It's been a great start to the fly fishing season here in VT. April and early May are always a quality vs quantity and you can see above that is the case.  Many good fish have been landed by clients and guides.  You'll see only 1 rainbow trout in the pictures, as they are finishing up spawning and don't eat as well early on compared to the big browns.  That will change soon and I expect we will get some nice rainbows in the mix  going forward as they settle into their spring and summer habitats.  

Right now the big rivers are blown out from the heavy rains this past weekend, but mid sized and small streams are prime. Big rivers should clear up this week.  We had to cancel 2 guided trips this past Saturday.  It is rare we have to fully cancel a trip because rain that blows out rivers generally tends to be more spotty in intensity, and come down shorter and harder meaning we can move watersheds or go up or down in elevation and stream size to find fishable water, but this weekend was an area wide soaking that lasted for two days making everything go up and stay up.  I guided Friday and my clients stuck it out for a full day despite non stop rain and swollen off colored rivers.  We fished until the river was completely unfishable and managed a few nice trout.  The Leff crew proved to be a hearty bunch.  Thanks guys.   

Mayflies, caddis and stoneflies are all hatching.  This week we will see fish feeding in the drift eating nymphs and emergers.  There will be some chances at rising trout for sure.  Hendricksons have been on for a few weeks now in the lower elevation streams and are just getting going in others.  The cool weather last week slowed things down.

This week is gong to be a spectacular week to fish.  Depending on your preferences, many rivers will have been stocked.  This can be good for newer clients,  but a pain if you are looking for wild fish on rivers that get stocked.  Sometimes the wild fish can be hard to find with all the new faces in the rivers.  There are lots of small and mid sized streams that do not get stocked however.  

I expect nymphing to be the most productive method for a bit.  Larger junk flies and streamers will work, and will often hook the bigger fish in the river.  Look for spinner falls at dusk and have a spent wing hendrickson imitation ready to go.  We have some availability both weekdays and weekends. We are also offering some evening trips 4-darkish.  Let me know if you want to get out!

The 2025 Fly Fishing season is fast approaching, so please do not forget to purchase your fishing licenses before heading out.  

While there's only a couple of months until the season really starts, it surely doesn't feel that way.  We have had a good old fashioned VT winter thus far.  This is the longest in 3-4 years that I can remember having snow continually on the ground down low in the Champlain River Valleys.  Most rivers are locked up in ice and perhaps Lake Champlain will completely freeze over this season.  What used to be common for the lake years ago now is a rarity.  The snow depth on top of Mt. Mansfield is about 25" over average for the date.  The ground is not frozen under the snow and has been slowly melting snow all winter allowing water to percolate into our aquifers all winter.  

What will this mean for fish coming into the spring? For lakes it is certainly a good thing.  These ecosystems here in the north have adapted over many thousands of years for ice coverage.  As far as the rivers, our wild trout are capable, and certainly our wild and native brook trout are adapted to long and cold winters.  I feel that stocked trout will have a hard time surviving.  Often, the stocked trout that make it through the summer are taken out by the winter weather and ice, and very few are alive come spring time.  It is really rare for me to find hold over rainbows and somewhat rare to find holdover browns in this areas rivers.  I did find some hold over rainbows last fall on a big river that had been stocked two springs before.  Thanks to the high water of both summers and the mild winter last year they were able to make it.  I think it's a good thing that the stocked trout do not hold over well in our rivers. That leads to less competition for food during the winter months when food is not as readily available. More importantly, there is less interference with the wild trout spawning seasons and less chance to "water down" the gene pool of the wild trout with inferior stocked trout genetics, though some strains of stocked trout are incapable of breeding. 

If you are getting the itch to fly fish in the Northeast this winter, there are a few tailwaters that should stay open within 1-2 hour drive for everyone in the state.  If you are looking to take a long weekend and fish, there are great options in western NY and PA that provide good spring creek fishing throughout the winter months, and there are some good tailwaters in Southern New England. The freestone rivers here in Northern VT are open to fishing, but they certainly are not fishable for the most part. 

I'm trying to get back into tying for the upcoming season, but it hasn't happened yet!  When I do start it will be a few basic nymphs like Pheasant tails, stoneflies, mops, worms, eggs, and jig streamers. 

