Hi Folks, Been a really busy week on the water with some welcome change. A good 3/4" of nice soaking rain yesterday put a charge of water in our rivers. We really needed it especially with the up coming forecast. Looks like a heat wave is headed to town where air temperatures will eclipse 90 degrees. Not good for trout fishing. My guess is the main stem of the Lamoille and Winooski will become too warm to trout fish. Its okay, always small streams to enjoy and lots of opportunity for bass fishing. It has been a pretty good week of river fishing as I have waded, floated, and did an adaptive fishing trip. Water temperatures have been cool for the last few days with cool evenings. The Lamoille main stem and the Winooski have been in high fifties in the early morning to mid sixties by late afternoon. The Magog tributary I was on Wednesday afternoon was 63 degrees. The Winooski tributary I guided Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning was 58 to 59 degrees. The Lamoille tributary was 59 to 60 degrees. Starting to see more and more #8-#10 adult stone flies laying eggs late afternoon as well as hatching #14 Cahills and Cahill spinners. Always the ever present caddis with a #16 tan bodied bug coming off the last few mornings. Lots and lots of #16-#18 green bodied caddis who are pupating on rocks in riffles. A #12 orange bodied Stimulator has drawn lots of interest from surface feeding fish. We have been nymphing with a #10 double tungsten golden stone fly pattern as well as #12 tungsten bead red thread Prince nymph. The smallmouth fishing has been decent above and below the surface. A #8 green sculpin pattern, a #8 white wooly bugger, and a #8 frog popper have been a nice approach. We even had a stocked rainbow eat the frog popper. Hard to believe the trout could get the popper in its mouth. On the spin front a good old floating Rapala produced a big 18" smallmouth. For the inactive smallmouth a 3" crawfish colored Senko dead drifted has picked up the fussy fish. On Wednesday I had the opportunity to guide my first adpative fishing trip. The gentlemen I took fishing had no use of one arm and could not stand for long periods. I used a little wood chuck ingenuity to make a rod holder that could be attached to wheelchair and used with one hand. We landed a rainbow and several smallmouth bass. Pretty satisfying for me. I liked seeing the gentlemen's smile. I always say that the fish do not care who is holding the rod. Fishing can be enjoyed by everyone! Well, busy week ahead as I need to prep for a big afternoon trip. Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home. Have Fun, Willy
