I fished in the 2018 Fly Fishing Team USA Northeast Regional Tournament in PA this past weekend.  The comp was a little different from most in that it was an all lake comp.  We fished both Lake Perez and Canoe Creek Lake.  Things went very well for our team taking silver and for me personally with a 3rd place.  

I headed down to PA on Wednesday night Picking up teammate Jesse Haller down at Orvis.  There were practice sessions on each lake on Thursday and we wanted to get on the water to gather intel prior to the comp. This proved to be essential for me for two reasons.  One, I had not fished since October.  I and gotten a new reel and spooled up some new lake lines over the winter and hadn't used them.  As soon as I got on the water i found my reel was not right, it was set up for a right hand retrieve but I had spooled it with my left hand.  I also discovered my gear in a complete mess and it was probably 45 minutes in the boat until I was ready to fish. Our goals were to one, find areas holding fish, two find what level they were feeding at and what line to use, and three what flies they were interested in. My plan was to have a go to line, and then a backup plan if that was not working.  I did not want to spend time switching out lines during the comp.   We got some good intel on where to start on Lake Perez.  While we only caught a few fish each, we were able to locate several areas holding fish where I would start on the first comp day.  In the afternoon we hit Canoe Creek Lake for practice.  Thanks to a boat that was downright dangerous, heavy winds, and snow, we didn't really get much for intel and never caught a fish in practice.  Unfortunately for Jesse he had Canoe Creek on day one so had a distinct dis-advantage of not having a whole lot of intel on where to fish or what to use on his first day. Thankfully, our teammate Roe-Bear came up from Virginia Thursday afternoon and spent much of friday scouting out the venues and talking to local anglers at each lake, which was a big help. Roe Bear ended up with a top 10 finish himself which was awesome. We were able to get a bunch of flies tied and get some river fishing on Spring Creek Friday  before the comp, where we nymphed up a good number of wild browns, though had to work hard for them.  

Session 1: Lake Perez West

I was paired up with Madoka Myers in session 1.  She proved to be a great boat partner and awesome angler.  We had last pick of boats, so got a small boat with a nice sized leak, but it rowed well and drifted nicely.  In practice, we had not landed a fish on this end of the lake, however, we saw an angler catch a fish and some fish rising from a distance in one area as we rowed to the other end of the lake.  This proved to be just enough info to put us in the right place.  The best part was the other 6 competitors in our group went to another area so we had it to ourselves until the last 45 minutes.  I began with an intermediate line to fish 1-6' below the surface.  In practice I had luck with orange buggers so began there.  On our first drift Madoka hit a fish with a small PT nymph.  I threw one on but didn't get an eat on it.  I realized my orange was not on the menu and abandoned that early.  I went small and dark on my bugger and soon had two fish.  Madoka happened to have the same fly in her box and she too began landing fish. We kept the same drift going near shore until things slowed. We then adjusted our drift a little further out and were back into the fish.   I caught all but one fish on that bugger and one a chrominid, and all while stripping fairly erratically.  No fish were coming on the hang so I stopped even bothering as it was taking too much time. I decided to double up on the hot fly but worried in the back of my mind that I could lose both of them to bottom or a fish, and I had only three total.  Of course that happened with a minute left in the session when a fish ate super hard and immediately my flies were gone.  A few competitors landed rainbows of 59 cm and 52 cm so I wonder if it was one of those.  My heart rate rose through the roof knowing I would have the entire next session to fish with only one hot fly.  When the session was over I had 8 fish landed for a 1st place and Madoka had 5 and got 2nd. I was pretty damn pumped as I had just won my first ever session in a comp.  Here is one of Madokas nice fish.

Session 2: Lake Perez East

This was the easiest and most fun session of the weekend. We had the eastern half of Lake Perez in the afternoon and through random draw had a boat with Madoka again.  We both hoped that the fish would be onto the same flies as the morning.  We had each gotten into fish during this session on this end of the lake basically in the middle where it was fairly shallow. Thankfully it was the same program as the morning and we had things dialed in.  Things started off well and I landed two fish right off the bat on a small black nymph.  Soon I had a three or four fish lead on Madoka when all of the sudden she landed a double and then about 5 casts later another double! It was pretty awesome, but from that point on I was not able to get back ahead of her on fish.  Every time I would land one she would as well. The fish were still on the same dark bugger and we were catching a lot.  About halfway through the session I was pretty sure that we would take a 1 and a 2 as other boats seemed to not be catching nearly as fast as us. I think mostly they were not on the right flies. The fish were a little more nippy in the afternoon and you had to keep stripping if you didn't hook up with the fish the first time. Fish also began to take the fly on the hang occasionally.  I had to make one adjustment and get rid of my top dropper fly because many times as I landed a fish it would wrap around my rod tip and I'd have to spend a minute getting that free before I could fish again.  When you are catching only a few fish its not a big deal but the fish were coming pretty quick in this session.  I bet that had I done it sooner I would have landed another 2 or 3 fish.  When it was all over Madoka landed 19 and got 1st and I landed 16 and got 2nd.  I was right near the top of the leader board after day one with Canoe Creek Lake up next.  Intel from our teammates was that if fished tough so I was not quite sure what to expect on day two. 

