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Water Clarity: Clear-Stained

Water Temperatures:  Mid-Upper 40’s-Low 50’s

Hatches: Brown/black Stoneflies, Hendricksons, Blue Quill

Suggested Patterns:  RL Stoneflies, Two Tone Stones, Simple Stones, Smethurts Twenty Bomb, Copper Johns, Pheasant Tails, Black Montana Prince Nymphs, Olive and Natural Hare’s Ears, Bob’s Softy, Wooly Buggers, Muddler Minnows, Drunk Dads, Sparkle Minnows, Kellers Nightmare, VFG Articulate Bunnies

Well it feels like the season is finally here for us! Things have turned on and we’ve been doing pretty well out there. The bigger rivers are starting to fish a bit better than they have been as well as the smaller streams. Water temps are slowly warming up and lots of rivers are getting stocked right now as well! The trophy stretch of the Winooski has been stocked and the fish are hungry. I had the last two days off and got out for a few hours both days and had action, I fished a smaller Winooski Trib on Wednesday and got two Browns, a 20″ and a 15″ then yesterday fished a different river and got a couple Bows, 1 Brown and 1 Brookie. All of the fish were wild too! Both Nymphs and Streamers worked well for me. The nymphs I used were #8 stonefly/wooly bugger hybrids things that I tied up the other day, the productive streamers were Wooly Buggers. The weather looks awesome to fish today and tomorrow and you should try to get out there! Water temps have range from 44-54 depending on where you are. The Winooski is 51 and I would imagine the Lamoille is going to be similar in temp, maybe a degree or two warmer. Keep an eye out for hatches over the next couple of days, we’ve seen Hendricksons, Stoneflies and Blue Quils hatching with no signs of fish keying in on them yet. That should change soon! Be sure to have stonefly patterns in your box along with Copper Johns, Hare’s Ears, Pheasant Tails and Prince nymphs in sizes ranging from #12-#16s. As far as streamers goes, Wooly Buggers in Olive, White and Brown along with Muddler Minnows Zonkers and maybe a VFG Articulated Bunny. We have rain in the forecast for Sunday but it shouldn’t hurt anything too much, it might muddy up the Winooski for a couple of days but that is not a surprise. Good luck to those getting out over the next few days! It should be an awesome weekend of fishing!!

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River Water Temp Water Clarity Last Update  USGS Fl
Winooski  51 Green 5/6/16  719 CFS @ Montpelier
Lewis Creek Clear  5/6/16 89 CFS @ Falls
Lamoille Clear 5/6/16 490 CFS @ Johnson