Spring Fishing Continues To Pickup

There is a tree planting on the banks of the Lamoille river on Saturday in Hyde Park.  All are welcome and it begins at 9 AM and Central VT Trout Unlimited is hosting a BBQ afterward.  It is also in a nice stretch of river so if you can attend bring a fly rod.  Contact me, Green Mountain Troutfitters, or CVTU for more info.  

Things are progressing and fishing is picking up the further we move into May.  This past weekend we found rising fish willing to eat my clients own Hendrickson emerger pattern.  We didn't see a ton of risers, but the ones we were able to cast to took his fly without hesitation.  You can see above a nice brown the same client hooked on a soft hackle pheasant tail.  Over the weekend flows on the big rivers were challenging for wading, though great for the drift boat.  In fact, all of the fish we landed were taken in places that were totally unaccessible on foot.  This is the big advantage of floats.  The ability to cover water and find active fish that never get fished to is pretty hard to beat.  

Yesterday I was out and about though not fishing.  I stopped at a small champlain trib and found these two large steelhead in mid spawn.  The female looked to be around 24-26" and the male just a tad smaller.  They were really impressive fish.  It was pretty cool to watch them and I captured a few videos that I uploaded to Instagram.  If you are on Instagram be sure to follow me @maplecountryanglers.  Most all the rainbows and steelhead should be finishing up or done spawning.  While I did find these steelhead, overall the spring Steelhead fishing was pretty poor, and while fish were caught there were now where near the numbers as years past.  I think it was due to low water conditions we had all spring, but as I said in earlier reports, the trout fishing has made up for that.  

I have seen in the past few days, brown stones, caddis, hendrickson's, Quill Gordon's and Quill Gordon spinners, and Blue Quills.  Water temps are now hanging in the low fifties and may creep into the upper 50's by tomorrow.  The fish will really continue to eat more consistently and throughout the water column as we get nearer to 60 degree water temps.  I expect the fishing to be pretty good for the rest of the week.  

The stocking trucks have been busy this week, so there may be a mess load of new fish the next time you hit your favorite spot.  

I have gotten out with my 9 month old a couple of times this spring and catching a trout with her in a backpack and the dog running around has proven to be a huge challenge, or the two of them are bad luck when it comes to fishing.  Either way, when she had been with me I have yet to land a fish.  Her and I will have to follow a stock truck or go after bass if things don't change soon!