Pleasant Valley Fly Fishing

Seasons greetings from New Zealand!  Things are going well down here this season with some nice fish around, though we’re in a classic La Nina weather pattern, which means for the deep south of the South Island we’re having quite the hot and dry spell.  Fish are starting to get real spooky, but clients have been catching fish up to 7lbs; even some that big on dries!

     On the other hand, from what I’ve heard and seen on the interwebs, I’m glad I’m not involved in the ski industry in Vermont!  Pretty mediocre start to winter for sure, but so far no winter flooding or high flows which is great for the remaining wild trout left in some of our more battered waterways thanks to Irene and Shumlin.  In that respect, I hope we get a mild winter with little in the way of ice and floods, as the trout will need all the help they can get during this period of greatest mortality. 

     I’ve been awfully busy down here this season with various work/play, so I apologize for not posting some photos yet.  I’ll try and be better about it after the new year.  To all my readers, past, current and future clients….have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

I was impressed these past few days to see some nice fish being caught by my clients within the Lamoille watershed.  Surprising numbers of wild rainbows from 7-14″ and we even got a couple to eat a dry.  Weather like we’re having now will really help extend the season for a bit. 

    That said, my season here in Vermont has come to an end, and tomorrow we’re off to New Zealand to pick up the season there.  After the heat of 2010, you’d think it would be tough to find a tougher season for the fish and fishing; but thanks to some nasty spring flooding, more July heat, and the effects of Irene and Gov. Shumlins “Dig deeper” re-election campaign destroying our streams over most of the state….2011 will go down as “one to forget”…

    Problem is, we won’t be forgeting 2011 for decades after what has happened to a great deal of our rivers and streams.  Irene was bad, but as we’re seeing over the past 6 weeks, the state and towns have been making things far worse and I fear we’ll be seeing more floooding than ever on some of these rivers that were channelized and gravel mined for years to come.   Thankfully the northern third of the state has not quite had the damage by the state and towns so there will be some places to find good fishing next season.  But others in all honesty, may take many years.

     Thanks to all of my longtime and new clients this season.  It was a bit tougher than normal for sure, but there were plenty of good days had by all.  I will periodically be doing some fishing reports from New Zealand, so check in from time to time.  Let’s hope for no big flooding this winter and enjoy the remainder of the season!

    It’s been a little hard distinguishing one day from the next the way the weather has been of late.  Seems like its just been raining forever.  All of that is supposed to change later today thru early next week with sunny and dry conditions.  The question will be how low can the bigger rivers get in that amount of time.  The big rivers are all too high to fish currently, though the Lamoille looks to be fishable in the upper reaches above Morrisville by Friday.  The Winooski is ok in its uppermost reaches, but the fishing could be a bit spotty that far upstream. 

      Small streams are generally in fishable shape, but will be cooling off big time in the next 24-48 hours with some cold nights in the upper 20’s in the cards.  Think nymphs….

    Hatches are sparse at best, but there will be some BWO’s around #18-22.  Good luck on the water!

  Hmmm, lets see:  major flooding in May, thermal stress and heat in July, Irene and the state/road crews destruction all this past month, and just in time for the foliage tourists and anglers, a dousing rain that has brought all waters way up.  I’ve been asked alot recently “man, you must be ready for New Zealand, huh?”  Uhh, the answer to that would be a resounding yes! 

    The rains of last night dumped a widepsread 1-2+ inches rain and as a result most rivers are running at record highs for the date.  As I’ve mentioned before, this type of rain at this point in the fall is a bit of a kiss of death for the prospects of really good fishing for the remainder of the season on the mid size and larger rivers.  Simply too much water, no uptake from the forest, and too cool to dry things out.  The icing on the cake will be that we have another storm that will hit us Saturday thru Sunday with another 1-2″ of rain.  Ugh.  Next week prospects will be limited to say the least.

     Water temps will drop into the low to mid 50’s during the weekend.  Hatches are spotty at best, but consist of BWO’s #18-22, and a few Isonychias #10-14.  Good luck on the water!

       Quite a spell of mild weather we’re having of late.  Over the past few days I have been guiding on the Winooski and some on the Lamoille and its tribs.  In terms of how the fishing has played out, it has generally been ok, though slow in spots on the big water.  That said, I have been guiding mostly raw beginners where the potential of the fishing is never quite maximized. 

     I know we’ve all heard it before and I’ve certainly reminded folks over the years that the Winooski below the Mad will have Didymo in it, despite blooms only having been seen in the Upper Mad; but last Friday on the stretch below the Mad, I found Didymo on some rocks in the Winooski.  Not a big bloom and only a few rocks, but the bottom line is with the cooler water temps and the sheer volume of nutrient poor water flowing of late, the Winooski and every other water is very condusive to blooms at this point.  Whether you see it or not, please remember to clean your gear!

