Hi Folks, The interesting thing about fishing is that is never the same day in and day out. I have been guiding everyday and mixing up the trips by fishing in different locations, to species, to methods, to tactics. July was incredibly good. An anomaly really. In my 22 years of guiding I have never seen the trout fishing in the big water so good. Lots of water and cool temperatures. The trout in our rivers have been in really good shape. Big, fat, and happy unlike a lot years where they look big headed, emaciated, and skinny. Almost next to nothing for fishing pressure. No foot prints in sand bars and not many fish that have been previously hooked. I have over the last 3 days floated, motorboated, and waded. All very different with very different results. The floating of the Lamoille on Sunday was fantastic. Water temp. was 61 degrees and the level was dropping. We caught stocked and wild rainbows between 10" and 14" on dry flies, nymphs, and streamers. The fishing on the surface was decent until the morning fog burned off. There were trout selectively rising to #18 tan bodied caddis. We presented a #18 Goddard caddis with a #18 yellow hackle. Our nymph rig was a #10 stone fly nymph with a #18 tan bodied caddis pupa dropper. The streamer rig which caught the most fish was a tandem #10 black wooly bugger with a #10 blacknose dace cast on a 200 grain sinking tip that was cast into deep primary pools. Incredible how productive for July. Then Monday just when you think you got it figured out, the fish get lock jaw. Visited a NE kingdom clear lake for bass. Water was 71 degrees on the surface with a slight east wind. We got two nice fish to eat a #8 frog popper, but the rest our action was with small juvenille smallmouth. I had two anglers and I guy cast a fly the other a spin rod. We could not even get the fish to eat any finesse baits. Lots of pick ups and drops. It appeared that the big fish were not interested and the small fish were only somewhat interested. Challenging morning, though the sun was up early and high and the wind was wacky so who knows. Today, the river fishing for bass was electric. We caught near 25 smallmouth bass and IO am not sure how many we missed or lost. Even landed 3 stocked rainbows on the spin rods. I did have 1 lone fly angler in the group who caught several bass and missed a couple of trout with a #10 green bodied stimulator. Interesting with the water temperature 67 degrees, you had trout and bass mixed in together. The trout were holding in the rifles while the bass were in the slow deep pools that had lots of rock cover. Big eddies were productive as well. A 3" baby bass and 3" crawfish colored Senko dead drifted were extremely consistent. Pretty subtle takes. Loads of fun. Off to lake fish for bass in the morning. Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home. Have Fun, Willy
