Hi Folks, Was an interesting last few days of guiding and fishing. Big cold front moved into town with rain on Friday. Every bit of rain helps but we need more. Cold outside now with our first frost warnings of the season. Trout fished the Friday and Saturday and it was pretty darn slow. The fish did not seem to be too interested. Water temperatures slowly dropped into the low to mid fifties. I was on the main stem of the Winooski and a couple of tribs. The water levels were up but the clarity was fine. Did not see any bug activity. We got a couple of misguided fish to eat a #8 olive and black wooly bugger in slow deep pools. On Sunday I change directions and went still water fishing for lake trout. The surface temperature of the lake I was on was 67 degrees. Stiff cold northwest wind. We got 3 bites from lake trout and decided to change directions. I think the lake trout are in spawning mode and the bite is a bit more challenging presently. So, we went caught a mess of beautiful yellow perch for a fish fry. A lot nice yellow beliies that we located in 25' to 30' of water over grass beds. The electronics were really helpful. The moment we drifted off the grass beds we lost the bite. We caught the fish on smelt imitation swim baits on rods that were fiberglass and spooled with braided line. Not the target species but I have to say some of the nicest looking perch I have seen in a long time. Off to run my boat today for smallmouth. Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home. Have Fun, Willy
