Water Clarity: Clear pretty much everywhere excluding Winooski
Water Temperatures: 49-61
Hatches: Hendricksons, Caddis, PMDs, Cahills
Suggested Patterns: Hare’s Ear Nymph (#14-18), Pheasant Tails #12-16), Copper Johns (#14-16), Stone Fly Nymphs, Montana Prince (#12-14), Parachute Adams #10-14, Elk Hair Caddis TAN #14-16, Elk Hair Caddis Black #16-18, Goddard Caddis #14-16, X Caddis #14-16, Wooly Buggers (Olive/Brown) Zonkers, any other streamers!
The fishing conditions are excellent right now! If you’re able to get out today or tomorrow you should. Yesterday Matt ran into a mix of fish on dries, nymphs and streamers. Matt saw a mix of Hendricksons, and Caddis flies mid day into the afternoon. I ventured out after work and saw some Caddis, a few Hendricksons and some lighter cream colored mayflies flying around. The fish rising were sporadic, but if a fish rose more than once they were going to hit our fly. The Lamoille and Winooski are both fishable, if venturing to the Winooski I would stay above the little confluence for now. The Little is still pumping out quite a bit of cold, dirty water which will make the Winooski from there down a bit trickier to fish. All of the mid sized streams are in good shape so the options are endless at the moment. Be sure to have a mix of dries, nymphs and some streamers with you as you never know when a good dry fly hatch will occur. (it should tonight) The smaller brooks are in great shape as well, Nick was out yesterday after work and got into some brookies on dries which should continue for the next few days until the rain sets in.
It does look like we’re going to see a good bit of rain into this week. Kind of a bummer, but it will set us up for another great week on the rivers next week. Don’t be discouraged by the rain though, just grab a 6wt with a sink tip and go get the brown of your life! The big fish will be out and about this weekend, on the hunt for a big streamer. Water flows may vary a bit this weekend depending on what we get for rainfall so if you’re heading out this weekend be sure to have a few backup plans.
Good luck to everyone getting out, and be sure to get out this afternoon!
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River: Winooski:
Water Temp: 56
Water Clarity: Stained-Clear enough above little confluence
Last Update: 5/28
USGS FI: 636
River: Dog
Water Temp: 59
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 5/28
USGS FI: 182
River: Lamoille
Water Temp: 58
Water Clarity: Tea Colored
Last Update: 5/28
USGS FI: 586