Reports & Conditions

Don't Spread Didymo !

Lake Champlain Largemouth

July 17th, 2010

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Wow...just absolutely incredile bass fishing the past few days! Yesterday we had a large group out on the Lower Lamoille chasing river smallies. The Lamoille in Georgia was 78 degrees at 8am and it surely got warmer than that. It's a bit cooler up here in the middle and upper reaches, but still not good for trout or trout fishing so find somewhere else to fish until the weather cools. We had some nice bass come to the fly yesterday on the river and everyone had a great day, getting off the water just prior to some serious downpours. Last evening Mike headed out on a pontoon for some largemouth fishing and he landed some really nice fish all on topwater flies.
This morning I had 14 year old Brendan out for his first crack at fly fishing and to say this kid was successful is a major understatement! I handed him the rod, showed him a few casts and after about his 3rd practice cast a nice smallie came up and smashed his popper over 40 feet of water!! It took us a while to work our way over to the bank we wanted to fish because the action was so good out in the middle over the deeper water. For the entire first hour we caught fish on the surface right in the middle of the lake before the sun came up and pushed the fish into deeper cover where we continuted to pound away at 'em around submerged logs and boulders.
We had the place to ourselves until a very fancy bass boat came blowing right through a "no wake" zone at full throttle and dropped in right next to us. Pretty poor ettiquette, but we were headed out anyway because the sun was coming up and my newfound fly angler pal had already put some serious wood to those fish!

July 15th, 2010
We headed out to the big pond last night to pop for some ditch pickles, and we found a few players. The bay we fished was about 72 degrees with a light breeze that quickly diminished after about an hour of fishing. With so much milfoil, we didn’t even bother throwing sub-surface patterns. The fish didn’t want much movement on the flies. Just pop it, let it sit, give it a twitch and hold on! Most often, they would just sit beneath the fly and suck it in to their mouths with little effort. Before sunset, we casted our flies up on the rocks and dragged them into the strike zone slowly like a curious frog going for a dip. As the sun went down, the fish moved out of their cover a bit and the smallmouth came out to play as well. Blue was the hot color popper for the smallies and we lost a good one right beside the boat with the camera ready to fire and all! We did land one beauty of a largemouth that posed for a quick photo for us which we thought was a nice gesture.
We just got some new bass flies and poppers in that you should check out, including the blue Shenandoah Popper that the smallies were loving last night. It’s gonna be another hot one today so leave the trout alone, get in here and get some poppers, get up before the sun and get some bass! We have the perfect vessel for chasing fish on the lakes, so let us know if you wanna go out and beat the heat!


July 13th, 2010
It’s still too warm to trout fish on the big rivers at any point of the day or night. The tribs are cool enough mostly in the early am hours. If you’re going to fish tribs, please keep it too the mid-upper reaches until the heat stressed trout drop back into the main stem.
We’ve been bass fishing lately with mixed success. Like most fish, bass are very sensitive to changes in atmospheric pressure and the bite can really shut off with the onset of a major change in the weather. Nice steady weather patterns produce the best bite and if a surface bite is what you’re after, you better be the early bird! Besides, there’s plenty of time to sleep when you should be doing other things like cutting the lawn or cleaning the house ; )
I had a great morning out bassin’ yesterday with one of my favorite guests, Ralph K. from Maryland. Aside from a long hard look at our fly from a very large bass, we didn’t encounter any lunkers yesterday, but we didn’t have any shortage of action either! Orange was the color of the day and the only color at that. They didn’t want any other color or fly other than the small orange popper we started with. Water temp was down to about 72 and the lake was like glass with minimal winds out of the South. For a good part of the morning, our only company was that of a couple’a loons whose calls were echoing off the mountains.
It’s still going to continue to be hot this week. Not heat wave hot, but hot enough to warrant fishing bass instead of trout. At current flows, the lower rivers are a great place to target smallmouth on the fly, so get out there and do it! If you need help connecting with smallies, just stop in and chat…we’ll help you out!


