Water Clarity: Clear
Water Temperatures: 58-73
Hatches: Stones, Caddis, Sulfurs,Drakes, Cahils, Yellow Sallies
Suggested Patterns: Pheasant Tails(#14-18) Hare’s Ears (#14-18), Tan Montana Prince (#12-14) Frenchies (#12-16) Strolis Quil Body Jig- Brown or Olive (#12-16) Kryptonite Caddis, Zug Bugs (#14-18) Soft Hackles, Light Cahils (#12-14), Sulfurs #14-16) Green and Brown Drakes (#10-12) Elk Hair Caddis Tan or Olive (#12-16)
Finally some cooler weather! Water temps are still on the warm side but they should continue to cool off over the course of the week. We have been doing pretty well despite low water levels, the big rivers towards the end of this week got pretty warm and were over 70 degrees. By tomorrow AM they’ll likely all be back down into the mid 60s and hopefully we actually get some rain to continue to bring temps down and levels up.
Been seeing lots of different bugs on the water. Been seeing lots of Caddis, some cahils, sulfurs and some drakes! Be sure to have a good variety of dries in your box for this week. With all those active insects there’s a lot of variety of nymphs drifting down the river. Don’t overthink your fly selection when it comes to nynphing, running some sort of mayfly nymph along with a caddis pupa will definitely get the job done. With the water being lower and quite clear we’ve been using a lot more 6x than we normally do this time of the year so be sure to have some lighter tippet with you! With water temps still varying a little bit be sure to take temps on the rivers before you hit them to ensure the waters cool enough-assuming you’re not planning on keeping any fish. The small mountain streams have continued to fish well over the past week, although the water is super low, the fish have been happy and willing to play. They have been a bit spooky with the lower flows so make sure to stay out of the water and make slightly longer casts than normal.
On the still water front the bass fishing has been quite good. Getting some really nice fish on poppers early in the am and late in the evening, clouser minnows, wooly buggers and zonkers continue to produce some nice fish as well.
For those getting out over the next week you’re going to have some options. Today may still be a little too soon on the big rivers but by tomorrow AM temps should be a bit cooler. Expect to have some pretty good PM fishing on the larger rivers this week, once they cool down a bit the fish should get pretty active and with the lower flows they’ll definitely be feeding on the surface. With the flows being so low, take advantage of the wading options and go explore, when the water is this low you can definitely get to some spots that normally would be really tough to get to. Good luck to everyone getting out!
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River: Winooski
Water Temp: 71am
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 6/3/23
USGS FI:202
River: Dog
Water Temp: 65am
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 6/3/23
USGS FI:52
River: Lamoille
Water Temp 69am above Morrisville
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 6/3/23
USGS FI: 130