Session 3: Canoe Creek Lake West

This was my worst session and the one that cost me winning 1st place overall.  Canoe Creek Lake is a big lake is deeper than Perez. Thankfully it fished better than the previous day. I had Team USA member Michael Bradley with me and we had last pick of boats again.  We were stuck with a 10' boat that was super tippy and rowed terrible.  The oars were way too long and we knew that we were not going to go far from the boat launch.  I had heard from a teammate that a competitor had landed a few fish near shore fairly close to the boat launch so thats where we started as did one other boat.  I started with three different flies and landed a couple fish early on two different flies.  Soon Michael landed two as well when we drifted very near shore.  My previous fish had come out a little deeper, but we saw a fish rise very close to shore and decided to work that area as neither us nor the other boat had fished that close to the bank in a small bay.  It was probably more than 1/2 way through the session and we each had only two fish.  I had lost 1 or 2 and missed some good eats somehow.  All of the sudden Michael went on a run and landed three more fish.  I changed my flies fairly regularly throughout the day as there was no consistency to what they were eating.  Finally with about a 1/2 hour left I got things going and landed one and a cast or two later had a double on but only landed one of the two.  Soon I landed another and tied up Michael.  I then took a cast right to shore on the point of the bay. Stripping really fast I got a fish on but somehow he came off about halfway to the boat.  That would have put me in the lead and I was pissed.  I missed another soft take on my last cast of the session and ended with 5.  I really should have put about 9 in the boat that session so I was a little bummed.  I figured i would be getting a 3rd or 4th but ended up tying Michael and Przemek Kaminski for first but lost on fish points to Micheal and got 2nd.  Had I taken the 1 here I would have won 1st in the comp.   

Session 4: Canoe Creek Lake East

With my worst session hopefully behind me and a chance at the podium very real I knew it was time to remain focused for three more hours.  The entire weekend had felt as though every time my flies were in the water it was inevitable that they would be eaten, and I felt that even more so going into the last session.  Thankfully I turned out my best performance here.  Everyone had the same intel on the last session as to where the fish were.  A small shallow bay had produced a lot of fish for the competitors who fished it in the morning and everyone went straight there.  I knew it would come down to a few fish and who could select the right flies, line, and retrieve to win it.  I was with Przemek in the boat and he was having a great performance himself and was near the top going into the last session.  I fished the same intermediate line and same three buggers I ended with in the morning.  The second cast of the session I netted a fish and was feeling confident.  We both picked away at fish as did others around me.  I had about 4 fish half way through plus a foul hooked rainbow that did not count.  I knew It was not going to be enough to win, so I thought we should leave the bay and head about 150 yards away to a point I had seen some bank anglers catch a fish or two during the morning and where my teammate had landed a fish the prior day.  This proved to be the right move. I tied on a small damsel fly nymph and on my first cast at the point landed a fish on that fly.  I then had a double but landed only one of the two.  I think I ended up with 4 there before things slowed.  No one had joined us so we went back to the group of boats with the intention of heading back to the point right at the end and hopefully get one or two more.  We each got a fish in the group of boats before we bolted again. The other boats had assumed we didn't catch anything on the point so again didn't follow us.  We got a fish or two right at the end so our plan had worked.  I ended up with 10 fish for 1st and my boat partner got 7 for 3rd.  That was enough to get me on the podium with a bronze medal, and helped Team Stackmend to a Silver medal which I was super pumped about.  

The only downer was we had to stay for awards, which normally would have been great, but I had to be home by 6:30 AM the next day because I had to watch my the two girls.  I ended making it home at 5:20 AM so it was a loooong monday but well worth it! I also realized I need a new boat net as my rubber bag had too much water resistance when trying to net a fish with one hand.  I had a few troubles,  thankfully it didn't cost me this comp though it definitely could in the future.

Thanks a lot to my teammates Jesse Haller, Roe Bear, and Tyler Cornett and congratulations on our silver medal.  There is now way I'd have been able to do as well I did without their help and friendship. I really owe a lot to Jesse as he has helped me in every way from day one and included me on his teams from the beginning.  Also thanks to Ken Crane and Pat Weiss for organizing and Madoka, Michael, and Przemek for being great boat partners and finishing 7th, 4th, and 5th respectively. Congratulations to Roe Bear on his top 10 finish as well.  Lastly congrats to Pat Weiss on the win and Devin Olsen with the silver.  It was an honor to finish along side two of the best in the world.  