July 6th, 2010
We’re experiencing record breaking heat right now and it’s not cooling off any time this week! Unless you plan to kill every trout you hook, leave them alone in this brutally hot weather and fish cooler tributaries or for warm water species like smallmouth bass. If you don’t know where to fish when it’s hot like this, give us a call and we’ll point you in the right direction. Beating up on the suffering fish that pile up at the cool tributary mouths isn’t cool, so don’t do it. I was very surprised to see on 2 different occasions this week a guide fishing with clients on the Lamoille in water temps that could cook spaghetti! I really just don’t get that at all.
Went up to fish the Hex hatch on a local lake last night, but the mosquito hatch was much more prevalent and they absolutely hammered us! We saw very few Hex’s, and the ones we did see sitting on the water went completely undisturbed. The lake was like glass and around 71 degrees on the surface, but very little bug and fish activity. We still caught some bass, perch and pickerel, but nothing huge and nothing on dries.
That’s all for now…gotta go man the lemonade stand!


July 2nd, 2010
July started off cooler than April, May and June but the heat is gonna turn on soon! This weekend will be in the upper 80’s/low 90’s with gradually increasing humidity, so keep an eye on water temps. The Lamoille in Johnson has been steadily falling and is starting to level out around 300cfs., which is a great flow! We had 3 separate groups out on the water yesterday and all were successful despite some absolutely howling winds! In the morning I had 4 novice anglers out for an on-stream clinic where we covered numerous tips and techniques ranging from wading safety to various fly presentations. In the afternoon, Mike and Bubba each led successful wade outings with some great clients from Texas and New Jersey that absolutely loved Vermont’s scenic valleys and had a great time tugging on the trouts! Bubba’s group found slightly slower fishing on the Upper Lamoille but still landed a couple’a beautiful 16” wild rainbows in the mix! Downstream, Mike’s guests who had never fly fished before hooked and landed plenty of wild and stocked rainbows in tough conditions even for experienced anglers. Fish were taking hares ears #14-16, Princes #12, elk hair caddis#14 and stimulators. Most naturals we saw were light cahills#14, potomanthus#10, isonychia's #10-12, stoneflies #8-12, tan caddis#18 and some random Bwo's. All in all, a great day introducing new anglers to Vermont’s breathtaking scenery and hungry trout!
I think I’ll be dragging the Sea Nymph up to the lake tonight for the Hex hatch, so hopefully the wind sits down a bit today!
Mike’s out with a group right now and I’ve got heaps of waders and boots to disinfect so stop by to chat if you’re in town!


June 29th, 2010
River levels are up across the board. Some smaller streams are maintaining decent clarity while the main stem rivers are currently blown out. The Lamoille at last glance was 926cfs in Johnson and falling pretty steadily. Some scattered showers will pop up here and there throughout the day before some cooler, drier weather sets in. Be sure to check the USGS gauge or give us a shout before you head out to the stream.
Hex’s have been reported in the area, so get your canoes, kayaks, dingy’s or whatever out of storage and go get’em!....after you stop by and stock up on supplies ;)


June 23rd, 2010
It’s a muggy day today following last night’s pretty steady rains. It never really poured at my house in Hyde Park, but it was steady for most of the night. As of this morning the Lamoille was still dropping and I suspect that the power co. will hold back some water in Lake Lamoille as well. Tonight through tomorrow we could see as much as a half to three quarters of an inch of rain, possibly more. This will certainly have an effect on stream flows so we’ll have to keep an eye on that system. The Winooski hit 77 in Montpelier yesterday, so the rain is more than welcome around here right now! With a warm low temp of 65 tonight, those scorching river temps will continue until the onset of heavier flows and cooler nights later in the week. Haven’t seen too many bugs out on our morning trips, but it’s a good time to start throwing terrestrials. Big drakes have been popping up here and there and Hex’s are right around the corner, so get ready!


June 21st, 2010
Rivers around here are around seasonal average flows and are looking good. The mainstem Lamoille and Winooski are running warm so they will fish best for trout in the a.m. this week. The Winooski hit 74 degrees yesterday so keep an eye on water temps and give the trout a break if you find the water over 70 degrees. The tribs should fish well have have been refreshed by what little rain we got this weekend. Stimulators and terestrials should work this week and are worth trying.
We would like to thank everyone that came out for the bass on the fly tourney this weekend. Anglers were greeted by hot sun and a tough wind that made boat handling hard work. We had about 14 people fishing and most caught just 1 qualifing bass each. In the end it was Bubba and Johnathan that took home the loot $300+ with the most fish and largest as well (16 1/2in. & 15 1/2in) the 3rd largest fish went to Brian Price. Congrats to those guys and thanks again to everybody that came out. It was really fun getting to hang with some like minded anglers and kick back after with a BBQ and some beers.


