Oh Sunny Day

Hi Folks, What a beautiful day to be out side and enjoy the water and do some fishing.  Guided a double today chasing smallmouth bass this morning with my boat and river fished trout this evening.  Surface temperature of the lake this morning was 64 degrees and the Lamoille main stem was 65 tonight at 7:00pm.  Nice sunny day with a pretty steady wind from the NW.  It was calm from about 5:00am until 8:00am and then again at dusk.  Bass fishing was interesting today as we saw lots of fish but only landed 3 okay sized bass.  We started popping early with a variety of surface stuff and had two good fish on and lost them.  As the sun came up we resorted to casting #2 Deceivers in Blue/White.  We were counting down the fly and working it back pretty darn quickly to draw a response.  If the fly was moved to slowly the bass would literally swirl multiple times around it and turn off.  It appeared that as we sped up the retrieve, the aggressive nature of the fish kicked in and we got more strikes versus denials.  We saw all of our fish in shallow and the water level was up several feet over the seasonal average.  I can only attribute the smallmouth's behavior this am to the new weather front and bright sun. This afternoon we waded the Lamoille and had the place to ourselves.  Pretty afternoon to be on a river.  Actually saw some rising fish.  There were some micro caddis coming and going as well as #16/#18 sulphurs towards dusk.  Too bad we were spin fishing.  Not really actually as we caught half a dozen wild rainbows and lost another half a dozen fish.  We had one really large brown trout chase the rebel crawfish lure to our feet.  A real submarine that we were unable to seal the deal on.  Larger trout in the Lamoille and Winooski resort to eating crawfish which are certainly abundant.  what do think a #10 or #12 olive/black/brown wooly bugger represents? Crawfish of course.  We hooked fish in riffles as well as large pools.  Working the plugs slowly as possible with the aid of the current drew a lot of interest.  Pretty interesting how many follows you get were the fish just don't take the plug.  Fun for me to watch.  Good fishing afternoon with nice looking trout.  Off to tug on some trout in the early am.  Happy Father's Day, Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  have fun, Willy

Fine tuning

Hi Folks, I had the pleasure of guiding an aspiring fly angler this morning. He was certainly more adept with the fly rod than he wanted to admit.  Water level is still high, but clarity was fine and no problem negotiating the water we fished.  Water temperature at 10am was 60 degrees.  Pretty darn good.  Weather front just pushed through and looks like clear sunny days for a little bit.  The only bugs we saw hatch were a small #16 mayfly and I am not sure what it was.  We did get a small wild rainbow to eat a #16 pheasant tail on the swing.  The best fish of the day was hard pulling 13" wild rainbow that took a swung heavily weighted #10 olive wooly bugger.  We had two other strikes on the day and both were very subtle.  We got to witness one take as a small rainbow swam down stream after the fly and merely sipped it in.  The indicator barely moved.  Pretty cool fishing in clear enough water to see trout eat nymphs.  For what ever reason the fish were not totally on.  We did fish some really nice looking water and did a bit of walking.  Fished a lot of different water types today in search of trout and worked on fine tuning the mending and presentation.  The Winooski is still cranking and the Lamoille is settling out but still way higher than average.  Focus on tributaries for a few days.  Off with the boat in the morning and trout fishing  in the afternoon.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

big water and tight lines

Hi folks, Finally a day without any rain.  I guided a tributary of the Lamoille this morning with the fly.  Nice fishing weather.  Water levels are still up and will stay that way for awhile.  The main stem of the Lamoille and Winooski will be stuffed for a couple more days.  Get used to the high water, not such a bad thing if the clarity is decent.  The water temperature was 59 degrees today which is great and bodes well for the fishing the next few weeks.  Trout can adjust to high water and they still have to eat.  Focus on the softer water and steer clear of some the heavy stuff.  All of our strikes today were pretty violent.  The nice thing about high water is the spook factor is not so great and the fish truly do move out heavy dirty water into shallow margins at times.  We fished by tight line swinging double nymph rigs with lots of weight which was positioned 6" above the lead fly.  There were a few micro caddis hatching (caddis smaller than #18) and no rising fish.  Our rigs consisted of #12 tungsten Prince and Zug bugs with #16 and #18 olive caddis and an olive flashback hare's ear.  The best trout of the day was crazy jumping 14" wild rainbow.  Big pectoral fins on this fish and a broad tail.  We had 11 trout eat the fly including one large we never saw, damn it!  We landed 5 fish a combination of rainbows and browns.  I will be on the water for the few days and the fishing should be good.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

