General Fishing Report 5/18/19
General Fishing Report May 18, 2019
Hello Anglers!,
For the time being our wet spring has seemed to stabilize, and with it some improved fishing conditions. With warmer air temps, more bugs have been hatching, with yellow sallies, Hendrickson’s and some Blue Winged Olives being seen on the warmer afternoons. Most area rivers have received their yearly allotment of hatchery fish and we’ve been catching a mix of these along with some wild fish over the last week. As rainfall has slowed here are some things to consider moving forward. A rain event that brings the rivers up and off color (which seems to take less rain fall with our saturated ground) consider throwing some streamers and having a shot at some of our larger wild fish. Streamers seem to have gotten more attention during these events more than nymphs. Keep your tippet strong (like 2x or bigger) and swapping out flies and or colors if you are not getting action. As the water lowers and clears, switch to the nymph rig and as the water is still stained consider stone fly nymphs and then swap to more natural and smaller stuff as the water clears even more. On a day like today with sun for most of the day it would be wise to drop the size of the fly as well. Another tip, if you are an angler that likes to sit on a run for a bit,, is to swap flies every now and then, changing not only size, but color and amount of flash, etc. Flies that have worked for us in the past few days have been stonefly nymphs, hares ears(size 12-16), frenchies(12) and slender mayfly nymphs (12-14) like the iron lotus.
Smallies are in and plentiful on our local Lake Champlain tribs, and with that comes anglers, but it is an opportunity to tie into the biggest smallmouth of your life! Keep some various colors of streamers on hand and vary your retrieve to fit what the fish want. It is awesome to catch these hard pulling fish, but please remember that these fish are in our rivers to make the next generation of smallies, so treat them with respect. I’m also going out on a limb and thinking that the pike fishing is about to improve. Flows on the Creek are dropping but at a good level to float and water temps, while still a bit cool are looking to warm up a bit in the coming week. There is a fine line between good pike fishing and when the Creek becomes too warm for our toothies to chase flies. Such is late May in Vermont and the fishing opportunities that it presents to us.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend folks, have fun out there, be safe and enjoy this beautiful state that we call home. Steve in the shop can answer any questions you might have while picking out some flies or shoot me an email dave@mmvt.com and I will be in touch.
Cheers,
Dave
Previous Reports
Greetings Anglers! May the fourth be with you. For sure it’s been a wet April out there. I heard today that we got double the amount of rain we usually get in April. This has made for some interesting conditions out there on our local rivers. Tons of water for sure, but that has also meant that our local resident trout population has been getting fed pretty regularly with all the runoff! It has also created some quickly decreasing clarity on the rivers when it does rain.
Its been awhile, but I thought I would jump in for a guest fishing report, OCC update and some overall thoughts for a successful early season on the water. It is without a doubt a very exciting time of the year. With the winter months all but behind us, we are looking into the slow but sure entry into warm weather and good fly fishing ahead. I have always felt that April was the most brutal month in VT.
General fishing report for March 29, 2019. Since we’ve last spoke we’ve lost some snow, gained a bunch in the mountains and started losing some again. The extended forecast looks to keep the melt going, but it doesn’t seem that we’ll have any huge runoff issues, not yet at least. For me personally, I have not been out recently, but perhaps this weekend. The Otter is a bit high and looks like it’s rising, but if you can find some slower water (but still moving) near some deeper winter holding areas that would be a good place to start.
After a Busy weekend of guiding and personal fishing, here’s what the guides have to report and what to look forward to. First off, just two more weeks left of the regular season! If that doesn’t get you motivated to get out and enjoy some fall fishing, then I’m not sure what will! Last weeks rain definitely had the fish in an eating mood, but it was hard to pin down any one fly that did the most work. Worms worked in the more off color water, as did nymphed and swung streamers, but as things cleared, more natural bugs like October caddis patterns and Pt’s did the work.
Greetings Anglers! I hope everyone is able to get out and enjoy this beautiful state that we live in! Despite the dry summer it seems that the trees don’t really care and are putting on quite the display for us. And we are getting rain, which makes the trees and us happy right? The recent spell of rain seems to have got the fish (trout) kicked into feeding mode, especially on the tribs. After a couple slow days on the Creek, I had a productive few hours on the Middlebury today, with nicely stained water and a ton of leaves to catch!
Hello Folks! Happy Fall! We did pick up some much needed rain this week, some areas more than others, but after a long, dry summer every bit helps. Locally the Otter seemed to have been the big winner, compliments of some significant downpours in the Rutland and northern Rutland County areas. Levels have seemed to plateau, and despite the big bump in levels, clarity is pretty good. Tribs did see a bit of a bump in levels, but are still low. Water temps have settled back as well.
Greetings Anglers! While we are still in low water mode, the outlook looks promising. Cooler temps and shots of rain all next week should help the fishing out there. We were out today with a four person guide trip and found some low 60’s on the lower New Haven and upper 60’s on the Creek. We found many species other than trout on the Otter, but fun none the less. In my experience, once the Otter water temp gets in the lower 60’s, the trout become more active. Until we get really colder temps, they are usually found still in the faster water.