June 16th, 2010
We had some nice cool weather this week which is always welcome mid-June. The rainbows were fighting well in the cool water which ranged in the upper 50's to low 60's. We fished the Lamoille this week and a.m. trips saw almost no surface activity at all while in the p.m. we were pretty sucessful throwing large stimulators. The fish were very responsive to skittering the fly while dead drifts saw much less action. Missed a bunch of fish due to the fish slashing at the moving fly. As far a nymphs, stonefly patterns were working as were hares ears in #14/#16.
The forecast for the weekend is hot with some areas seeing temps approach 90 degrees. With nightime temps around 60 the big rivers will not cool down much at all. Carry your termometer and look for the coolest water. Or joins us and our friends at Waterbury Reservoir for some some bass fishing at the bass tourney. Looks like the warm weather will stick around at least till early next week.
Click for details on the Bass on the Fly Tourney



June 10th, 2010
I had a great angler out for a float yesterday and we did pretty well despite a pretty good amount of dinge in the water. Because of the off-color water, we stuck to throwing big streamers and were rewarded with plenty of good sized smallmouth and a beauty of a big 18” brown trout! There were tons of egg-laying caddis dabbing the surface and sulphurs hovering overhead every now and then, but we only saw one fish rise all morning. The water was 62 degrees at about 10am, but the off-color water definitely had the fish down a bit. We’ve got openings this week if you want to get out and wade or float give us a shout!!
Last week, we dragged the Sea Nymph down to coastal MA in search of striped bass. We met up with some buddies from CT and MT and fished for 2 solid days around the mouth of the Merrimack River and on Joppa Flats. We wasted no time, arriving in Newburyport at about 1am…on the water by 3am…first fish in the boat by 4!! The fish were present and were mostly picky, but we still got plenty to eat with a few big boys in the mix! We did motor up to a few blitzes and at times it seemed like every single one of us was hooked up simultaneously! Nothing like striped bass fishing!!
Don’t forget about the Bass on the Fly Tourney next weekend at Waterbury Reservoir!! REMEMBER, you have to pre-register if you wanna fish!! Check out the link below…
Click for details on the Bass on the Fly Tourney


June 6th, 2010
We are getting heaps of rain right now and the Lamoille and Winooski are going to take some time to clear up. When the weather calms down the fishing should pick back up with below average temps forecasted through mid-week. Search out small streams and stillwaters till then.


May 30th, 2010
Mike and I had a great group of aspiring fly fishers from Manhattan out yesterday morning on the Lamoille. We had a few good hours of fishing under overcast skies before water temps got too warm for trout fishing and we pulled the plug. It’s always nice when novice anglers catch fish on their first day out! The Lamoille’s been hovering right around 70, and the fact that the power company has been messing with flows hasn’t helped any. The longer that water is held back in Lake Lamoille, the warmer it gets. Then they send the gush of warm water downstream when it’s time to make power. Good for our TV’s…bad for our trout.
It’s a good thing that we’ve got some incredible bass fishing in Vermont when the trout streams become too warm to fish. We’ve been out on the lakes the past couple’a nights having a blast watch smallies smash our poppers! While we noticed quite a few big boils over deeper water, most of our fish came from within 10 feet of the shore where any kind of structure was present. The smallmouth bass is a very acrobatic fish that will give you a fight to remember!
Speaking of smallmouth, if you haven’t yet signed up for the June 19th “Bass on the Fly” tournament, now’s your time!! We’re now making pre-registration mandatory. Due to the stipulations of our use permit, we must have all contestants signed up before the event, so please follow the link below and get signed up!
Click for details on the Bass on the Fly Tourney