wild bow on the swing

wet again

Hi Folks, Interesting fishing season thus far with really dry weather to start the year and now monsoon type rain.  How about a little break from the wet weather?  Our rivers are once again blown out for a few days. The bright side of things are that water levels and hopefully temperatures should remain good for the next month or so.  I guided on Monday on a small stream and was amazed to see how cool the water was.  Water temperature was 53 degrees and the level was high but clarity was excellent.  Not too much success getting fish to off the top.  We cast a double rig with a #10 orange stimulator and #16 olive copper john as the dropper.  All of our brook trout and one small brown trout all took the dropper nymph.  We had two fish come to the dry and the takes were not exactly aggressive.  When the water levels do settle out, I think the trout fishing will be outstanding.  Until then, fishing lakes and ponds should be good.  I have heard off some large drake type flies hatching on some northeast kingdom lakes at dusk.  Get ready for Hex season as there are always impressive hatches of the big mayflies on lakes and ponds from the middle of June through July.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

nice smallie

Opening Day of bass season

Hi folks, Ran the motorboat yesterday morning with spin clients for some bass fishing.  Second Saturday in June is the official opening of bass season.  Meaning you can keep them and fish with bait.  Does not matter to me as I never fish them with bait, only flies and lures and not a big fan of eating largemouth and smallmouth bass.  Water temperature was 64 degrees and the clarity were we fished was very good.  Nice damp overcast morning with showers.  We have had a big low pressure system hunkered down over New England for a few days.  More rain on our rivers which did not need.  We landed 11 bass yesterday with 9 fish being smallmouth and 2 fish being largemouth.  We did land one small pike.  The bite was not aggressive and we really had to slow down our tactics.  Even though it was dead calm conditions for a bit, we could not induce a surface strike.  We did catch a couple of fish on a fire tiger rapala twitched below the surface but most of our action came with soft plastics.  The bass are now in post spawn mode and can be little tricky to catch and a little more widely dispersed through out the lake.  Pre-spawn and spawn time is easy fishing for bass.  We fished a 2/0 red offset hook with a 5" green red flake Senko and dragged it off the bottom.  That was the ticket.  Most of our smallmouth came from rocky areas at drop offs.  However, we landed our biggest bass of the day 17" and another 16" fish in a soft bottom area with lots of emerging weeds.  Largemouth habitat and matter of fact it was the area where we caught the 2 largemouth of the day.  Litterally in less than 2' of water that I would guess does not get fished too often.  The lake we were on has lots of good sized fish and all of the bass yesterday were really nice strong fish.  Good way to start the bass season off.  Looks like another damp cool week and if our rivers settle a bit more the trout fishing should be excellent.  Small streams are good to go today.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  H