I'd like to keep producing a few youtube videos, but the time just has not been there for me lately.  If there is anyone out there that would like to help me with this please reach out.  I know a lot of you have initially contacted me because of the videos.

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.  

Here we go again, more devastating flooding a year to the day of last year historic floods.  I wrote a full article on the impacts of flooding on our wild trout.  Check out the articles page for a full run down of the impacts of high water, many of them positive, and the negatives.  Please wade carefully, have a partner with you, and take it slow. 
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The rivers will surely have changed and you could find yourself stepping into a hole you didn't know was there.  The most common misperception is that the trout have all died, don't be fooled, trout need cool water, and they have plenty of it right now along with food.
The incredible fishing I reported this past spring was a result of last years flooding so look for the fishing to be good when you can find fishable water.  As always, bring a stream thermometer, rivers will still get over 70 on some stretches, but the good news is there is so much cool ground water seeping into the rivers that I don't think they will get overly hot. For the remainder of the summer I'm hoping we don't have major flooding but can keep the rivers topped off.

It has been a bit of a challenge to get clients into the rivers right now, but we will do our best to accommodate river flows and wading skills so that you all can find some willing fish.

On to the Ditch Pickle Classic, another great weekend, lots of beers drank, and lots of bass caught.  Day one was an amazing day of fishing.  We found large smallmouth eating high in the water column.  It was essential to make long casts, subtle movements of the fly, and use light tippet.  These fish are 8-10 years old and have been caught many times but the looks of the scars on their lips. That was certainly the key for me to win the tournament again this year.  Ive been lucky enough to win 3  out of the last 4 years.  Day 2 was torrential rain and howling wind.  We were on the water by 5 and blown off by about 8.  Thankfully I was able to catch one 18" smallie in about 3' waves to seal the win. We are looking forward to next seasons tournament already. 

Finally, my family and I are soon to embark on a 3 week road trip west.  Driving three kids 9,7,5 across the country will be questionable at times, but hopefully worth while. We will be camping mostly, spending a night in the driftless of Wisconsin, a week in Jackson Hole, doing a DIY over night float on the South Fork in Idaho with friends, and spending time time in South West Colorado.  I've got all of the kids waders and will surely be doing lots of fishing .  I hope to bring some beautiful pictures and amazing tales back with me.  Stay tuned.  Guides Andy and John will be available while I'm gone so reach out if you want to get on the rivers.

The Spring/ summer transition continues.  Hot weather followed by cool wet conditions have kept fishing solid on most days, and river temps down.  Even during last weeks heat I guided higher on some mid sized tribs and found water temps in the 60-62 degree range.  

I have noticed some of the bigger fish have been getting harder to catch midday. This often happens this time of year. They seem more willing to eat early or late.  I did have one trip yesterday, that despite good conditions, was  little tough. Fish were eating but not as strong as I'd have expected. Thus is the variability of fishing I guess. I have seen lots of golden stoneflies lately and even a few of the giant stones that either are, or look just like the western salmon flies.  Big stones have been getting eaten, especially when that water was higher, but at the same time both my clients and guide Andy had more success with size 20 perdigones last week.  Usually we don't need to fish small bugs till later in the year but it just goes to show that you need to be adaptable.  I discovered the small bug pattern when BWO's began hatching while my clients and I waited out a downpour.  The small nymphs didn't just work during the hatch either but for the rest of the week.  Andy discovered it on his own when fishing a new stretch of a bigger river that seemed to have a good amount of pressure.  After struggling to get fish to eat and seeing other anglers on the river who had said they only caught stocked fish, he downsized tippet to 7x and flies to size 20 and was rewarded with wild browns and bows up to 18"  in places that only seemed to be holding stockers.  There are also lots of caddis around in sizes 14-20, and terrestrials should be on your mind as well.  We had good dry fly fishing last week, with caddis and stimulators being the best.  Small dries did not work last week even though small nymphs were on the menu. Evening dry fly fishing has been strong.

I have guided more this spring than I have in the past 3-4 years, and I'm now winding down the number of trips I'm doing in a week, but guides and and john are ramping up now that school is almost out.  Between the three of us, we should be able to get you out there to enjoy our beautiful Vermont waters! 

