Mid June Report

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!