Water Clarity: Ranging from Clear to Muddy
Water Temperatures: 42-53
Hatches: Black Stoneflies, Caddis
Suggested Patterns: Wooly Buggers (Black or White-#4-#8) Zonkers (Natural, Olive or Black) Montana Mouthwash, Sex Dungeons, Copper Johns (Chart. #12-14) Pheasant Tails (#12-14) Montana Prince (#12) Hare’s Ear Nymphs (#12), Black Stonefly Nymphs (#6-10)
The fishing has picked up quite a bit in the past week here in VT. I wouldn’t be surprised if this rain quiets things down as it drops the water temps. Most temps have been between 42 and 53 prior to yesterday. Did a trip this weekend and we were able to get into a couple fish, bringing one to hand. The water was low and clear and we primarily sight fished. We spotted one fish and cast to it for about 20 minutes before we hooked up. The winning fly was a #12 Pheasant tail. That particular fish ended up being right around 18″ and put up and awesome fight on my client’s new Hardy Zephrus that he picked up the day before at the shop! Other than that I was able to hit a couple different streams and had some great action both days on streamers. The fished seemed to be pretty willing to chase the flies a good ways to eat them. Half of the fish I caught were fish that followed the fly to within 12″ of the bank and in less than 12″ of water so be sure to stay out of the water and fish your flies right to the bank. They all also seemed to be in the slower moving water and the tails of pools. Things might get a little tricky over the next week with the rain we’re forecasted to get, and snow….. The Winooski is shot right now, Bob drove past the Lamoille and hour ago in Wolcot and said it looked high but was definitely fishable. A sink tip and a streamer might be a good way to work through all that water. Most of the snow melt has subsided, there’s still stuff coming off of Mansfield but elsewhere there’s not much snow left so water temps and levels won’t be affected much for that. Now we just have to consider the cooler weather and rain. Could make for an awesome opening day on the Clyde river which is next week! If the water is high and cool those fish seem to have a little more spunk and tend to be in the river in higher numbers! We can only hope! If you’re getting out over the next few days be sure to have a good mix of nymphs and streamers in your box. Over the next few weeks we should start to see some sporadic hatches consisting of Hendricksons, Caddis and March Browns to name a few. Fish may key in on these flies in some rivers and may not at all in other streams. We’ll see what happens with the rain we get over the next week, hopefully water levels will not get too high and we’ll still be able to get some good fishing in.
Good luck out there!
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River | Water Temp | Water Clarity | Last Update | USGS Fl | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Winooski | Upper-40s | Dirty | 4/26/17 | 1330 @ Montpelier | |
Lewis | 52 | Stained | 4/26/17 | 181 @ Falls | |
Lamoille | Upper-40s | Dirty | 4/26/17 | 969 @ Johnson |