Hi Folks, Been really mixing it up with the guiding lately. Fly fishing and spin trips have been keeping me busy. Awful darn hot and we still really need rain. Our rivers are super low and with that comes warm water temperatures. I have guided several small mountain brooks that maintain temperature due to their elevation and good shaded tree canopy. Water temperature in these brooks has been between 60 to 63 degrees which is a few degrees warmer than average. The brookie fishing has been pretty straight forward. Move upstream cautiously casting attractor dry fly patterns into any suspected holding water. If there is a fish present, they typically smash the dry. A #12 Ausable Wulff, a #14 Royal Wullf, and a #14 green bodied Stimulator have all worked well. The larger trout stream I guided Friday went from 61 degrees in the morning to 68 degrees by late afternoon. We had rising fish most of the day even in the bright sun, They were eating a #18 micro caddis and there were a few #10 Golden Drakes hatching. I have been seeing lots of #8-#10 Golden Stone fly shucks all over rocks. They hatch at night .We sight fished every trout we landed. 4 wild brown trout and 1 wild rainbow. We changed flies a number of times but the most consistent pattern was a #18 caddis pupa off a #16 Goddard caddis and a #10 foam royal Trude. .On the bass front, I have been using my boat and the surface temperature of the lake we fished was 73 degrees. Cooled off a bit from a week ago. We had to finesse the fish with 5" and 4" Senkos in crawfish and watermelon red magic. We worked for the 2 smallmouth and 3 largemouth we landed. We missed a few but the takes were not easy to detect due to a steady south wind. Rubber worm fishing is about line control and really being able to watch the line and tip of the rod to detect the subtle takes. I really enjoy mixing up my fishing venues. Keeps things interesting. Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home. Have Fun, Willy
