Hi Folks, Been a couple crazy days of trout fishing. I have guided the Lamoille yesterday afternoon. The river is in great shape. Water temperature was 58 to 59 degrees and the level was slightly below the seasonal average flow. We caught trout nymph fishing as well as on dry flies. A double nymph rig with a #14 tungsten pheasant tail with a peacock hackle soft hackle dropper accounted for 2 wild bows and a stocked rainbow. No comparison on how the fish looked and fought. All of the fish were holding in the slower water. Mostly in pools and not riffles. Makes sense being that the water temperature was in the fifties. We saw a few #10-#12 March Browns hatching and lots of spinners collecting so we moved down stream to long slow deep elbow pool. We found sipping trout who were eating #14 Hendrickson spinners. I had a very experienced fly angler who knew how to be patient in presenting to these finicky trout. We caught 4 more wild jumping bows on a #12 Rusty Spinner pattern. The fish were moving about a bit so we had to time the cast properly and make a good drift. Nice afternoon on the Lamoille. Thursday was still water fly fishing for brook trout at a private trout club. The brook trout in this lake are native and wild. It was a windy afternoon with a breeze from the north/northwest so we set up on the lee of the lake at an inlet. There were a number of small trout rising to eat midges. We were casting a #18 Griffiths Nat. We landed a few small fish and my friend caught a beautiful 16" brook trout on the dry. Then the afternoon became surreal. We saw a pack of wolves in the water (large brook trout) cruising in the shallows under the fish that were rising. I caught a 6" brookie on a dry and as I was reeling it in, a 20" trout attacked it and ate the fish at the boat. I fought it for a bit and when we netted it the mangled brook trout was spit out and amazingly enough, the Griffiths Nat was in the large male trouts mouth, Incredible!! We had this happen two other times and my friend landed one 18" that also ate a small brookie that was hooked. You can't rule out that trout are not meat eaters and that they will not eat their own. I have seen large brown trout chase down small fish in rivers, but never have I witnessed large trout swallowing a small trout that was hooked. Reminded me of pike fishing. Anywho, I am off to chase prespawn smallmouth. Should be a wet damp weekend. The forecast of rain might puff up the rivers so pay attention to flows. Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home. Have Fun, Willy
