Hi Folks, It has been awhile since I have posted. Pretty rough late Fall and winter for me with some medical issues. I had some nerve damage in my back that ended my fishing season early last year and prevented me from ice fishing this last winter. Well, after taking it easy and some PT, I am back and ready to roll. I have been guiding the last few days on Lamoille tributaries and pursuing lake run fish. The water conditions and weather have slowly but surely improved with warming air temperatures. Even have run my boat on several lakes in pursuit of pike on the fly and large rainbows and browns. River levels are still slightly above the seasonal average. Temperatures in the last few days have warmed from 48 degrees to 57 degrees. Saw a massive hatch of #14-#16 Hendrickson may flies on Saturday. The hatch was fairly sparse yesterday with the bright warm sunny day that was followed by rain and thunderstorms. My experience with Vermont and the Hendrickson hatch is that it is an every other year phenomenon. The bugs always happen, but the fish do not always respond. Purely based on water temperature. It seems that until our trout water warms to above 50 degrees and holds there, the fish are pretty lethargic coming out of winter. We had a helluva of a winter and cold spring so it makes sense that trout have not been overly eager gulping dry flies. We have drummed up a few fish nymphing with #14 pheasant tail nymphs and stripping a #10 black wooly bugger into deep pools. A swung #14 Daves Red Fox squirrel nymph produced a nice wild bow yesterday and another big fish that broke us off. The lake run fishing has been challenging as always. Its one of those things where you need to be there everyday to really capitalize. Egg patterns and #14 litle brown stone fly nymphs are effective bounce along the bottom. Swung streamer like a #8 Black ghost or #8 zonker all work. It is my opinion that the best is yet to come and that the fishing in the next few weeks will be dynamite. The pike have all spawned and the bass are in pre spawn mode. It is a time of plenty now for us anglers. Lot of choices and it just tough to be everywhere at once. I will be trout fishing all week. Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home. Have Fun, Willy
