Hi Folks, Ran the boat yesterday afternoon with fly clients. We chased smallmouth bass in a local lake where the water level was extremely high. Surface temperature was 65 to 67 degrees. A slight southwest wind with partly cloudy skies. Several inches of rain from Sunday night through Tuesday have affected our water levels in lakes and especially rivers. The Lamoille and Winooski will be several days away from being fishable. Small streams have cleared but are still very high. Certain small brooks will be manageable by today. The water was so high where we cast our flies to the shoreline was indistinguishable. You could not pick out the points and under water structure. It was helpful to have a good working knowledge of the lake. We landed 5 smallmouth and missed another half a dozen fish. All pretty good sized bass. I did notice that most of the fish did come from downed wood. We cast large poppers in in Chartreuse tied on #2 hook. Larger than I would normally cast at smallies but the conditions with dirty high water dictated it. Also, the flies had deep concave faces to help emit a louder popping sound. I was pleased with the bass fishing after the weather we had experienced the las few days. Off to run the boat again this morning for smallmouth. Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home. Have Fun, Willy