ave Fun, Willy

Lots of bugs

Hi folks, Just returned from the Lamoille tonight after an evening of guiding with the fly rods.  Man, we saw 4 different types of mayflies and 2 different types of caddis hatching.  Even found a few rising wild fish.  Water level is perfect, too bad we are about to receive another 1" or so of rain over the next couple of days.  Water temperature was 60 degrees.  Just a really nice damp, overcast , cool, day for trout fishing.  So, we saw a #16 olive bodied caddis and a #20 tan body caddis coming off in small numbers.  Good numbers of  #14 large and #16 small sulphurs hatching at dusk with fish responding to them.  Also, a tiny #18/#20 olive was launcing off. The best were the #10 Brown Drakes that came off at dark.  Big darn bug!  We only had 6 fish come to the fly, but we got every one of them to eat a dry fly.  The best fish of the day was really fat 14" wild Lamoille River rainbow that really fought hard.  Several magnificent jumps.  We got all of our fish to either eat a #14 Catskill style cdc sulphur dun and a #10 parachute emerging drake pattern.  Kind of fun for a change to actually cast dry flies to rising wild trout on a Vermont big river.  Not an every day event.  Good night of trout fishing and it looks like the river temperatures should hold their own for a bit as there is not any hot weather in near future forecast.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

Pleasant Surprise

Hi Folks, Had a really nice day on the Lamoille today guiding fly anglers for trout.  Beautiful weather with cool air temperatures and a big blue sky.  Water conditions were good with high flows but decent clarity.  I have to assume that river flows will be above average for sometime to come due to all off the recent wet weather we have enjoyed.   Water temperature hovered between 58 degrees to 60 degrees.  The higher than average flows are fine as trout simply find the soft water to hang out in and it tends to make them a lot less wary.  We had well over 20 trout come to the fly.  A combination of stocked and wild rainbows.  We hooked every fish with nymphs.  Mostly dead drifted #12 pheasant tails with weight, #14 tungsten prince nymphs, and heavily weighted #10 olive/black wooly buggers.  Saw a good number of hatching insects.  Random #12 March Browns and #14 Grey Fox along with a consistent number of large #14 to #16 Sulphurs (dorothea).  Caddis really took off around mid morning and hatched for the rest of the day.  We only saw a couple of rising fish.  I would have to say that it was one of the better days I have seen for trout fishing on the Lamoille in awhile.  Nice fishing weather coming up if we do not receive too much rain.  Will be cool and damp. I am guiding trout for the next few days so hopefully we will be experiencing plenty of tight lines.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

Always a challenge

Hi folks, Not to often that I scratch my head after guiding small trout streams, but that is how I feel after this weekends experiences.  I guided two different brooks for native brook trout, wild rainbows, and wild brown trout.  Nice brooks with good stability and shade.  Water temperatures had crept into the mid 60's which is awful warm for this time off the year.  Of course the weekend weather was hot, bright, and very humid.  Thunderstorms Saturday night made the water conditions a little off, but generally that scenario would produce some big fish who feel more comfortable in high off colored water.  We worked up stream and caught trout, just all little 4" to 6" dinks.  Caught all 3 species on dry flies, but I think I would have traded 4 little fellows for 1 decent sized trout.  We worked a variety of #14 wulff patterns with small #16/#18 caddis and pheasant tail droppers.  We hooked fish on both the dry and wet, but once again no big fish.  Nice fishing weather for the up coming week.  Cool and maybe a little cloudy and damp.  June is typically and excellent month to trout fish so lets see what happens.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  have fun, Willy

hot, humid, and french fries

Hi Folks, Put a full day in yesterday with fly anglers chasing trout.  Pretty incredible with the weather turn around from a week ago.  Yesterday was really bright, hot, and muggy.  Water temperatures were still very comfortable with temps. ranging from 58 degrees to 61 degrees.  Water levels were still up on the big rivers and the small streams are in excellent shape.  It is now time to fish either early in the morning or late in the day to avoid the bright sun and to enjoy some cooler water temperatures.  We did not see much for hatches yesterday.  In the early morning we fished some bigger water and tugged on stocked rainbows and even a decent smallmouth bass.  We got the fish to eat heavily weighted #10 olive/back wooly buggers and #12 olive bead headed leech patterns.  When the big river fishing slowed we moved to a shaded high elevation brook trout stream.  We fished big attractor patterns like #10 royal stimulator and some crazy looking foam flies.  Every pool we cast into held a brook trout.  Problem being you had to sort through 20 3" to 5" french fries in order to catch one decent 6" to 9" trout.  I like to level the playing field and use short 6' to 7' 2 weight and 3 weight rods fro this type of fishing.  Awful lot of fun watching the beautiful square tails engulf a dry fly.  Well, off to guide a small stream now and escape this damn heat.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

