Water Clarity: Clear-Stained. The mid sized and smaller streams are mostly fishable as of today
Water Temperatures: 34-42
Hatches: Black Stones
Suggested Patterns: Girdle Bug (#6-10) Montana Prince Nymph-Black (#12-16) Pheasant Tails #12-14, Copper Johns (#12-14) San Juan Worms/Squirmy Worms, Egg Patterns, Wooly Buggers, Zonkers, Jig Streamers, Sex Dugeons, Slick Willy, Boogie Man
We hope everyone’s been able to get out over the past few weeks! We’ve been getting out some here and there lately. Some days have been decent, others have been a grind. Since we’ve started getting more fluctuation in water levels the fishing has definitely been trickier. The fish we have run into lately have either been on dead drifted streamers, super slowly retrieved streamers and worm patterns. Having two rods has been super helpful over the past month. One rod rigged with a sink tip and a streamer, and another rod rigged with a bobber and either a jig streamer/nymph combo or a two nymph rig. One of the flies on our bobber rig this time of the year is almost always either a worm or an egg.
Water temps have ranged anywhere from 34-42, I temped a stream friday afternoon at 42.5 degrees, the same piece of water saturday am was 35! Mid day and afternoon water temps will be way warmer, which is when the fish will be the most active. With that being said, keep in mind that on the really warm days, snow melt may bring water levels up quite a bit. Best bets for finding fish over the next week are going to be on the mid sized and larger tributaries of the winooski and lamoille. The main rivers probably won’t be a realistic option for a few weeks to a month. The small mountain streams are going to be tricky as they’ll be affected the most by snow melt. Be sure to keep in mind the tribs off champlain and Magog as spring runs of fish have began! As long as we have higher water flows, those fish will stick around for another 3-5 weeks at least!
As conditions change over the next few weeks be on the lookout for more updated reports regarding fishing conditions. And in the meantime, swing by the shop and check out the new gear we’ve got in! We’ve got a pile of new rods, some sweet new flies, we’re now stocking waders and boots from Grundens and we’ve got a pile of other cool stuff!!
On another note, the Mad Dog Trout Unlimited chapter will be hosting the Fly Fishing Film Tour on Saturday, April 26th!! For more info/tickets head on over to https://flyfilmtour.myeventscenter.com/event/Montpelier-Vt-Trout-Unlimited-Mad-Dog-Chapter-107752
Good luck on the water!
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, Grundens, Loon Products, Montana Fly Company, Lamson, Winston, Echo, Scientific Angler, Thomas and Thomas and more