Water Clarity: Clear to Muddy
Water Temperatures: 40-54
Hatches: Hendricksons (sporadic) some caddis
Suggested Patterns: Stone fly nymphs, montana prince nymphs, Pheasant Tails, Copper Johns, Squirmy Worms, Copper Johns, Wooly Buggers, Zonkers, Complex Twist Buggers, Sex Dungeons, Jig Streamers
The fishing conditions have improved a decent amount over the past week! We’ve had a few really good days out on the water this past week, along with a couple great stillwater outings targeting smallmouth bass! Water levels and clarity have varied a decent amount this week, and will continue to with the rain we have coming in over the next few days.We’ve seen water temps range from 43 to 55 on the rivers in our area. The mid sized tribs have been where we’ve had the most luck lately. I had a good couple hours on one the other day, landed 2 trout, had another 6 swipe at streamers but the hook point seemed to evade their mouth. Those fish were all hanging in a couple deeper, slower pools. We’ve hit a couple smaller mountain streams and have started to see some brook trout start to wake up, but they’re still fairly sluggish. Another few weeks and they’ll fire up. The big rivers are still high and quiet, they may need another week or so to improve, perhaps more if we continue to get enough rain over the next few days. For anglers getting out over the next few days, focus on the mid sized tribs. Think water like the Mad, Dog, Huntington, Gihon, North Branch etc… None of these have been stocked yet, but those are the waters we’ve had our best success. We’ve caught mostly wild fish, but have run into a handful of holdover stockies as well. Over the next few days, it may be worth throwing a few dries in your box, we’re within a few days of seeing hendricksons in our area. Sporadic caddis should be starting to come out as well.
If you want to switch things up and hit some stillwater the bass fishing was excellent for us Tuesday on the Waterbury Reservoir. The water temp was 54.5 degrees and the fish seemed to be putting on the pre-spawn feed. We didn’t spend much time on the water but ran into a good amount of 14-16inch smallies that were all hanging in 2-4ft of water. The water clarity wasn’t great, but the fish didn’t seem to mind much. Black wooly buggers and zonkers seemed to get the job done for us.
Good luck to folks getting out this weekend!
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River: Winooski:
Water Temp: 50
Water Clarity: Stained-it’s got the chalky green color
Last Update: 5/2
USGS FI: 684
River: Dog
Water Temp: 55
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 5/2
USGS FI: 129
River: Lamoille
Water Temp 52
Water Clarity: Dirty-clearer if you get above morrisville
Last Update: 5/2
USGS FI: 900