Hi Folks, Good weekend for the Catfish on the water. Guided two trips yesterday in the hot bright sun. Took guests out today in the rainy colder weather. Started yesterday in my boat spin fishing for bass and pike. Surface temperature ranged from 64 degrees to 68 degrees. Good steady stiff wind from the south. Pushed my boat around a bit. We caught a wide variety of species from smallmouth bass to largemouth bass to pike to chain pickerel to perch and finally rock bass. The water was bit off color to down right dirty. Depended on where we fished as the wind affected areas were the dirty sections of the lake. The clearest and coolest water was in the river that fed the lake. The largest fish we located were in the main lake on rocky shore lines that abruptly dropped off into deeper water. I held the boat in 15' to 20' of water and my clients cast into 5' of water. The fish were holding on the drop offs. We located a mess of smallmouth bass in the river section that were more than willing to eat a Big O crank bait that resembled a crawfish. Yesterday afternoon I took a beginning fly angler to fish on the lower Winooski. The water temperature was 68 degrees. The river level was low. Pretty darn hot and humid yesterday afternoon prior the cold front that pushed through with a massive thunder and lightening show. The trout fishing was slow but it was a fall fish bonanza. Lots of #14/#16 suphur nymphs on the rocks in the riffles and quite a few #16/#18 olive and tan bodied caddis. Not too many hatching bugs that we saw prior to being blown off the water. Last night and today we finally received some much needed rain. We could use some more. Nice cool down as well. Did a family outing today with a little bank fishing. The Lamoille was not fishable today as the water came up pretty significantly. We fished were a river dumps into a lake from the shore line. The water temperature was 63 degrees and off color. We cast beetle spins and a variety of perch colored and craw fish colored plugs. Good day for chasing pan fish. Lots of action with bullhead and perch. We did manage to draw the interest of several large trout but they turned off each time they followed a lure. Looks like wet weather for the next few days. Should be good for the fishing. Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home. Have Fun, Willy