Memorial Day and more

Hi Folks, Guided out of my motorboat with the fly the last two days.  Our rivers are coming down and there are a few small streams I know that could presently be fished.  Unfortunately, the weather forecast for tomorrow is looking ugly and we are supposed to receive another inch of rain.  Lots of carnage from the weekend storms along the 15 corridor the parallels the Lamoille river on the western slope of the Green Mountains.  I feel for any farmers who already had planted corn that got drowned by the flooding. It seems that there has been no middle ground with the weather in May.  It has been either totally dry or rained cats and dogs.  So, nice weather the last few days with cold mornings, warm afternoons, and big bright sun.  The lake I have been on has maintained  surface temperatures from 53 degrees up to 56 degrees.  It was a little warmer today than yesterday.  The bass are in spawning mode.  I have seen occupied spawning and abandoned spawning  beds.  We leave the spawning fish alone.  Even with all of the rain, the lake I have guided has been gin clear.  We have been catching both largemouth and smallmouth bass.  Mostly taking them on large #4 and #2 poppers in chartreuse.  Lots of quality 1.5lb to 2.5lb bass.  We have been locating fish on sharp drop offs that are littered with large rocks and boulders along with emerging weeds.  I have seen several smallmouth take a surface fly in as much as 15' of water.  We have also been casting large deceiver and bunny flies for pike.  Using mostly sinking lines to keep the fly down in the water column.  Not a lot of success of the pike front with a few northern following our flies, but not sealing the deal.  All of the pike we have located have been in less than 10' of water.  Probably due to the cooler water temperatures and young weed growth.  Lots of young perch and bait fish balls in the shallow margins.  Well. we will see what the weather brings and go from there as I am guiding a bunch over the next few days.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

Persistence

Hi Folks, Crazy weekend of weather.  Lots of rain, big wind, and cool air temperatures.  I had to cancel a trip yesterday in the boat due to the harsh conditions.  I did manage guide today out of the boat with fly and spin gear.  Still pretty breezy out of the north/northwest and water temperatures had dropped on the surface by 6 degrees.  Surface temperature was 57 to 58 degrees. We had a some rain and an even saw glimpses of the sun at times.  Still pretty cold out there but I guess things are going warm and clear up over the next few days.  The water level where we fished had risen by almost 10' and the clarity was not very good.  We were literally casting into the trees. Chartreuse today was the color for spinning gear.  We had two smallmouth chase a yellow/red deceiver and but they did not seal the deal.  We landed 1 bass and lost another on a 1/8oz. jig with a chartreuse Mr. Twister.  Tough conditions with the weather, floating debris, super high water, and cooling water temperatures, but patience and persistence paid off with a nice smallmouth.  On the river front, water is high and will be for a few days.  Small streams certainly will be the best bet for a few days and they do tend to clear quickly.  The main stem of the Lamoille and Winooski will be high and dirty for a bit.  I will be chasing pike and bass with the fly the next few days on the lake front.  I would love to see the wind lay down.  Well, fishing is never perfect, but always fun.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