Good to be back with everyone!  Its been a long, long, winter.  We are a week and a half into the trout season and, honestly, I have not been out in VT yet because of my maple sugaring season still wrapping up, though I did just return from a fly fishing competition in PA. I'll have a post up about the results in a day or two. The truth is, I haven't missed a whole lot.  Right now the combination of rain and snowmelt have even the smallest tributaries blown out and dirty.  

For the next day or so, you'll be better off fishing still water trout and bass ponds, but I'd recommend hitting ponds anytime this spring.  The trout fishing on lakes and ponds this time of year can be very good.  Fish are going to be found near the surface and in shallow where the water warms more quickly.  Stripping small buggers and nymphs from just under the surface to about 6' down will draw strikes.  Vary your retrieve and change flies often until you dial in what the fish want. I strip three flies until I figure out what they are on.  You can also use a dry dropper rig or Indicator rig with  a nymph, chrominid, or worm suspending below.  Scan the surface of the water for any insects, birds fly low (eating bugs) and for rises.  If you see any of these signs that will be where you want to fish. Most of the bugs hatching this early will be midges of varying sizes, so a chrominid is a good choice for fly.

Once the rivers come down the fishing should begin to pick up. As always this time of year it is generally a quality over quantity game and some of the biggest fish in the rivers are caught.  I know some friends have gotten into some beautiful browns and rainbows. We have 70's forecast next week so the water will begin to warm, causing insects and fish to be more active.  Keep in mind that there is still an insane amount of snow in the mountains so on hot sunny days rivers may run off color in the PM from snowmelt.

Your best bet on flies will be larger attractor nymphs like stoneflies, buggers, worms, bigger pheasant tails and the like, but fish your nymphs in tandem with a small natural nymph like a green caddis larvae or hares ear. I remember fishing  early season on a mid sized trib and took a 16" brown on a dead drifted white bugger and then two casts later an 18"  brown on my green caddis larvae dropper. Make sure you get your flies down to the bottom by using heavy tungsten beads or adding split shot. Streamers are a good option as well this time of year.  I use a 6 wt rod with Orvis Bank Shot line, which is a sink tip line to get the streamer down quickly.  I'll report back as conditions improve and bugs start hatching soon.

I hope that you have been enjoying this unbelievable weather we have had in October. We've only got one week left in this incredible season so get out there! I've concluded my guiding season a week ago and would like to thank everyone who has fished with me as well as the many people I was not able to get out on the water with.  This has been my most successful season yet, even with a slow June thanks to the cool weather. I probably had as many people want to book as I actually took out. Ill likely add a second guide next year.  Ive got someone in mind who is a really good guide but won't announce it until next year and its set in stone, but I'm really excited for him to help out.

The warm weather has kept the trout fishing good and steady, while the low water has kept the salmon fishing slower.  I've been on the big rivers, mid sized tribs, and on the salmon stream looking for Land Locked Salmon both with clients and on my own.  

As far as trout fishing, I've had some great trips recently with some really good dry fly fishing at times.  I hit a small rain shower with a couple clients on the drift boat and BWO's instantly began hatching in good numbers.  It was only a matter of minutes and we had about 8 -10 trout eating off the surface.  A # 20 BWO emerger fooled a good number of them.  I've also had good success on nymphs and have gotten some very impressive rainbows.  One trip 8 out of 12 trout were 13-16" and fought like crazy.  Ive found the trout on the big rivers to be more picky and mostly taking smaller nymphs 16-20.  On the tribs I've noticed that the fish seemed to feed more opportunistically and were eating what ever drifted through their feeding lane.  I fished the lower part of a gorge area one day with my brother in law and the upper part of it the next with a client and we found that in the head of every deep pool 1-2 nice rainbows were holding and ready to eat.  It was pretty fun fishing in there.  I've been carrying a streamer rod with clients but the fish have not shown much interest. We are getting a good amount of  rain tonight and this weekend so the streamer rod may produce better.  I would not hesitate to hit the tribs if the water is up and dirty.  

On the Lake run Salmon front, as I said before, it has been ok.  The low water and lack of rain is the reason.  There are fish, but just not in great numbers, and with low water and high pressure you need to present your fly perfect to get eats.   I fished with my wife sunday AM and we did well.  She got a nice lake run Brown of about 19",  and I got a steelhead and landlocked pictured above.  I didn't get a pic of her beauty brown as it slipped out of her hands.  Its not a common thing to get all three species in an hour and a half, let alone one season. All of the fish ate a #16 PT nymph. I anticipate the fishing will be really good for the remainder of the season.  We had the same conditions last season and when the rain finally came the second to last day of the season the fishing was really really good. I'd like to guide or fish myself but it doesn't look like that will happen as I'm headed hunting in Ohio. 

Ill try to get a season wrap up report sometime in November so be on the lookout for that.  Have fun out there and remember to always practice good etiquette on the water and more importantly, respect the fish we all love and the environment that allows these fish to live.

