 One year ago to the day Vermont again experienced massive flooding thanks to Hurricane Beryl. The damage was quite devastating again for many of the same communities that got hit last year, and extended east into New Hampshire and Maine. Devastation of homes, businesses and property have been tough to look at, but how have wild trout been affected?
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In 10 years of owning my guide service, I’ve had the privilege of guiding thousands of wonderful anglers of all ability levels. Many anglers come to me specifically to help them up their game, often in Euro nymphing, another solid portion hire me because they are new to the area and have not quite figured out trout fishing in the northeast, some want to be shown around new rivers and explore new areas, and then there are a portion who are simply on vacation and want to give fly fishing a try. Three common mistakes anglers of all ability levels struggle with are approach, line control, and accuracy, regardless of skill level.
One of the amazing things about our Northern New England’s river fisheries is that we have a wide variety of wild salmonid species we can target. Wild and native Brook trout and landlocked salmon, (as well as non native wild salmon in some fisheries) and non native wild rainbow and brown trout are abundant depending on the particular river. All characteristics of each species unique habits are generalizations, and I’ll only be focusing on wild stream born fish.Geographic location varies by species as well as the overall abundance. Some rivers are home to all four.
Early spring is an amazing time of the year to fly fish lakes and ponds for trout. From just after ice out through the the spring green up is a fantastic period to get on a stillwater, and just might produce the biggest trout of your season! When rivers are flowing fast and cold, lakes are heating up and the fishing can be outstanding.
September and October are exceptional times to be a fly angler. River temps are generally optimal and flows are often quite low allowing us to wade stretches of river that are difficult or impossible to reach in the spring. The colored hillsides and relative lack of fishing pressure make for my favorite time of the year to be on a river.
 Without a doubt, the theme of the summer in the Northeast was the never ending rain. My dad always says one weather extreme follows another and after not getting much of any precipitation all spring, the rain just didn’t stop this summer. Much of Vermont experienced a 100 year flood event this past summer and most other areas have seen excessive rainfall if not severe floods as well. So what is a trout angler to do when the rain just won’t stop and the rivers are high and occasionally muddy?
 Fly Fishing a Dry Dropper Rig
Suspending a nymph under a dry fly is an extremely exciting and effective tactic when fly fishing for trout The visual aspect of focusing on the dry fly while also targeting trout that are feeding subsurface makes this a favorite of mine on both rivers and lakes throughout the season, but is most effective late spring through fall. Let’s dig into some of the finer details that will help you catch trout with a dry dropper rig.  ***This Article Appears in the May 2023 Northwoods Sporting Journal***
May in the Northeast, probably the most anticipated month on a fly fishers calendar. As I tell all of my prospective clients, this is the time to book a trip! There is so much to look forward to this month that it can be a little overwhelming. Lakes and ponds are fishing great with trout feeding all day right up near the surface, bass and pike are shallow and aggressively feeding pre-spawn, and of course the river fishing is quite literally heating up, whether from a drift boat or while wading.  April Fly Fishing
***This Article Appears in the April, 2023 Northwoods Sporting Journal*** For the vast majority of Fly Fishermen in the Northeast, April is a pretty special month. Most trout streams and rivers become fishable for the first time in months, and depending on the state regulations, opening day is somewhat of a holiday. Until a few years ago, VT trout season began on the second Saturday in April. It now  4:30 AM, the lake is calm, and the eastern sky is just starting to turn pink. I ease the boat up onto plane and make a 25 minute run. It's late June on Lake Champlain and this flat I've chosen is as close to a guarantee as you can find in Smallmouth Bass fishing. As I get near the small point I kill the motor and deploy the bow mounted troller. Its just before 5 am now and there is plenty of light, as I silently angle the boat to the south of the point I see the first big swirl in the bay, then another. Stripping line from the reel, bass popper in hand, I watch the depth finder go from 15 to 4 feet pretty quickly. Just about to make a blind cast into shallows I notice some baitfish 15 feet in front of the boat. Suddenly a smallmouth slashes through the school, back out of the water coming right at the boat. I flick the popper at the swirl and instantly the fish rolls on the fly then goes airborne as I set the hook. These bass are street fighters, and in shallow water, the only place to go is up. Minutes later I finally am able to horse the roughly 5 pound fish into the net. For me, few things in fly fishing are more exciting to me then rolling up on a smallmouth flat at day break or just before sunset.
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