Tight Lines and big water

Hi folks, Well, I have been saying we need rain and we finally got some and more.  Flash flooding problems right now as we have received substantial rain over the last couple of days.  Our rivers, big and small, are stuffed!  Matter of fact, not even safe to go near and think about fishing them.  I own a fishing boat for a reason, so I can still guide when we have high water events.  Guided from the boat this morning with 2 fly anglers.  Water temperature was 62 to 63 degrees and the clarity was way off.  Pretty dirty colored water and the level had risen several feet.  Lots of floating debris in the water.  We worked the shore line right up tight to the bank with our casts.  Still fished points, hard bottomed flats, and downed wood.  Landed 15 smallmouth bass and every fish took a popper off the top.  I think the fish are beginning to get on the beds.  We fished big #4 poppers in frog and chartreuse colors.  Pretty subtle takes for the most part though the fish wanted the popper worked aggressively.   Probably due to off colored water. The first couple of hours of fishing was really good as the wind was light and the rain not too over whelming.  Towards the end of the trip the fishing really turned off.  I think the cold front was settling in and the rain and wind really picked up.  Looks like cool damp weather for the weekend and I will be running my boat every day.  On a side note, looks like the Lamoille from Cadys Falls in Hyde Park downriver to Fairfax is now saturated with northern pike.  Several more large pike have been ccaught recently in locations that shocked me.  Not a good thing as the fragile wild trout fishery of the Lamoille is not going withstand the onslaught of apex predator like a pike.  Man if I were a northern, the stocked rainbows would be an awful nice easy meal.  Too bad that some dumb ass decided to stock pike into the drainage.  Oh well, guess I will be carrying a trout and pike rod for now on.  Stay dry over the weekend and look to fish lakes and ponds until our rivers clear.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

Huh

Hi Folks, Guided the Lamoille watershed yesterday afternoon.  Pretty perplexing day.  Water levels are still low, but up a bit from previous days due to some shower activity.  Water temperatures were perfect at 60 degrees.  Pretty nice afternoon for fishing and with cloud cover and some humidity.  Not too many hatching insects.  Saw a few #10/#12 March Browns and Grey Fox or lets just say Stenonemas.  Sporadic caddis, but no responsive fish.  We covered some water yesterday nymphing  and even casting a muddler minnow.  We hooked 4 trout all afternoon and all in one hole.  What the F#**!  Not sure what was going on except it made me really wonder how many wild fish are swimming in the water we worked.  I am not interested in stocked trout.  The fly of the day was an #10 heavily weighted olive bugger under an indicator.  Looks like some substantial rain on the way which we really need.  Hopefully the trout fishing will improve, or else could be a lot of bass fishing this year.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  have Fun, Willy

early action for smallmouth

Hi Folks, Guided with the boat yesterday for pre-spawn smallmouth bass with spin anglers.  Really nice fishing day with calm overcast conditions.  Water temperatures ranged from 60 degrees to 62 degrees on the surface.  We landed 20 smallmouths fishing in the shallow margins around rocky points and gravel laden shoreline.  I did not see any bass sitting in spawning beds.  I think the smallmouth are staging to spawn currently and I do not like to tug on bass that are on spawning beds.  The lure of the day was a blue and white J-7 rapala and black and white jointed rapala.  We did also have some success with a 4" crawfish colored Senko and several shallow running crawfish patterned crankbaits.  The trick yesterday was moving the lures slowly.  We drew a lot of strikes when the plugs just hit the water and sat still. A little movement and whammo from a smallmouth looking up.  We also landed a wild rainbow on a plug several huge yellow belly perch.  We kept moving and casting.  Today I am guiding trout on a local stream.  Should be really good with the rain we received last night and overcast, humid conditions today.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

landlocked action

Hi Folks, Put  a full day on the water today guiding up north for landlocked salmon.  Beautiful weather day with a big blue sky and warm air temperatures.  Water temperature was 59 degrees and the levels were low.  We really need rain.  Saw a decent number of #16 olive bodied caddis hatching as well as a few sporadic #12 March Browns.  On a few different pools we witnessed a number of #14 Hendrickson spinners.  You could see the egg laden female spinners carry brightly colored egg sacs.  Only found a few rising fish and none that wanted to eat a dry fly.  The fishing was pretty darn good in the morning and really slowed midday as the sun shined brightly over head.  We landed 2 large landlocked salmon in the 18" to 20" class and another two salmon per.  We lost a really big submarine salmon that was easily in the 2 foot range.  In addition we tugged on couple of beautiful lake run rainbows that weighed around 2lbs. and lost another real bruiser.  We nymph fished all day with double rigs and an indicator.  Flies fished today were a #10 red thread Prince nymph with #14 and #16 olive wire caddis dropper.  We also had success with a #14 tungsten hare and copper.  Lots of fishing pressure today, so getting on the water early was bonus.  We did tug on a few fall fish and hooked a 4lb smallmouth.  We spotted some other smallies but left them be as we were after salmon.  I will be running the boat tomorrow for some lake fishing.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

