FFC Blog Roll

Northern Vermont Fly Fishing Report

June 17, 2009

Lawton Weber of Pleasant Valley Fly Fishing Guides reports:

 A buddy of mine and I took the new raft down the Winooski for its maiden voyage below Middlesex Dam today, and while river levels and clarity were far from ideal due to high flows out of Wrightsville Reservoir, we had a blast. Flows were actually good for floating, but the clarity was around 3 feet or so...not too flash. The water temp was an incredible 61F at 11:30am! We pretty much avoided the fast rainbow water, and concentrated on the slower brown trout looking water that is mostly unreachable to wading anglers most of the season. I didn't fish, but my buddy did and landed a beautiful 18" wild brown, a 9" wild brown, and hooked another around 20" as well! And where we got those fish, there was no way to get to them by wading under all but the lowest flows, and even then it would be a stretch. The Lamoille is down quite a bit, but still running at about twice its normal flow; just like the Winooski. These current flows around most of the state are more like mid-May water levels and thats keeping water temps down, which is great! That being said, we are going to have another wet spell thru Saturday. The Lamoille valley is forecast to get .50-1.25" of rain through Saturday; while the Winooski valley is looking more like 1-2" of rain over the same period. It looks like .25"-50" of rain a day more or less, which is not alot over 24 hrs, but it will have a compounding effect by the weekend I think. I'd say fish in the rain until flows just get too high or less than 3 feet of visability, because water temps are great, and there are plenty of fish around. Smaller rivers and streams should stay pretty clear and fishable throughout the timeframe. Flows on the Big C are back down and the river is in great shape. Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!

Lawton Weber of Pleasant Valley Fly Fishing Guides guides the Green Mountains of Vermont.

He also reports on the Lamoille and Winooski for Fly Fishing Conditions at: www.flyfishingconditions.com/vermo