Fall began yesterday, but Summer is holding in for another week.  Actually we are going to see some of the warmest temps of the year.  Trout fishing is going to be poor, and it had not been good the previous week.  Water temps are high, 68-72+ on the big rivers and the levels are low.  Honestly, the best bet it to wait until next week to fish for trout, or head into the smaller streams to find cold water. Those small streams are very low right now and spooky so you need to take on a hunters mentality if you are fishing smaller and mid sized streams.  It can be challenging, but rewarding.  

I took this weekend off from guiding long ago as I had some other commitments and have been guiding a lot this month. I am really glad I did since the conditions are poor.  We are actually going to see the worst week of trout fishing we've seen the whole summer.  The clients I have coming in earlier on next for float trips will be going for bass instead of trout, though I am looking forward to a change to bass after chasing trout all spring and summer.  

The fishing this past week had been tough as well.  Warm days with bright sun and mild over night temps are to blame.  I had a full day float that I had to change to a half day thursday as the temps were 67 to start and rose to 70 when we got off the water at midday.  The fishing was slow and even fall fish were reluctant to eat.  We got a few trout including a decent wild brown and a brookie in the main stem of a big river which is rare. 

I would recommend staying off all big rivers until it cools down, especially the  Winooski below waterbury and the little river below the dam.  After stopping to take a temp on the little, which always runs cold from the bottom release dam, I was shocked to find that the water was 72 Wednesday night. I went up to the dam to find that water was spilling over the top and they were doing construction on the dam.  I emailed VT Fish and Wildlife and got a response the next day.  The turbine is being replaced in the dam to allow a wider range of generating flows in order to more naturally maintain a "run of river" flow instead of the huge releases we see now.  This will be complete by April 2018 hopefully.  In the short term its not good for our trout in the Little River or the Winooski below.  That cool water helped cool the entire lower Winooski.  Our wild trout are going to have a tough time in this warm spell.  Especially the ones who reside in the Little itself as they are not used to warm water temps at all.  Hopefully not too much damage is done and the fish will be better off in the future once the turbine is replaced and the water is once again cold.

Good luck out there and please use your stream thermometers this week.

Sorry for the delays in repots the past three weeks.  I've just been out straight and finally have a minute after this mornings drift boat trip.  Fishing has been good this week, yesterday I had two clients each hook browns on the last cast. I'm not sue I've had lost cast doubles before.  

Aside from two weeks ago's high water and cold temps, which slowed the fishing down for my clients, fishing has been consistently good for a while.  There have been plenty of dry fly opportunities mostly early and late, but have had fish taking dries sporadically throughout the day as well.  There was an insane flying ant hatch last Friday and it seemed just about every fish was eating on top at dark.  Fish have been eating a variety of dries including ants, hoppers, caddis, and grey adams among other things.  The fish have not been extremely picky either.  during the any hatch we had a large hopper and a small ant off the back and each fly got about the same number of eats.  If you're fishing a small fly thats hard to see or its getting dark, try dropping the smaller fly off the bend of the hook of a bigger fly like a hopper or stimulator.  

When fish are not rising consistently I've been running a dry dropper with clients and had the most takes on size 14-18 dark or red colored mayfly imitations as well as caddis larvae.  I find that fish key in more to smaller flies as fall progresses so don't be afraid to throw  small #20 PT and copper johns.  Ive also seen a few October caddis. a large orange caddisfly that hatches in the fall.  A larger orange larvae or orange wet fly will get takes.  The fish are very spread out on the bigger rivers and can be found from pocket water, to fast riffles, to long flats.  I like to hit those long flats for rising fish in the evenings. There are still a ton of stocked fish in the rivers thanks to the cool summer.  Typically in this area most die by mid summer leaving only wild fish in the fall, so there are definitely plenty of fish around.  

I've heard a few reports of salmon being caught though I haven't been after any yet.  I imagine the next bigger rain event will bring a lot of fish up the rivers. Ill wait until after this warm spell ends next week to try my luck.  Early on the fish are more likely to take swung streamers, with my favorite being a black ghost.  

You'll need to watch water temps from this afternoon through next week.  The big rivers were 68 yesterday afternoon and 66 this morning and I imagine they will push over 70 in the afternoons they next few days.  

I'm almost completely booked through October but have plenty of dates once September ends.  You could try me regarding september, as I may be able to get a short evening or morning trip in.

The last few weeks continued to be a roller coaster with below seasonal temps and rain interspersed with hot muggy weather and increased river temps. I had some good trips and one tough one in low water.   River flows have been up and down as well.  Fishing has been good when we have had cool weather and obviously tougher when it has gotten hot and low.  It looks like that may change for the next week or so as we have a period of cool dry weather forecast with highs in the upper 60's and low 70's and lows in the 40's and 50's.  This should bring some very good fishing both with dry flies and nymphs.  River levels will drop but should remain cool everywhere, but please don't forget to take temps.  

