12 Golden Drakes hatching and egg laying. The large may fly has even drawn interest from a few river smallmouth. Lots and lots of #8-#10 stone fly shucks on rocks. Our tactics have been to work #8 yellow bellied popper with rubber legs aggressively in big back eddies. Dead drifting a #6 clauser style olive bunny fur and marabou streamer with rubber legs covered our bases for below the surface presentations. The fish have been stacked up in these eddies and if you got one strike in a spot you were probably going to receive another. It is fun to take a trout angler bassin. Most do not realize how strong smallmouth are and how hard they fight. The trick is getting the angler to really set the hook and put pressure on the fish, We were using a 16lb. tippet so you could really strike a fish and put a bend in the rod when fighting them. I am off to small stream it this morning and chase bass in the afternoon, Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home. Have Fun, Willy
