Water Clarity: Stained-Clear (big rivers are stained but sections are fishable, small to mid sized stuff has either fully cleared, or has just a hint of green)
Water Temperatures: 48-57
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 is picking up! Feels like things may be in full swing by the weekend! The rain last weekend made things a bit tricky for the weekend, but everything is on the drop (slowly) and the fishing has improved a decent amount over the past few days. Both the Winooski and Lamoille have been stocked (trophy stretches) along with other sections (not complete yet) Water flows are certainly on the higher side from a wading standpoint right now, but clarity has improved enough on both rivers in the past 36 hours to allow for fishing. Be careful when wading, the water is still quite swift. stay below your knees from a wading standpoint if possible. If you’re going to be hitting the larger rivers, I’d plan on either running a sink tip line or leader with a streamer, and/or a bobber rig with a couple nymphs and a few split shot. The fish will be mostly glued to the bottom, so making sure you’re getting your flies down deep is going to be important. The stockies will likely be holding in the slower deeper water, where the wild fish will begin to push up into the faster, slightly shallower water. This seems to be the norm on most rivers that hold both wild and stocked fish. By no means is it a rule, but definitely seems to be a consistent pattern. Dry fly fishing has been more or less non existent, although Chloe hit a brook trout stream yesterday and managed a few brookies on dries. Some of the mid sized tribs may start picking up a little bit dry fly wise over the next few days. Hendricksons, and some Olive and Black caddis will likely be what’s coming off. For hendricksons, a big parachute adams is tough to beat, we always keep a few rusty spinners in our box this time of the year as well. Elk Hair caddis in a #12-14 would be worthy of having in your fly box as well. Even on the mid sized tribs, I would plan on nymphing and/or streamer fishing but be sure to have the dries mentioned above just in case.
The forecast is looking pretty great for the next week. We are forecasted to get an inch and a half or so of rain over the weekend which will mess things up for a couple of days, after that it looks like air temps will drop back down into the 50s which should give us a great week of fishing just about everywhere!
For anyone thinking about going out over the next few days, it’d be a good idea! Most rivers will be in good shape through at least friday afternoon, depending on what we get for rain friday PM, things may be a little different for the weekend.
Quit wishin and go fishin!
The Fly Rod Shop is Northern Vermont’s finest fly fishing guide service and fly fishing gear retailer. Visit our shop on Route 100 in Stowe, VT or shop our online store to find gear from Simms Fishing Products, Redington, Loon Products, Montana Fly Company, Lamson Waterworks, Winston, Sage, Rio, Scientific Angler, Thomas and Thomas and more
River: Winooski:
Water Temp: 56
Water Clarity: Stained but fishable above little confluence, below little water is much higher and dirtier
Last Update: 5/14
USGS FI: 999
River: Dog
Water Temp: 57
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 5/14
USGS FI: 248
River: Lamoille
Water Temp 55
Water Clarity: Stained
Last Update: 5/14
USGS FI: 639