     Another mostly dry today and then some chance for showers and some rain mostly on Thursday.  As we’ve seen of late, river flows are leveling off way above normal for the date, so don’t expect much dry fly activity on the bigger waters unless you find the slower feeding lanes.  We could get .25-1.00″ thru Friday, and obviously if we get amounts over .50″ we’ll see the bigger rivers come up.  Afterwards, a big cool down to more normal end of September weather. 

    Hatches have been sparse on the big rivers due to flooding and sparse anywhere town roads crews have been destroying the river, which sadly, has been pervasive in the southern 2/3rds of the state.  BWO’s will be the best hatch to keep an eye out for at this stage.  Good luck on the water!

     I did a trip yesterday on the Lamoille with a bunch of beginners and we had good fun and even managed to all hook fish.  The Lamoille right now is great shape flow and level wise.  The Winooski is still a bit murky in spots but is fishable.  The Lamoille was 58 degrees at 3pm yesterday.

    Spotty showers and rain is the forecast on and off for the next few days.  Get out and enjoy the good fishing weather, and drop me a line if you’d like to get out on the water before things go cold.  Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!

     After what seemed like forever, I guided on the Winooski this evening and low and behold, the fishing seemed a-ok despite above average flows for the date and slight turbidity.  While I love wild trout as much as anyone, I was very pleased to see a stocked brown as the first fish we landed.  My thinking is if a stocked fish survived the spring floods, the July heat, and then Irene, then most of the wild fish made out ok.  Young of the year in the tribs is another story.  Sure enough, we got 6 wild bows of 3 different year classes; 4 yearlings around 7″, 1 10″ 2 yr. old, and a beautiful fat 13-14″ 3 year old.  We got two of them on dries. 

     The Winooski has got a bit more “murk” than normal for this flow and time of year.  More like fishing in mid-May.  The Lamoille is in decent shape but the quality of fishing has been spotty on the mainstem.  I guided on a trib of the Lamoille this past weekend and we did well hooking over a dozen fish up to 11″, and found some free risers. 

    We’ve got about .25-.40″ of rain forecast statewide tonight and tomorrow and it will be interesting to see how the big rivers react.  Everything seems to be leveling off right now at levels 2-3 times above normal, and I don’t think the Winooski could handle any more dinginess and still be in halfway decent shape.  The rest of the week looks ok with no big rain events until perhaps the weekend, but we’ll see.  Hatches consist of Isonychias #10-14, Lil Yellow Quills #16-18, BWO’s #18-24, Cinammon Caddis #14-16, and terrestrials like Ants/Beetles  #12-20.  Good luck on the water!

     Yesterdays rains brought river levels back up a bit and the Lamoille and Winooski are dirty in spots.  Major tribs of both rivers are generally fine, though flows are more like late May than mid September.  Water temps will really drop over the next couple of days, so expect to see fish a bit more active in the afternoon hours now. 

     We don’t have any big rain events until next Wednesday perhaps, so hopefully levels can drop enough in the meantime to provide some better big river fishing!  It appears the season on the Upper Ct could be wrapping up a bit early.  When river was flooding southern New England they were holding back water during Irene.  Now that things have abated, the flows on the Upper CT are high; 700-2600 below Murphy Dam as they have to drop the lake levels.  Hatches consist of Isonychias #10-14, Lil Yellow Quills #16-18, Cinammon Caddis #14-16, BWO’s #18-24, and Terrestrials like Ants/Beetles #12-20, and smaller hoppers #10-14.  Good luck on the water!

    I went up north this morning to guide for some salmon, but things were pretty slow.  The are some fish around, but the flows were jerked around last night, and things were a bit murky.  We talked to some other anglers, and while they saw a couple splash around, no one hooked an adult. 

    The rains last night did not do much water level wise, and with only a little bit more rain on Thursday, and then a big dry spell, the Winooski and Lamoille could both be in good fishable shape at the same time for the first time since, well, September of 2010!

    Hatches are the same as previous days, good luck on the water!

    We’ve had some great weather of late, with dry, breezy and now, warmer than normal temps and all of this has allowed our rivers and streams to drop to fishable levels.  The Lamoille is now now fishable throughout; the Winooski may be dingy in parts, but level wise is fishable in many reaches.  The powers that be are now raising the flows on the Upper CT; so while fishable, it will be a bit high and fast in spots at the current flows. 

      We do have a chance of t-storms with a front pushing thru later today, and another front meaning business in Thursday.  The front on Thursday will put an end to this summery weather and there will be a chance of frost in some spots Thursday pm- Saturday night.  We’ll have dry, sunny weather for the whole weekend.

     Hatches consist of Isonychias #10-14, Lil Yellow Quills #16-18, Cinammon Caddis #14-16, BWO’s #18-24, Tricos #22-26, and Terrestrials like Ants/Beetles #12-20.  Good luck on the water!