Hi Folks, Been a busy last week of guiding especially the last 3 days. Had a cold front push through last Thursday and that impacted the fishing for a day or two before things really settled out yesterday. Been mostly chasing smallmouth bass though I did guide a trout trip yesterday morning on a Winooski tributary. The trout stream we visited was 58 degrees and gin clear. A tough little stream with only wild fish. It reminds me of a spring creek to a degrees and you must pay attention to how you move around it and stay out of the water as much as possible. It is a stream that demands excellence from a fly angler and is perfectly suited for dry fly fishing. We worked it yesterday morning with a #18 crystal ant (been flying ants everywhere!) and in a few fast riffles a #14 Royal Wulff. We landed 5 wild rainbows and missed a couple of nice strikes on the dry flies. We had one nice trout follow the fly downstream only to take a look and deny us. Interesting when you can see a fish come to your fly and turn off. There were a few #22 Trico spinners a few #16 tan bodied caddis hatching. Only saw a couple of sporadic rises. Nice morning of trout fishing and it will only improve as the weather continues to cool off. The guiding business has really been on the smallmouth fishing front lately. Been both river fishing and lake fishing. From my motorboat to canoes. Water temperatures on the surface were cool on Friday and Saturday and then warmed back up again yesterday. Friday in the river the water was 68 degrees and on the lake Saturday it was 69 degrees and yesterday a perfect 71 to 73 degrees. We have caught smallmouth everyday, but yesterday was the best overall. I think after a cold front moves in the fishing is a bit tough and as the weather stabilizes it picks right back up. The question lately has been do we try to catch them on the surface or down below with rubber. I will always choose the surface. With the flying ants and bountiful numbers of bait fish the surface fishing is a good option. It just takes more patience than the rubber which tends to draw lots of interest. We did catch some nice quality smallmouth yesterday and Saturday. The largest fish came on 5" Senkos. Real hard pulling smallies that took drag off reels. The key ingredient was weed beds, specifically milfoil. We fished 12' to 15' of water in and around milfoil beds. Well, have your ants ready and hope for some rain. Off to chase trout. Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home. Have Fun, Willy
