The Dog Days of Summer

Ive had some good groups out with me the last week.  Fishing has been decent for both trout and bass, really what you'd expect for mid summer.  The trout fishing is very limited, and with the ground being so dry the rain events we are getting are not having much of an impact on our local rivers.  We could really use a lot of rain to help the trout through August.  Most days have been too warm for trout unless you are on a bottom release tail water or a small mountain stream, a few cool nights here and there have opened up mid sided rivers briefly here and there.  This will continue to be the trend for the next few weeks I would guess.  Hatches have been somewhat sparse. Lime and Yellow sallies have been most prevalent when I've been on the water.  Ive heard reports of tricos beginning to hatch in the mornings.  

Tricos are very small mayflies around #22 or smaller that sometimes hatch with enough density to bring fish to the surface.  The duns are black with and cream or whitish color abdomen and the spinners are black.  It is definitely important to determine what life cycle the trout are keying in on with this hatch. 

I still see fly fishermen on the Winooski mid afternoon when its 90 degrees out.. The other thing I want to mention is fishing below cold water sources on the bigger rivers.  In summer many of our wild trout migrate to the mouths of cool springs, seeps, streams and rivers the find cool water.  You can sometimes see a bunch of fish stacked up trying to survive.  These fish are vulnerable to birds of prey, minks, otters, and unfortunately fishermen. IT IS NOT SPORTING OR COOL TO CATCH THESE FISH.  They are in survival mode.  Recently i had a conversation online with a nice guy who was from out of state.  The local fly shop in Stowe recommended he fish the mouth of a cold stream where it dumps in the Winooski river.  That was so disappointing to hear that they actually sent him there to catch trout that are in pure survival mode. 

Bass fishing is a great way to escape beat the heat on the big rivers.  The lower stretches all hold bass and some good ones.  I guided Connor a 13 year old great kid from Scotland, who wanted to learn to fly fish because his grandmother has a house on a great salmon river in Scotland and he wanted to catch one!  Connor's grandfather John also joined us. John is a 32 year veteran of our armed services and a great man.  Between the two I was in awesome company.  We fished for bass and under bright sun things were a bit slow, until near the end of the trip when we started nymphing with indicators in faster water, the same way you'd fish for trout.  Connor got broke off by a big bass and landed two in about 5 minutes.  

We are booked this weekend. Ill be heading to Maine to camp with the family and maybe hook a few stripers and Evan is with clients bass fishing.  Next week we are available so give us a holler.