What an absolutely stellar few weeks we have had since my last report.  It seems every big fish of every species has been feeding hard.  I've been guiding a fair amount and have hit a new river on every trip.  I even explored a new small stream with a client yesterday, where we found chunky Brook Trout, Rainbows, and Browns.  All wild and all in great condition. Can you identify the lone stocked fish above? 

I feel like a broken record but I cannot recall a better spring of trout fishing.  Every stream Ive been on has coughed up quality wild fish.  It's been good enough that I don't even feel I need to know a river or even been on the particular stretch to guide it.  Twice this past week I hit both a new stream and a new section of river with clients and we got into nice fish.  Hatches have been strong.  I've seen lots of yellow and lime sallys, tan and brown caddis, March browns, Bwo's, Hendrickson's, midges.  Dry fly fishing has been solid in the AM and Evenings, according to guides Andy and John.  I've only been on the water from about 7-3 and nymphing has been the only productive method midday. Fish have been eating mid and upper column however and swinging flies has been effective.

I had two fun 1 on 1 trips with clients looking to up their sightline nymphing skills.  I do love these kinds of trips. I have seen in both that there is a huge disconnect from what people see on YouTube and read about online vs the actual effective implementation of such strategies.  I find most entry and mid level tight line nymphers fish too one dimensional.  Generally too heavy, perpendicular to the current and very close.  This method will catch fish, but there is so much more to it than that, and a ton more fish ready to be caught by upping your game.  On yesterday's trip we worked on lightening up the flies, extending the cast, and extending the drift.  After the first 5 fish came to hand quickly I asked how many would have been caught on their own.  My clients answer was 0.  Both anglers will surely have a lot more success going forward. Guides Andy and John are also really exception tight line nymphers, so if I am booked do not hesitate to book them.  I am about at my capacity for the next three weeks.  There is a chance I could fit you in if schedules both worked out perfect, but I can get a few more days with my guides.

Going forward, we are moving towards a summer pattern.  It was 90 today, way too warm.  The big river I temped yesterday was 62 at 9 am.  They may have hit 70 today but we are cooling off tomorrow and got some storms last night.  I am still not too worried about warm water temps.  There is a lot of ground water and springs are pumping cool water into the rivers. That being said, these very warm days and nights are reason to get your stream thermometer out and avoid that heat of the day during mid afternoon.  Next week looks like seasonable weather and good fishing all day.  I have quite a few trips and a few floats.  I'd like to see some rain to top off the big rivers for the drift boat.

Have a wonderful memorial day weekend.    

The Amazing spring trout season continues.  Hendricksons arrived over a week ago. Though I haven't seen any risers, I am sure there are some to be found, especially during an evening spinner fall.  Hendrickson spinners are easy to identify because the females will have a big yellowish orange egg ball on the back of their abdomen where the tails meet.  Trout have surely been looking for the nymphs and pheasant tails have been very good nymphed on a dead drift.  We had our first trip of the season out a few weeks back.  I begin my guiding season tomorrow. We still have weekend openings as well as a few weekdays for the next few weeks of prime time fishing.

With mixed emotions, many area rivers have been stocked.  the remainder should be within the next week or so.  With so many nice wild fish around, it will be a bummer when some of the good wild fish holding areas are flooded with stockers.  Ive found that it can be hard to get to the wildfish at times like these.  If you are fishing a river with rainbows and catching only stocked fish in the deeper holes, then try some fast water or riffles dumping into the deeper water. You'll often find a wild rainbow or two there.  I say mixed emotions because there are some stretches the Fish and Wildlife stocks that do not have many wild trout and areas with stocked fish are great to target with many clients  as well as my children.  But there are some stretches that are stocked that have very good populations of wild fish and really don't need supplemental stocking, maybe just tighter creel limits.  I cannot think of a single river or stretch that gets stocked fish that does not have at least a small population of wild fish in it, so you never know what you may catch.  Lakes are also fun places to fish for stocked fish and many of those lakes cannot support a wild trout population.

