We were able to get out on the drift boat both Friday afternoon and Sunday morning, both on the Lamoille and Winooski and both put up some nice fish for us. There were an insane amount of Hendrickson spinners on Friday night, but it was not until some tan caddis joined the party around 7 PM that the trout began to really get interested. Prior to that we had seen no action on nymphs, and no rises, but picked a few fish off with brown streamers. The Rainbow on the right smashed my streamer at the boat in an area I would not expect to see a fish whatsoever. As the caddis began hatching I saw a rise and pulled the boat over. I tied on a lafontaine's caddis pupa in green and hooked that fish on the first drift. Soon another rose above that one and again first cast the fish was hooked. The only downer was that we broke a new Orvis Helios 2.
Sunday a friend and I got on the water around 7 for a short 3 mile float. The big browns, though sparse in this stretch, were feeding. First cast with the streamer and we hooked the 17" holdover brown pictured right, and then shortly afterwards a 12" wild rainbow. It was now my turn to cast from the rowers seat. I had a nymph rig on and first drift I landed the other brown pictured. It was not until I got home and uploaded the pics that I began to wonder whether it was the same fish, and I do believe it was. I compared some of the spots and am pretty certain that the same fish took a streamer and then a hares ear not 10 minutes apart!! I on my second drift I hooked a fish that immediately broke me off, I never got a look but I think it was a real good fish. We missed a few more fish in the next 1/2 mile of river and then the sun really poked out and slowed things down. There was a decent caddis hatch around 9:30 that drew no attention from the fish. Towards the end of the float we moved one of the biggest browns I have seen in the river. It charged our streamer right to the boat, but nerves got in the way and we pulled the streamer right out of the water. It left us both shook.
Sunday a friend and I got on the water around 7 for a short 3 mile float. The big browns, though sparse in this stretch, were feeding. First cast with the streamer and we hooked the 17" holdover brown pictured right, and then shortly afterwards a 12" wild rainbow. It was now my turn to cast from the rowers seat. I had a nymph rig on and first drift I landed the other brown pictured. It was not until I got home and uploaded the pics that I began to wonder whether it was the same fish, and I do believe it was. I compared some of the spots and am pretty certain that the same fish took a streamer and then a hares ear not 10 minutes apart!! I on my second drift I hooked a fish that immediately broke me off, I never got a look but I think it was a real good fish. We missed a few more fish in the next 1/2 mile of river and then the sun really poked out and slowed things down. There was a decent caddis hatch around 9:30 that drew no attention from the fish. Towards the end of the float we moved one of the biggest browns I have seen in the river. It charged our streamer right to the boat, but nerves got in the way and we pulled the streamer right out of the water. It left us both shook.
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