Iso's began slowly hatching a few weeks ago when I saw a shuck on a rock and many smaller iso nymphs on overturned stones.  We should hit the hatch perfect in the next few weeks.  In my last report I went over how to fish this hatch so you may want to scroll down and find that.  

I've also heard reports of flying ants and people taking fish on ant patterns recently so have some ready to go.  I began fishing with two rods again.  One with a tight line nymph set up and the other with a dry fly, that I also will fish as a dry dropper when things warrant.  I've still had the most dry fly fish on smaller stimulators.  Sunday I was on the river early and caught most fish on dark nymphs (think ISO nymphs).  I saw a single rise on a rip rap bank and my first cast with the stimulator I hooked a big rainbow.  Unfortunately he came unbuttoned but let me know exactly how big he was when twice he jumped 3-4 feet out of the water after he came unhooked!  I also caught some nicely colored browns who clearly had put on their fall spawning colors.  

 I had a trip the day before I left for QC that went well and fish were really keyed into golden stonefly nymphs. I had not had a ton of fish keying into them earlier this year, but that day they were.  We fished up through a fast riffle and missed a few fish. Put on a golden stone and fished back down where we and already fished and I think the client landed 6 in short order.  There are still a ton of golden shucks on the rocks so don't abandon them.

I also checked on a salmon river I frequently guide on Saturday.  After being cool for two previous days I was not worried about water temps but took a temp anyway before fishing.  72 degrees, I am used to freestone streams draining out of the green mountains, but this river drains another lake and the surface temp of the lake was keeping the river temps up there.  I left without fishing, but unfortunately saw 5 anglers all fishing one pool, their license plates were NH and MA.  

I should at least go over my trip to Gaspe Penninsula in QC.  Unfortunately they were in the midst of a severe drought up there and it hadn't rained in two months.  As I got closer I began noticing the lawns and fields were brown and every river I drove over looked like a trickle.  I was already concerned the fishing would be tough way before I got there and I was right.  I only fished one day, the last I was there, as I waited for rain that never came. I was told at the ZEC no one was catching fish.  I fished the York River which was low and gin clear.  I spent half the day looking for fish and then went back with the whole family.  I fished the tailout of a pool with 11 salmon looking between 10 and 20 lbs each.  It didn't help that my daughter was dressed in bright pink, but the trip was a family vacation, not a fishing trip.  I had one large salmon nip at my fly lazily but was never on.  We plan on going back, earlier in the year and without the kids.  It was pretty stunning to see 20-40 lbs wild Atlantic Salmon in a perfectly clear river.  

If you go there are a lot of differences between fishing in the US.  Each river is controlled by a ZEC and split into zones. The ZEC is responsible for administering passes, licenses, and controlling how many anglers are on the water.  Each zone is either unlimited access, meaning any number of anglers can fish these zones, but for a fee, or controlled access.  The fee on the york was $61 per day plus license.  The controlled access zones where you must enter a lottery and be drawn to fish are more money.  It was $95 per day if you are drawn, but some other rivers are more.  We actually won a lottery on the Bonaventure but it was $185 per person per day and the fishing was poor so we didn't take it.   We learned a lot about some of the rivers and and how the lotteries work as well as when to fish.  It is certainly not cheap to fish, but if you only go once a year or less its worth while. Ill be back for sure!

Had a lot of trips out in past couple weeks, most being before the 5 day heat wave we just got through.  Above are pictures of just two of the very successful trips I had the pleasure of leading.  Fishing was good to very good while the water and air temps were cool with fish being caught on dries, mostly stimulators, and mayfly and caddis nymphs, odd that while the fish preferred stimulators on the surface, largely ignored the big nymphs. Out of probably 35+ fish landed by clients that week I think only one was on a stonefly nymph. Fishing seemed better in the morning, and as the days went on the trout were less willing to move off the bottom to eat. This made getting a good drag free drift that allowed the nymphs time to sink to the bottom more important.  Water temps were in the low to mid 60's on the big rivers in the end of July, but pushed up into the 70's and hit seasonal lows this past week.  I did notice more anglers on the water than any time I can remember ever.  I found anglers in places I guided that I never have seen them before.  It was a little challenging on a few trips.  In one instance we had just over an hour left in the trip and the clients back was sore so we took a little ride to a different section of a smaller stream and gave his back and arm a short break.  I drove probably 2 miles up the road seeing many anglers and finally turned and went back down in search of a place we could fish upstream and not run into any anglers.  We got to the first pool and began fishing when a guy came down and fished below us for maybe 3 minutes before coming our way.  He asked what our plans were and I told him we were going to fish up stream for a little ways.  He wasn't familiar with river etiquette I guess as his reply was there is plenty of water to fish and trudged up the river past us. I didn't tell him I'd just driven about 2 miles along the stream to find a place where we could avoid people.  Oh well, we got back in the truck and moved again.  Overall it was really bizarre how many people were out fishing, Im pretty spoiled I guess cause crowded rivers, a norm in many places, are not really an issue here aside from two weeks ago! 