Maple Country Anglers Guides fished the Otter Creek Classic this past weekend.  The Weather was great on Saturday and cool with rain Sunday.  Historically, the tournament was held during the trout opening weekend on the second Saturday in April.  This timing usually meant few fish caught and often whom ever could catch the most fish would win, which was key to me winning last year.  This year having the comp in early May meant many more fish would be caught and knowing multiple locations where large browns lived was important to win.  There were also a few rivers stocked for those looking to fill there cards, but we didn't fish in stocked areas. Our guides focused mostly on the Northern most tribs because of the driving distances from home.  Saturday was a good day for us all and lots of fish were caught.  I'd guess I hooked around 25 wild fish on the day which is outstanding for early may and cold water.  Unfortunately, I could not find any big fish during the comp.  The 24" brown I caught above was not in the comp. Bummer. The biggest fish I caught or hooked was 14".  There was a lot of fishing pressure on the rivers I was on and fishing got tougher as the weekend wore on.  I had started out catching fish on big stoneflies and mops and finished the weekend catching pretty unhappy and nippy fish on size 20 nymphs.  That was a pretty good case study on how those wild fish responded to fishing pressure.  I had around 25 on the line on Saturday and 9 on Sunday, having to really work for them both days.  In the end, not finding any big fish cost me and I was only able to manage third place, Andy took 4th and John took 8th in the pro division.  Overall a strong showing and a very fun weekend of fishing.  Now that I am  not competing on the USA Fly Fishing Team and having beat specific tournaments, I have been enjoying the format of being able to fish where ever you'd like, but local knowledge really does help when it comes to knowing where to consistently find bigger un pressured fish.  

Good luck out there.  Take advantage of the wonderful fishing.  Be prepared for any scenario, from dries, to streamers and nymphs.  The weather looks un settled everyday of the 10 day and river levels have been up and down.  There is a very good base flow because of the amount of ground water thanks to almost a year straight of ample to at times excessive rain.  The spring running into my sugarhouse has been running the fastest I've seen in 16 years. This means that while the rivers will drop with no rain it will take a fair amount of really dry weather for things to get low.  The ground water also obviously keeps rivers running cool.  I personally hope the wet weather continues, you just need to be able to make adjustments if the day you intend to fish sees too high of river flows on your first choice river.  

The spring/ late winter of 2024 has seen some of the most consistent trout fishing that I can remember.  Often early spring and the very cold water temps that accompany it are downright tough fishing up here.  Getting completely skunked is frequent, but that has not been the case this year.  We have gotten into fish every time on the water on a variety of streams.  That being said, it is still a game of quality over quantity, and I have not encountered any hold over stockies from last year, only wild fish.  

Why has the fishing been so good for the time of year I think really goes back to last summer.  The extreme amount of rain last year allowed our fish to feed heavily, while also keeping river temps low.  The combination of lots of food and little thermal stress from warm water, meant our fish were in prime condition entering the winter.  I feel there are more wild trout in our area streams than there has been in recent memory.  Many, many people have asked me if its still worth fishing after last years flooding.  My response has been: There are a ton of fish, who knew that fish thrive when they have plenty of water!

All the positive news aside, it is important to remember that we are still going to be dealing with cool water temps for the next few weeks.  As a matter of fact it's snowing as I write this report.  Water temps should influence our decision making on the water, and while it's cold, remember to fish low and slow.  Deliberately slowing your drift is key.  A lesson learned at nationals this past March, where I picked up some really helpful tactics. You can slow the drift in a variety of ways.  Fly selection and weight, combined with sighter angles and drift angles allow the fly to stall and will help pull lethargic trout. Bigger more water resistant flies will slow the drift, as well as allowing sighter angles s to be more vertical or even invert.  Simply fishing patiently with both tight line and indicator tactics are equally important.  Allowing an indicator time in a pocket or back eddy to just sit, or likewise resting the urge to pull your nymphs into a seam and down the river when tight line nymphing will increase your catch rate.

Looking forward, things will be changing and the trout will become more active. I've already seen bugs hatching.  In fact, yesterday afternoon on a Northern stream there were brown stones, blue wing olives, and caddis and midges coming off.  I was petty impressed to be honest.  I also heard a report of an angler in VT catching a few fish on dries already.  

The coming week looks to be a solid week of fishing and I anticipate more fish being active at any one time.  Remember, fishes metabolism increases with water temp, so when it's cold they just do not need to eat as much or as often.  You can easily fish a run and catch nothing only for a fish or two to become active and eat a fly later on in the day.  Do not get sucked into fishing only deep pools.  Another lesson I learned at Nationals this past March.  Trout in winter or late spring will hold throughout the rivers anywhere there is slow water.  It does not need to be deep or a pool.  The first two fish I caught this year in early April with a water temp of 46 were in pocket water. 

Next weekend is the Otter Creek Classic, and all of our guides will be fishing.  It is a bit later than usual which should allow for more fish to be caught than typical. I anticipate needing to fill your score sheets both days with a few big fish to win.  I think it will be a challenge to repeat this year as those guys and gals who live and guide down that way know the whereabouts of more big fish than I!

We have lots of water and lots of happy fish to chase this fall.  Its been quite a few years since we have had anything but super low flows and spooky fish. Most rivers are in great shape, but the bigger rivers still want to blow out and get really muddy with any significant precipitation.  The Winooski has been muddy almost the entire summer as land slides and massive amounts of sediment from the floods in July are cleared out.  I did see it looking a little less muddy last week, but we've since had rain.  Small and mid sized streams are in great shape.  The trout have been in particularly good condition this summer and are quite fat.  I've gotten used to many of them looking skinny in the fall.  River temps are great and look to remain that way for a while.  Dry flies have been effective as well and nymphs and streamers.  I fished down south of here this past weekend and was catching fish on a Iso dry fly pattern as well as a variety of nymphs, but there was a mid afternoon window where most fish ate the dry.  I found lots of the fish pushed into some of the shallowest riffles Ive every caught fish in before.  I'm talking the really skinny ankle deep riffles that most everyone would walk right over.  Many small depressions that went from 4" deep to 5-6" deep would hold a fish.  Cast over the nice 18" depression however, and you might not find a willing trout. The next three weeks should be great for trout fishing.  Salmon should be entering the rivers now and this year should see strong runs.  

I have very limited availability this fall.  Guides Andy and John have some weekends available.  Give us a should to see if we can get you  on the river.  

Well, its pretty ironic that my last report from June was titled keep the rain coming.  The rain surely came, and for those of you who are not in VT, we endured some of the worst flooding the state has ever seen a few weeks back.  To make matters worse it has rained almost every other day since then, and when it rains it seems to pour.  

The condition of many of our rivers are still to be determined but some have certainly taken a hit in the most flooded areas.  The big rivers are still running chocolate milk as landslides and massive amounts of sediment that has eroded from the banks is moved downstream.  The smaller rivers I have been on have been in good shape but I've not been on the ones that were hit the worst.  Many placed just east of the spine of the green mountains such as Barre and Hardwick are really destroyed and I hope that everyone impacted recovers.  

Thankfully all of the rivers we have fished or guided on have produced fish and many stocked fish even survived the floods. The wild fish populations in these particular streams do not seem to be affected.  Since the rivers are running higher and cooler than typical, the fishing has actually been fairly good when you can find clear water.  Dries, nymphs and streamers all are taking trout consistently.  With more water and higher flows there hav been times that fish have been holding in places they usually wouldn't have been found.  On my last outing almost every wild rainbow was laying out in the sand and small gravel riffles as opposed to the deeper holes and pockets, but on a different river a few days prior they were in the most likely holding lies.  Additionally, they have been somewhat picky as to what nymph they eat.  I suppose because so much food and debris has been floating by them for almost a month. 

The next week hopefully looks drier and cool with highs in the low 70's. The fishing should be good, and for mid July, great.  Id stay away from the big rivers, but everything else should be good for a little while anyway.  

This years Ditch Pickle Classic also happened last month and for the second time in three years, we were  able to take the win.  I was fishing with a new partner as my long time partner was in Europe so my fly fishing team USA teammate Matt Stedina filled in. As a team we took first and each took the top two spots individually.  The weather conditions couldn't have been better, overcast skies and nearly flat calm water.  The big bass were tuned into the surface and if you got the right fly and fished it subtly, the giants would eat on the first few strips.  Thankfully Matt and I picked up on the pattern after a couple of hours and caught more bass than we've ever caught on the lake.  Many other teams talked of big bass swirling under the flies, but not taking it.  Our success was due to slight color preference and very long casts with a subtle presentation.  The big fish did not take near the boat, and there could not be any bright colors on the fly.    We were able to take home some great Orris rods and reels.  Thanks to all the sponsors and organizers of such a fun event.