May 28th, 2010
Before I present the bad news, lemme tell you about a great experience Mike and I had with as client the other day…
Our client, Paul R. was severely injured in 2003 during a triathlon he was competing in. Paul pulled out in front of the pack during the running portion of the race and was struck by a car and paralyzed from the chest down. Paul has adapted incredibly well to life without the use of his legs and he is one of the most positive individuals I’ve ever met! Paul wanted to do a float trip with us and, after cancelling our trip with him last year due to heavy rains and flows, we were determined to get him out there this season. We had such a great time chatting with Paul and learning about his life that we often would forget that we were out there to fish. The conditions were far too warm to trout fish, so we were after smallmouth bass, whom were even showing a distaste for the bright sunny conditions we were out in. They seemed very uninterested in eating and highly picky of fly selection/presentation. Although more active fish would have been great, we still thoroughly enjoyed our day out with Paul, and I’m sure we’ll see him again!
Now for the bad news…
Didymo was discovered yesterday in the lower reaches of the Gihon River in Johnson. Lawton Weber of Pleasant Valley Fly Fishing Guides discovered fairly widespread blooms of the algae several hundred yards upstream of the Powerhouse Bridge on Rte 100c. He took photos and quickly alerted the state of his find, so it will likely hit the press before long. Because of its rapidly spreading nature, Didymo cells will surely be present in the Lamoille River downstream of the Gihon confluence. Time will only tell whether or not it takes hold in the mainstem Lamoille but regardless, we must remain diligent in cleaning our fishing gear. We have a washing station here at the shop and it is recommended that you use it when you come by! We’ll keep you posted on this mess as it evolves.


May 24th, 2010
I’ve had some great people in the raft the past few days. The weather hasn’t necessarily been ideal for fishing with the bright sun lately, but we’ve managed to hook some decent fish. Friday night there were very few bugs out and, as a result the fish were very flakey and tough to target. We hooked some smallies, but the trout bite was off in a serious way. A few big march browns hovered around throughout the night and we watched many of them flapping on the water’s surface completely undisturbed.
Saturday’s cloudy weather turned things on for us and we managed to put quite a few fish in the boat, including a 15” walleye that hammered a clouser minnow! We also had some angry smallies crush stimulators as soon as they touched down. For the trout water, prince nymphs did the trick as usual and we landed some very nice fish. We had one trout take a clouser minnow and put a bend in the rod I haven’t seen in a while! Unfortunately, the line wrapped around my client’s foot and it was all over. I would have loved to see that fish! Last evening, smallmouths were on the menu and they gave us some exciting fishing in the 69 degree Lower Lamoille. They were all about crayfish patterns and were hitting them hard! Every bit of structure was holding fish and the gale force winds we had yesterday afternoon put enough chop on the water to allow us to get nice and close….definitely didn’t make for easy boat handling however.
Mike had a wade trip this morning on the upper end of the Lamoille that went well. They landed plenty of fish on parachute adams and x-caddis dries, with a lot of wild rainbows in the 8-10” range which is always nice to see. Get your stream thermometers out because it’s unfortunately that time when water temps can start to creep into the lethal range for trout, and they already have in some places. No rain and hot air temps over the next several days will surely spike water temps, so if you can’t find cool water to fish (and it’s going to get tougher and tougher) change your game plan. Good luck out there!
Click for details on the Bass on the Fly Tourney


May 20th, 2010
We did an afternoon float yesterday and had some decent success. At the put it, we had light drizzle and perfect fishing conditions with a water temp of 60. We hooked 1 nice smallie right off the bat on a clouser minnow and had some brown trout follow the fly intently with no takes. As we rolled downstream, bug activity increased with a mix of caddis and big march browns. Not much surface activity other than a few splashy rises here and there with no rhyme or reason. As the evening went on we started hooking fish more consistently and put some nice browns in the net. Swinging streamers was the recipe for success while swung and dead-drifted nymph patterns went seemingly ignored. We hooked fish in both fast water and slower pools and the fish were really slamming the fly! As usual, we had some good laughs and landed some nice fish in an incredible setting.
We have tomorrow and Sunday open for a float before the warm dry weather makes things iffy for next week. Give a call and let’s get out there!
The picture shown was sent in by one of our newest customers Todd L. who caught this beauty of a brown on the Lamoille River last week. The fish went about 17 inches and was released to fight another day!
I was lucky enough to be invited on a trip to FL last week to fish the salt. When asked if I knew any guides worth fishing with, it was a no-brainer!....fish with John Meskauskas of Stuart Fly Fishing!!
Windy conditions kept us from fishing for the giant jacks we were looking for, but we had a blast fishing for tarpon and loads of snook. John is the man and you owe it to yourselves to pay him a visit someday! www.stuartflyfishing.com
Check out some pics from my trip on our Photo of the Week page.
Click for details on the Bass on the Fly Tourney