I only ran one trip this week because of the conditions and things were not easy.  We hit the mid to upper reaches of a mid sized trib, early.  Though it had been hot, water temps were 58 degrees to start out and the level was low. I had made sure my anglers wore natural colored clothing the night before anticipating spooky conditions, but was also hopeful that the river would get hit with the mid week front that pushed through the night before.  Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to move the river levels up at all. The anglers were beginners and we spent some time working on casting before working up stream with dries and nymphs.  Situations like these really test the anglers skills.  As we slowly approached one flat pool I put my angler into casting position down stream and under a hemlock, while I snuck forward and sighted into the water.  Seeing three browns spread throughout the pool and watching one eat from the surface I was hopeful.  First cast from my client had the correct distance, but the caddis dry landed opposite side of the pool in the shallow gravely area.  Immediately a brown came about 15 feet from the pool to the fly and just as it was about to eat the fly dragged and the trout refused. It took a lie in that area and I instructed my client to let the fly float well past the trout and then make the same cast again.  As he picked up the fly it made a "plop" sound and two trout instantly disappeared never to be seen again.  We worked for the third higher in the pool but he too was spooked at some point.  Overall it was a fun, challenging, and nice morning, i think 4 trout ate the fly.

We are getting moderate to heavy rain  as I write this mid day Saturday. This should help fill the rivers and flush the warm water out.  Right now the Winooski is very muddy in Richmond but still fairly low.  Looking ahead this week we have highs only in the upper 60's thru Wednesday and then mid 70's following that.  This should set us up for some good fishing on most if not all rivers in our area.  Mid August cool downs have traditionally been some of the best weeks of the year if you are lucky enough to hit it right with water temps in the 60's.  As we get into August be on the lookout for a few things.  Terrestrials, hoppers, crickets, beetles, and ants are on the menu.  Be on the lookout for flying ant hatches.  When the flying ants emerge they can be seriously dense and if you happen to find a swarm near a trout stream there can be a lot of ants on the water and a lot of trout keying into them.  You really can't go wrong throwing an ant pattern this time of year as you may pick up fish at any time.   The next thing to be on the lookout for are Isonychia may flies. These are a grey mayfly around a size 12. Parachute adams, grey wolulfs, and adams irresistible's are all good, with the latter probably my favorite.  While there are a few Iso's that hatch in the spring, the end of August and beginning of September are the prime time for this insect.  This is my favorite hatch of the year for a couple reasons.  One, it is the best opportunity for consistent dry fly action in this area, and one of the few times trout will ignore nymphs and eat dries off of the surface. After your dry fly has finished its drift, allow it to swing across the current and strip it back to you.  You will get fish to eat your dry this way.  Two, when the hatch is just starting, or  not happening, trout will happily take a nymph. The Iso nymph is a swimming nymph and a good one at that.  Unlike most mayflies, they crawl to the edge of the stream and crawl out on rocks, similar to a stonefly, to hatch. This means that you have nymphs swimming all over the stream and makes fishing pretty easy. Many times perfect presentations are not necessary.  Cast upstream and allow you nymphs to sink and then swing your flies at the end of the drift. Allow your flies to hang in the current before stripping them back to you.  The third thing to look for is BWO's and Baetis mayflies.  These small mayflies become a more important part of the trouts diet as we move toward september.  I usually will fish a heavy Iso pattern nymph with a  #18-20 nymph such as a red copper john as the dropper.

Please continue to monitor water temperatures and seek out cool water through September and focus on getting the fish in and released quickly.  If I take a picture of a fish for a client we leave the fish in the net well under water pointing upstream, get the camera out and ready then lift the fish out of the water for probably 3-6 seconds before returning it to the water. Research shows a trout out of the water for more than 15 seconds has a much higher rate of mortality.  There have been many a time that the fish has just not cooperated in staying still for us and we just let it go rather than continue to stress it to get a perfect pic.  

Im guiding Monday which should be good, before the whole family leaves for the Gaspe peninsula of Quebec to camp, and try my luck at Giant wild Atlantic Salmon that have returned from the Atlantic Ocean to spawn. Ill be back around the 15th of August if you'd like to get out.

I couldn't be more optimistic about the health of our trout right now.  I spent a lot of time on the water in the past week and fished many new and old areas, including fishing with in a friendly half day tournament with a bunch of local guides and fishermen.  The entry fee: Beer.  I was so encouraged by everyones results and what it means for the rest of the year and beyond.  One team of two anglers headed into the mountains and landed 51 trout mostly brookies from 3-6" but  wild native fish none the less.  My partner and I took advantage of the perfect river temps low to id 60's and fish both a mid sized and large river.  We landed 50 trout mostly wild rainbows from 7" to 16"  the majority were 13-15" and were incredibly healthy and fat.  They really put on a show, with many fish making multiple leaps 2 or even 3' out of the water.  In one roughly 250 yard stretch of a mid sized stream we landed 1 Brook Trout, 3 Browns, and 12 rainbows, plus fish missed and lost.  I believe that every fish was wild!!!  We fished another spot on that same river near where they stock fish, we caught two stocked fish and 4 wild ones!  The stockies must have been caught or washed down and even killed in the floods a few weeks ago. That is good fishing no matter where you are.  Another group fished the same areas as us and caught a good number of fish, around 20 or so, while a few other groups fished a river not known for its trout population and landed all three species and were in double digits. 

