big nasty pocket water

Hi Folks, guided yesterday afternoon with the fly rods on the Winooski.  Beautiful weather afternoon with nice cool air temperatures and a slight northeast breeze.  The water temperature was 67 degrees.  Still a bit warm for my liking.  We waded a stretch of river that is all pocket water with huge rocks to negotiate.  Not easy wading and requires some caution in walking around.  We located wild rainbows in the primary pools as the water level was low enough that there did not appear to be any trout holding in secondary spots.  The low water allowed us to access areas that might not always be waded so easily.  For bugs, there were a few #12 Isonychia, some #18 micro caddis, a few remnant #8/#10 stone flies, and few #20 sulphurs that came off at dark.  We hooked 8 of the nine fish that ate our flies on a double nymph rig that consisted of a #12 flashback pheasant tail with a #18 caddis pupa dropper.  We found one rising fish and got it to eat a #16 x-caddis.  We missed a few fish due to rod positioning on the hook set.  It is important that the tip of the rod follows the flies in the drift.  The hook set needs to come straight up with a sweep of the rod.  Still the hardest part of river fly fishing is getting the trout to eat the fly.  I have to say that a percentage of the fish we landed looked summer stressed.  Big heads with skinny bodies.  A product of the warm water they had to survive in over the last few weeks.  I am off to chase small stream trout this morning.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy