Water Clarity: Bigger rivers are pretty dirty, things will likely remain similar over the next few days
Water Temperatures: 55-68
Hatches: Stones, Caddis, Sulfurs,Drakes, Cahils, Yellow Sallies
Suggested Patterns: Tan and Olive X-Caddis, Light Cahils (#14-18), Parachute Adams (#14), Blond Wulf #12-16) Pheasant Tails (#12-18) Bird of Prey (#14-16) Juan’s Kyptonite Caddis, Micro Biot Golden Stone, Newbury Knuckle Dragger, Zug Bugs #14-16) Wooly Buggers, Zonkers, Kreelex, Sex Dungeons, Moto Minnow, Complex Twist Bugger
More Rain!! Good to see more rain coming down, although it may make things a bit trickier over the next few days, in the long run it will keep the fish far healthier and happier. It looks like we’re going to see some more good storms this afternoon and some more rain tomorrow. We’ll take everything we can get! The main Winooski and Lamoille are pretty high and dirty at the moment, this will likely be the case for the next few days. Focus on any of the main tribs if you want a shot at some bigger fish. Big flies on the medium sized rivers will usually get some interest from some of the bigger wild browns that tend to vanish for most of the season. They don’t get big by feeding when the waters low and clear! Big fish love the high dirty water. Big flies, sink tip leaders or lines and a 3-4ft heavy leader are the route to go. A 6 or 7wt is typically better suited for tossing the big flies. As mentioned many times before, stay out of the water and fish the flies right to the bank. A few of the biggest trout I’ve landed in Vermont have eaten big streamers in less than 6 inches of water practically on the bank. If you’re standing in the water, or not fishing your flies to the edge of the stream you’re going to never see or have a shot at those fish as they’ll likely turn off before they have a chance to eat. Occasionally the fish may blow up on the fly, creating a big surface explosion and you may either miss the hook set or the fish may have missed your fly. If that happens, be sure to get your fly back in that spot as quick as possible, that fish is hungry and looking for the meal he just missed. We’ve had fish blow up on a fly 4-5 times before getting hooked, usually if they don’t feel the hook point when they swipe at the fly they’ll come right back.
The fishing over the past week has been pretty good for us. We didn’t spend much time on the larger rivers as they were high for a while then it seemed like overnight they got low and warmed up pretty quick. Most of our fishing were further up towards the headwaters of the big rivers and then spending time on the larger tribs that flow into them. We found temps in the low to mid 60s during the majority of the past week and quite a few hungry fish. Dries and nymphs had been catching the majority of the fish. We also spent a good chunk of time on the smaller mountain streams which were fishing really well.
If fishing big streamers isn’t up your alley the brook trout fishing should be fantastic, some of the streams might be a little too high but just move around, one drainage could be blown out and the next mountain over will be perfect. Keep a couple small buggers or other streamers with you just in case you aren’t getting action on top. Sometimes when the flows are on the higher side of things the fish will be reluctant to take a dry. Good luck to everyone getting out! Keep an eye on the water flows and weather over the next few days as things may change quite a bit over the course of a couple of hours.
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River: Winooski
Water Temp: 65am
Water Clarity: Muddy
Last Update: 6/28/23
USGS FI:1590
River: Dog
Water Temp: 64am
Water Clarity: Stained
Last Update: 6/28/23
USGS FI:217
River: Lamoille
Water Temp 65
Water Clarity: Muddy
Last Update: 6/28/23
USGS FI: 783