The leaves and bugs are popping

 Water conditions and temps are pretty similar to last week's report.  Expect fishing to slow a little through the early part of the week as we have some below average temps that will lower water temps and suppress insect activity.  I don't anticipate river levels to be too much of an issue from the rain we are currently seeing.  Insect hatches have been decent on the warm sunny days and slow on the overcast rainy days.  New to the scene this week are #16-#18 Yellow Sally stoneflies, and more caddis.  I also hooked fish on a golden stone pattern this week, and saw the first golden stone shuck of the year on the same day.  I saw more Quill Gordon's (two tails) vs Hendrickson's (three tails), and on a float with my buddies saw a good number of them hatching.  The good news is you fish the hatches the same really. As opposed to last week, we saw almost no rising fish. 

From here through July I fish a golden stone nymph very often, especially when the water levels are elevated.  Fish this weekend took Golden Stone flies, Hares Ears, Pheasant tails, and soft hackle PT's and Hares Ears.  I fished a variety of caddis patterns during a caddis hatch and the fish had not keyed into them yet.   

I did not have any guide trips this weekend and took full advantage by getting out with some friends both on the rivers and on the lake as well as some volunteer work with TU.  Some nice fish were landed but what I will remember more are two very nice browns that I lost, one of which broke me off.  The stretches of river we fished this week had not been stocked yet, so we didn't put a huge number of fish in the net but the quality was good.  Ill take that any day! Stocking should be wrapping up soon. Saturday morning I got out on the lake with my good buddy and we got into some largemouth and pike.  Largemouth were hooked in a muddy grassy inlet of a small river and under docks in deeper clear water, while the pike were caught in about 6 feet over water over old weed beds.  The lake level is very low for the time of the year and areas we usually fish for bass, pike, bowfin, and carp and almost dry. We were only out for a few hours but the fishing was pretty consistent.  Fly of the day was a 3" perch pattern that took both bass and pike.  We also got a small bass on a popper.  

I also was proud to help out with Central Vermont Trout Unlimited's tree planting event on the Lamoille river.  We had around 40 volunteers and planted 130 trees in just a couple hours, followed by a great barbecue.  The stretch of river was in dire need of bank stabilization and tree cover.  We created a buffer between the river bank and field that will eventually stop the bank erosion, shade the river, and create better habitat for trout.  Driving along our rivers there are so many stretches that could benefit from this type of work.  The good news its relatively cheap, and really goes a long way.  

Ill be pretty busy with guide trips midweek through the weekend.  Good Luck out there!