Cooling off

Lamoille River largemouth (shouldn't be in there!)

Some areas of the state got some much needed rain but not us.  At the shop we recieved about 2/10th's of an inch. Rivers bumped up just a tad but thats about it.  The next chance of rain will come midweek.  The absurd hot humid weather has past and we will see some nights dip into the 50's which will help cool the rivers off a bit.  So still, long leaders and light tippets should be in order when fishing these low water conditions.  As far as flies go it depends where you are fishing.    Stoneflies and terestrials (ants, hoppers, and beatles) are a good bet when fishing tribs.  There should be some tricos around on certain rivers as well.  Coming down the pipe we should also see some flying ants, iso's (#10-14), Bwo's (#18-22) (on cloudy cooler days) and white flies (on lower reaches).  The bass fishing remains steady and they are best targeted in low light conditions right now.  I hit the water in high sun (6pm) and had to change subsurface patterns a bit before hooking up consistantly.  A chartruse carp candy seemed to work the best. Once the sun is setting though, throw on a frog popper or diver and have at it.  We did have a customer snap this pic of a large mouth bass from the Lamoille River downstream of Johnson.  We have never seen that before and hopefully it was just a fluke.  Since last Aprils floods and Irene we have seen some displaced fish who are being caught in areas they really don't belong.  Speaking of which, I spent a couple hours looking for pike around the cady's falls area.  Reports of pike being caught there have increased over the past 2 seasons so I thought I would check it out.  I am happy to report that I got skunked.  Any pike caught would have come home with me (to my garden) so in reality, I am glad I did not have to wack a fish.  In the event you do catch a pike or lmb in the Lamoille (or any displaced species encroaching on a fishery) it's probably best to take it with you .  Also, don't forget to alert you regional fisheries biologist and let them know.  Have fun out there and enjoy the more seasonable weather.