I was so encouraged by these results.  I had previously thought my local wild rainbows seemed a little lower in numbers but it may have been that I could not get through the stocked fish, or that the wild fish some of the wild fish were keying into different flies than most stocked? Not sure.  One thing is for sure that we are looking very god going into the dog days of summer.  While we will likely see some intense heat at some point our fish are very healthy right now and ready for the stress.  After surviving last summer, this one should be a breeze.  Additionally, the rains have kept ground water levels very high and springs are pumping cool water at spring like levels which helps our river flows and temps.  

I have seen a fair amount of bugs with some large golden stones, lime stones, small black caddis, sulphers, Light cahills, and a huge yellow #8-10 mayfly, I guess it must be a golden drake.  I have not seen this bug much before, but trout were keying into them at high noon under bright sun.  I was a bit surprised that they were hatching in warm weather during midday as opposed to evening.  The trout had actually moved from their normal deeper run and the into shallow clear water adjacent to the riffle and were taking them off the surface.  It would be nice if that hatch happened more often!

The remainder of the week looks warm, but then we cool back down with below average temps forecast.  Perfect.

Im booked this weekend, but have some availability next week and the following sunday afternoon.  Please look me up if you'd like to get out.

Had a great vacation with the family last week for fourth of July, and have returned to find continued good fishing.  Sorry to the people who called looking to get out and fish, there were quite a few of you, I hope you were able to get some time in on the water.  

Fishing is good right now, you just have to be able to adjust your location and technique depending on river flows and clarity. We are still in the same wet cool pattern we've been in all summer. While some rivers have gotten over 70 degrees  earlier this week, I don't think we will have to worry about temps until maybe sunday afternoon on the big rivers.  Today didn't even get into the 60's!  Really an ideal summer day to be on the water.  The high flows and cool water temps  are great for our local trout populations as they are still happy and not too stressed, though we did have some significant flooding last week. The wild trout know how to survive the floods, but it will be interesting to see how the stocked fish have moved around.  I have not fished any stocked rivers since I've been back.  The trout have been able to continue to feed, and by the looks of the football shaped brown trout I landed last night, (first trout pic above) they are putting on weight. That fish took a #14 grey nymph on a mid sized stream.  Fish have been taken on dries and nymphs this week, and I'm sure throwing a streamer in the dingy water after a rain could get you into a nice fish as well.  I actually just talked to a local client who fished with earlier this season and he was fishing a mid sides stream and could not get a take on nymphs.  Eventually he threw on a foam ant and caught quite a few wild browns on dries.  I'll be out a lot in the next three or four days and will update things next week though we do have some warm weather coming.  I have seen some large golden stones flying around and caught a brookie on a yellow stimulator a few days ago.  If you are not getting much on dries or nymphs maybe try downsizing your nymphs as small as a size 20.  I actually got broke off last night by a big wild rainbow on 6x that took a #20 Pheasant tail nymph.

I got a ton of fishing on my vacation in.  We started by heading down to Manchester, VT and stopped to visit my friend who is in R&D for Orvis designing rods and other gear.  Unfortunately, as we arrived at Orvis it began to pour and blew out the Battenkill so we didn't get to fish that evening.  We made plans to try a float in the morning and my buddy picked me up bright and early and we met one of his co-workers to fish.  The river was so high we had to shorten the float on the Battenkill because we couldn't get the boat under the bridge!  The water was moving rapidly and was in the banks and bushes.  We managed to move maybe 3 fish in an hour and a half throwing streamers and I was able to land a nice 14" wild brown on a 6" streamer.  It was pretty rewarding given the conditions and the river.  

