Been a Long Time Coming

Sorry for the long delay in reports. I was gone for most of August and then didn't do any guiding or fishing the first few weeks of September aside from a few night fishing missions, more on that later.  We are back in the swing of things now.  I've started doing a few trips and have been able to get out on the water.  I'll hopefully be guiding my first salmon trip of the year tomorrow.  

We just went through the driest period this area of Vermont has seen in about 16 months.  Montpelier went 17 days without precipitation.  The weather was as good as it gets during that stretch, with cool over night temps and nice sunny afternoons.  The fishing was decent, but the small streams were getting low.  There are plenty of fish around, both wild and stocked.   More stocked fish made it through the summer than normal.  The small wild trout streams I was on had good numbers of fish but stealth was key in the very low clear water.  We got a dose of rain yesterday and today it's pouring.  Just what we need to get migratory fish moving, both salmon and steelhead from the lakes, and browns and brookies moving toward spawning grounds.

Fly selection has not mattered much the times I've been out.  A size 16 nymph and size 14-16 caddis dry, is about all I have needed. You can then fish back through with a worm, mop or streamer to get any fish looking for something else.  I actually got down to a new section of small stream after guiding a client in the morning on the bigger river and forgot my pack entirely.  I had a single size 16 nymph with a 2.8 mm silver bead tied on a section of 7x tippet, and not a thing else.  In a hurry I decided I'd just fish that fly and when I broke it off or the hour that I had to fish was up I'd head out.  I found it quite a nice challenge, and felt like I really fished on point knowing I couldn't lose the fly in a tree, or break it off. I ended up running out of time, with my single fly still tied on.  Wild Brookies and Browns were happy to eat the nymph in super low clear water.  I always find it amazing how well those fish hide.  Staring into 12" deep flat run only 12' wide at most and not seeing a single fish until there was one on the line was cool.  Fish on small streams have been in very shallow riffles as well.  Stuff you probably would walk through.  On the bigger river I haven't seen that yet, but usually in the fall they push into the skinny stuff in the fall.  When fish get more picky, downsize to a size 20 baetis nymph and you'll have success.    

Our trip out west was amazing.  I'll keep it brief but we fished Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, and Colorado.  My son, 5 years old, really loved fishing from the drift boat and was roll casting a 5 wt with an indicator and nymph like a champ.  He caught on his own, cutthroats, rainbows, and whitefish.  He hooked into one rainbow of about 20-24" that broke him off when I told him not to let it get into a log jam.  He is still talking about that fish daily.  The girls did some fishing but were just as happy to float down the amazing rivers and try rowing.  They also got to see their mom fish a lot and catch some nice trout on dry flies.  I had a great time ditching the euro rod and fishing a 5 wt.  Both on big tailwaters and spring creeks I had a blast throwing dries.  However, by far the most fun I had was mousing.  What started as late night drunken talk with our friends on an overnight camping trip, quickly turned into me landing a giant brown right on the bank on a mouse fly.  I wish the kids would have been awake to see it, but were fast asleep in the tents.  I then repeated this feat on some famous tailwaters, spring creeks and freestone streams across the west.  It was eye opening.  I did discover presentation really matters, as does making sure the mouse stays on top of the water.  Also, hooking up is much harder than getting a fish to blow up on the fly.  Im going to play around with different flies to try to increase the hookup percentage.  I discovered you really shouldn't set the hook until you feel the full weight of the fish, not just hear a sound or feel a tap.  I went out twice in VT and both times was able to get a few fish to blow up on the mouse but no hookups, yet.  

Enjoy the fall fishing. it can be tough as the weather gets colder, but just pick the good weather days when going for trout.  They tend to get lock jaw after a cold front and drop in water temps.