Water Clarity: Stained to Clear
Water Temperatures: High 50s to Low 60s
Hatches: Golden Stoneflies, Caddis Flies, Light Cahils, Sulfurs, Tricos, Hoppers, ISOs, PMDs, BWOs
Suggested Patterns: Hoppers: More or Less, KK Henberrys, Project Hoppers, Ants, HI VIS Beetles, Parachute Adams #12-18, Light Cahills #12-16, PMD Comparaduns, BWOs #16-18, Flying Ants Black and Cinnamon #14-18, Griffith Gnat #18-20, Pheasant Tails #16-20, Zebra Midge #18-20, Taylor’s Gut Instinct-Green #16, Hare’s Ears #16-18, Joca’s Caddis Pupa #14-16
This weather has been great! The bigger rivers have cooled off significantly and things have been fishing pretty well. Had a few slower days but that sometimes happens when things first cool off this time of the year. The push of water we got the other day definitely helped and brought the levels up on most of the streams, especially the Winooski and Lamoille, and although it wasn’t a dramatic influx of water it was much needed. We’ve been doing well fishing big terrestrials on the larger rivers as well as nymphing and even a little streamer fishing. One of our trips yesterday morning missed a few huge fish on the main Winooski on a More or Less Hopper-naturally they were huge since they weren’t hooked or landed… The bigger hoppers work great to act as a indicator when fishing the more riffly water, we’ve been running a jig style nymph off the back between 18 and 36 inches and have had some great luck. Jig P Tails as well as Miller’s Victim and Quill Jigs in #16s and #18s.
As far as insects go there’s a little bit of everything on the menu right now. Caddis, BWOs, Cahils, ISOs, Flying Ants, Hoppers and so on. Generally this time of the year can often be one of the best times of year for dry fly fishing, having a wide variety of flies in your box can be super helpful this time of the year. Having said that, sometimes when there’s that wide of an array of food on the water the fish seem to eat a little bit of everything. Occasionally they’ll key in on one insect like and ISO but often anything will work. Not a bad time of the year to run two dries at once, a bigger ISO or Parachute adams with a smaller caddis, cahil or BWO behind it.
For those getting out this weekend, don’t feel rushed to hit the water super early in the AM, fish mid day into the evening if possible. As the water warms up a little bit often the bugs will get a little bit more active which coincides with the fish activity. It’d be a good idea to have both a nymphing rod and a dry fly rod ready to go as you never know when some bugs may start popping and fish start rising. I’d focus on the bigger rivers such as the Winooski, Lamoille and the White. They’re all cool enough to fish and they should all fish well this weekend. Good luck to everyone getting out on the water this weekend.
Just a reminder, next Saturday, September 14th is the 5th Annual Vermont Fly Fishing Show! Make sure to swing up and check out some killer sales in the shop as well as demo rods from Douglas, Winston and sign up for some of our FREE on River Demos! We’ve got a Dry fly demo from 11:30am-12:30 followed by a streamer/nymphing demo from 2pm-3pm. There’s also a Trout Unlimited 2-Fly Tournament on Sunday the 15th!! Grab a buddy and sign up for that! The fishing should be good!!
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, Redington, Loon Products, Montana Fly Company, Buff, Lamson Waterworks, Sage, Rio, Scientific Angler and more!
River: Winooski
Water Temp: 60
Water Clarity: Clear-Muddy below Little Confluence
Last Update: 09-6-2019
USGS FI: 202 @ Montpelier
River: Dog
Water Temp: 57
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 09-6-2019
USGS FI: 39 @ Falls
River: Lamoille
Water Temp: 59am
Water Clarity: Clear
Last Update: 09-6-2019
USGS FI: 193 @ Johnson