That same afternoon the whole family loaded up and went from Southern VT to our families camp on the Canadian border.  Its a family tradition to head up for the 4th of July and it happens to coincide with the peak of the Hexagenia Mayfly Hatch.  The Hex as its called, is one of the largest of the mayflies, about a size 6 or 8 and hatch on warm calm evening just at dusk.  The hatch is fairly finicky and we had seasonably cool weather.  The first three nights there were enough bugs hatching for some fish to eat on top, and some big ones at that.  Since the hatch was not dense fish would pop up, rise a couple times and head down.  You had to get into the preferred distance from shore and wait.  At times you would go for 20 minutes or so without making a cast waiting for a fish to come close enough to you.  Sometimes a fish wold rise in range but then not rise again or a fish would feed toward you only to turn and go the other way just out of range..  Most of the fish caught were when a fish would rise at least twice so you could see what direction it was moving and lay a cast right in front of it.  When this happened the fish would eat almost every time and it is pretty rewarding and exciting.  I started the first night out with 4.5x and was broke off immediately by big fish on the hook set.  I upsized to 3x and over the 4 nights landed rainbows and browns from 16-21".  The last night at was about 5 degrees warmer and I anticipated a good night.  I took my 2 year old out and we trolled the fly rod and got a nice rainbow.  I then went out by myself and bugs were coming off in good numbers and fish were on the surface early.  Since there was a good density of giant mayflies the fish were feeding in sort of circles and staying put in an area instead of searching.  I could slowly row near a fish and wait for it to come up and usually get it to eat when I could put my cast in front of it as it was eating on the surface.  It was a great way to end out time at camp.

Aside from fishing the hex hatch, my wife and I went over to Northern NH, and fished some crazy packed water.  There were fish and anglers everywhere.  We did well though landing about 25 trout and salmon.  My wife fished dries, while I fished nymphs.  We just had to cover all the water and we picked some nice fish from spots that other anglers had over looked.  I caught one big brookie in shallow water on the opposite bank in a place absolutely pounded by anglers.  i just think that spot was overlooked and since there was a heavy current it was tough to get a good drift.  In another busy spot I caught fish directly where another angler had been standing and fishing with little luck by down sizing my nymphs to size 18-20.  The fish confidently took the small nymphs and ignored the larger offerings.  Likely because of the pressure.

Next we headed down to Old Orchard Beach, Maine for some beach time.  I scheduled a trip with Mark Drummond of Drummond Fly Charters out of Kittery Point, Maine.  I've been trying for 3 years to get a big striped bass on the fly with no real luck.  I told Mark I wanted a big one and we headed out to the broad ocean.  On probably my 5th cast I briefly hooked a very big bass right near the boat but he was gone almost immediately.  My next fish I landed and was a nice 10-12 pound bass.  Finally I had gotten a big striper!! Unfortunately the pics did not save to the camera so I have no pics.  We then got into some schoolie stripers and caught a bunch like the one pictured above and smaller.  I hooked one other big fish who ran toward shore before turning and running right at the boat.  I couldn't strip fast enough to keep pressure on the fish and it came off.  I ended the morning landing about 40 schoolies and the big bass.  It was a great trip and I'd recommend Mark to anyone.  The next morning I took what I learned and landed 10 stripers from the beach on my own, all small fish though.  

I've got a lot of openings the next few weeks as I think the cool weather is keeping some tourists away.  Ironically that same weather is what is keeping the fishing good.  Let me know if you want to get out and take advantage of the good mid summer trout fishing!

We have received over 2" of rain in the last 12-16 hours.  Rivers in  our area are very high and dangerous.  The Mad for instance is 5600 CFS right now.  It begins to become fishable somewhere around 500 CFS.  Small streams will clear and drop first so look to them tomorrow.  Its also a good time to get out on the lakes and ponds for both warm and cold water fish.  The hex hatch is happening now and it brings big fish to the surface.  This is a fun hatch when you hit it right.  Think warm, calm nights.  I have done well on both duns and cripples.  Cast to any risers within in distance as fast as possible before the fish go back down and be ready to strike at any minute. You may catch the biggest brown, brook,   rainbow trout or bass of your life!  I am guiding from camp on a great Hex pond this week Sunday through Wednesday then Ill be in Maine vacationing and chasing stripers.   Please let me know if you want to get out for an evening!

I was not on the rivers too much this week but got out with clients a few times.  The fish were taking caddis dries in the AM, but mostly nymphs.  I fished smaller streams because of the high flows.  The fish have definitely begun feeding in their normal summer times, early and late. Ive noticed this switch over the past two weeks.  Prior fish were feeding all day, but they are definitely much more active right now early and late.  We picked up fish midday but it was certainly slower than it had been.

As you can see the bass fishing has been good.  My partner and I were happy to take a second place finish at the 2017 Ditch Pickle Classic Fly Fishing Tournament.  This was especially rewarding as we had a breakdown and no outboard motor on day 2.  We were basically stuck within 500 yards of the launch where we could use the trolling motor.  We targeted both large mouth and small mouth with dark colored flies.  The magic depth for feeding largemouth was 3.5 feet  in sandy bays, while smallmouth were caught in 3-10' of water both on rocky bottom drop offs and sandy bays near the drop offs.  I caught my largest smallmouth bass of my life on a top water popper in 4' of water.  It was 20.25" and was a beast.  My partner did a great job of netting it.  All of the fish wanted an erratic retrieve.

I'm off to Orvis in Manchester today for the night and ill get some fishing in down there before heading north to camp.  Everyone have a great fourth!