Water Clarity: Clear
Water Temperatures: 60s-70s
Hatches: Stoneflies, Caddis, Olive/Tan Caddis, Light Cahills, Sulfers, Hex
Suggested Patterns: Pheasant Tails (#12-16) Prince Nymphs (#14-18) Hare’s Ears (#14-18) Yellow Sparkle Soft Hackles (#16) Joca’s Caddis Pupa (#14-16) Hotwire Caddis (Tan #16) Parachute Adams (#12-16) Light Cahills (#12-14) Blonde Wulfs (#12-16) Elk Hair Caddis #14-18) X Caddis (#14-18) CDC Sulfurs (#16-18)
Happy 4th of July to everyone! Sorry for not getting this updated sooner this week, between the customers coming into the shop and new inventory coming in we’ve been staying pretty busy!
Water temps and levels are still far from good from a trout fishing standpoint. The smaller streams have been holding on temp wise-been seeing temps between 58 and 64 on the smaller stuff but the water levels are wicked low. If fishing the smaller streams be a little more cautious and move a little slower, definitely fish upstream and make longer casts than you typically would on the brook trout streams. Be sure to cover water though, if you don’t drum up a strike in 6 casts or so in a pool keep on moving. The angler that covers the most water but is still careful to stay out of the water and make those longer casts will be the most successful. One bad cast and you’ll spook every fish in a pool.
The bigger rivers are all running pretty low and pretty warm. The Lamoille has been between 68-73 in the am depending on where we’ve temped it. If you’re looking to release fish if it’s warmer than 69 I’d head further upstream or hit some smaller tribs. The Winooski is in similar shape. We’ve been spending more time fishing for smallmouth on the lower sections of these rivers with pretty good luck. Hoppers dead drifted and poppers twitched every once in a while have gotten us some explosive takes. Nymphing has been productive as well. A bass popper with a girdle bug tied off the back has been an effective way to cover both the dry fly and subsurface bites. The Winooski below the Bolton dam all the way to lake Champlain is where you would want to focus on for the bass and on the Lamoille you’d be looking at everything below Fairfax Falls to the lake. Definitely worth fishing. The Hex hatch is continuing to ramp up with bugs popping on more and more lakes each day, it should continue to be a fishable hatch on most lakes for a couple more weeks, with some lakes further north staying fishable for another 3-4 weeks.
Lets all do a rain dance and hope that we run into some more significant rainfall this week to help cool off the bigger rivers. The trout could definitely use a break from this hot, low water. Good luck to everyone getting out, be sure to bring your thermometer with you if you’re chasing trout!
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River: Winooski
Water Temp: 71am
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 7/4/20
USGS FI: 161
River: Dog
Water Temp: 68
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 7/4/20
USGS FI: 36.4
River: Lamoille
Water Temp: 68am
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 7/4/20
USGS FI: 148