Hi Folks, Been away for a few days chasing trout and salmon in the furthest most northeast section of Vermont and into New Hampshire. Mostly fly fished tail water streams. The entire upper CT. river system is a wilderness place with thick woods and not a lot of people. The rivers that run between the lakes hold rainbow, brown, and brook trout along with landlocked salmon. Lots of the fishing is predicated by river flows and discharge from the tail water dams. Lack of water means less big fish moving out of the lakes into the rivers for us river fly anglers. The trout and salmon move back and forth to either chase bait fish or reproduce. Water temperature has been consistent and holding between 60 degrees and 62 degrees. Awful warm the last week with it finally cooling off on Sunday and becoming more Fall like. We still need rain and our rivers are low all over the northeast. Hard to get salmon and brown trout moving without water flow. We fished a lot of heavy pocket water which was productive under bright sunny warm conditions. Tough wading. Small yellow caddis seemed to be the most effective sub surface fly. A small #18 yellow caddis pupa caught rainbows and salmon. A #16 Goddard caddis was extremely effective on the surface producing a nice male hook jawed brown and several rainbows. The good old #14 yellow bodied and orange bodied stimulator was steady in the pocket water drawing trout to the surface in the heavy water. We certainly worked for fish, but the low water allowed us access to spots we could not normally reach. A high light of the last few days was a close encounter with a black bear at dusk. Nothing like being 50' from a large bear crossing a river. Pretty cool. Looks like with the current weather that the best fishing will be afternoon as our nights are now cold. Mid day to late afternoon will be the way to go. As far as hatches, lots of #18 tan bodied caddis on rocks as well as #14/#16 olive caddis pupa. Still some #12/#14 Isonychia, but the predominant may fly will be the #18-#22 BWO. Don't rule out terrestrials and the streamer fly such as a ghost pattern, mickey finn, muddlers, and zonkers. Bust week coming up for the catfish as I we be guiding all week for smallmouth and trout. Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home. Have Fun, Willy