weather

Hi Folks, Guided from my boat yesterday with a spin angler for northern pike.  Pretty wacky weather with a big cold front moving into town.  Shifting winds from the south west to then due north made for some interesting boat control.  Water temperatures ranged from 61 degrees to 63 degrees.  Well, we fished hard and certainly put forth a solid effort trying to catch fish.  The fish did not want to play.  We landed one small northern pike and had one a decent fish follow up to the boat prior to turning off.  I can only guess that the weather had the pike not in a feeding mode.  I have never found unstable weather to be ideal fishing conditions, but it does keep me from fishing.  The two fish we did see came from less than 5' of water in emerging weed beds with downed wood.  A double bladed spinner bait with a red skirt was the lure of the day.  We did try a variety of large plugs and soft plastic baits to no avail.  Will be cool over the next few days and we still really need some rain.  Remember to clean your gear keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

weird

Hi folks, Been guiding withe boat the last couple of days.  My 16' Grumman is running well and the bearings on the trailer are full of grease.  Boats are a pain!  Water temperatures have really warmed up.  I have been finding surface temperatures on the lakes I am guiding to be anywhere from 66 degrees to even 70 degrees yesterday afternoon.  I have been fishing skinny water so certainly the shallow water will warm more quickly. We have been casting big hair flies and deceiver patterns for northern pike.  Color combinations of yellow/red, chartreuse/white, and red/white.  A few darker colored patterns as well.  All of my pike flies have lots of flashabo incorporated into the body.  So, the pike fishing has been pretty slow.  Yesterday we did hook a really big northern and got it to the boat only to lose it, damn it! Besides that mostly small fish following or biting us off.  Really slamming large yellow perch and stupid rock bass, but they are not the intended target.  I will be running the boat again today for pike.  Nice cool wet day.  Our rivers are perfect for fishing right now with very low levels and water temperatures from the high fifties to mid sixties.  Too warm and low for this time of the year.  We need rain big time.  If do not receive some significant rain soon, trout fishing will have a short window of opportunity this season.  Hatching insects these days will #14/#16 Hendricksons, #16 apple caddis, and #16/#18 Blue Quills.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy

river clean-up and Green Up Day

Hi Folks,  Been out of town for a few days fishing in the Catskills on the upper Delaware.  Great fisheries with strong wild trout that really pull back.  Saw a great #14/#16 Hendrickson hatch and rising trout.  Should start to happen around here any day.  Yesterday I floated a stretch of the Lamoille River with the Lamoille River Anglers Association for Green Up Day.  Always good picking up trash and tries and giving a little something back to the resource.  Man, we need some rain.  Awful dry and dusty out there and the Lamoille is pretty darn low for this time of the year.  Water temperatures are heating up and the river was in the 50's by midday yesterday.  We did see some #14 little brown stone flies hatching, but no responsive fish.  Not surprising as big bright sunny days are not always the best to fish trout in.  I do know that the fishing on the Willoughby River this spring was decent for the first time in a few years.  Also, large smallmouth bass has begun their ascent of Lewis Creek in Ferrisburgh for their annual spawning run.  I have been tinkering with the boat and will make my annual test run day today and cast some flies for northern pike.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  have fun, Willy

BBQ for LRAA after the river clean-up.  Young aspiring angler (my kid) looking for a dog with mustard.