May 18th, 2010
Fished the Lamoille last night for a couple hours. Got on the water after work and it was slow for 20 min. I saw only 1 rise and managed to nymph up one fish. Went upriver about 1/4 mile and and it was a completely different scene(6:00pm). Fish were eating up top and it looked like they were eating sulpher emergers but they were pretty tight to the other bank so it is hard to say. Each subtle rise left a distinct air bubble and the only duns I saw were #14 sulphers. Tied on a #14 para-adams and caught 3 nice wild bows and missed some more. Went downstream and nymphed the riffles real quick but they were very fast and nowhere near as productive as the flats upstream despite the fact that there were tons and tons of henrickson spinners over the riffs. Even still, wasn't gonna wait for spinners that might fall when there were fish rising upstream. So, went back up and there was fish rising everywhere but now to caddis. Without nippers and floatant and low light I could not thread an elk hair caddis for the life of me. The fish were slashing everywhere and it was some of the best caddis surface activity I have ever seen on the Lamoille. Anyway, they did not want anything too flush to the surface and all x-caddis style patterns were ignored. Finally managed to thread #16 hat creek caddis and a #16 ez-caddis. Both para-style flies but with enough hackle to let them skitter. Caught about 10 more wild bows between 8-13 in. Just a great night on the water and I am sure that a elk hair caddis would have cleaned up. If you can, try and get this week. The weather looks solid all week and there isa large mix of insects on the water to keep things interesting.


May 16th, 2010
This looks like the week we have been waiting for. The forecast looks great till at least mid-week. I got out quickly yesterday and managed to catch the only risier I saw on a stonefly nymph. Lots of people out fishing in the pleasant weather. The wind has been pretty rough on the big rivers but will hopefully sit with the high pressure coming in. I did not see much for bugs and #14 tan caddis seemed to be the most common. Good reports have come into the shop but not to much for numbers. Last I checked the Lamoille was not stocked so it is mostly wild fish and holdovers being caught.

May 11th, 2010
Rivers around here are looking much better but still running fast and cool. Snowmelt from up high and cool nighttime temps should keep the rivers cold for most of the week. Look for water that pools out and is not to fast. There should be some hendricksons and tan caddis around and fish should responed to one or the other, or both. We caught some nice rainbows this weekend that were eating hot wire stonefly patterns(yellow/red wire). The week ahead looks nice with frosty nights that will keep the water cool. The main rivers have sunk below 40 degrees in the am and are topping out over 50 in the p.m. Mid-day fishing should provide the best action till thurs/fri when we will get some more rain.

May 6th, 2010
The Lamoille looks pretty chocolaty this morning and its tribs are pushing pretty fast, but a select few holding on to a bit of clarity. The Gihon didn’t look too bad this morning when I drove by and should fish ok. The Brewster has a lot of cold water coming down as the last of the snow melts from the mountain. I’m not sure how accurate the Department of F&W’s stocking report has been, but so far it seems that they’ve only stocked Fairfax Falls with half its anticipated dosage of brown trout. As usual, the falls see a high level of angling pressure consistently, but no increase in stocking numbers. If you observe this access for a bit, you won’t see many caught fish returned to the water. The Winooski gets a planting of approx. 1200 fish while the Lamoille only receives about 800.
We fished the Sea Nymph yesterday in one of Lake Champlain’s larger bays targeting bass and pike. It was an absolutely beautiful day out on the lake, but as we all know the nicest days usually produce the worst fishing. This was pretty much the case, but we still played with some nice fish that put a good bend in the 7 weight. We caught some smaller northerns up to about 28” or so and a couple of nice bass. We also had some really exciting strikes that didn’t amount to hookups but still got the heart pounding. We saw water temps range from the mid-40’s in the open bay to about the mid-50’s in a small creek mouth we fished. All fish were caught off structure in about 4-6’ of water. Chartreuse and white clouser did the job on an intermediate line.


May 3rd, 2010
The Lamoille river is high but has decent clairity as of Monday p.m. and is looking nice where the river is slower. Some tribs on the other hand were still high and off color due to snowmelt. The Brewster river behind the shop has been rocking and brown for a couple days now. So, with t-storms possible most of the week, high elevation creeks around here will need some more time to clear up/slow down. The weather this week looks nice and a cool off is expected later in the week. That's fine cause the Winooski hit 60 degrees today for the 1st time this year. Fish should be dropping back from spawning but I spoke with 1 spin angler who caught a large rainbow in a spawing trib close by. Some others have come in the shop with tales of monster trout but most have been having a tough time with the flows/temps. Others have been hitting pike/bass and reporting good action in local lakes.
The water is still high and large nymphs/streamers are still a good bet. I have seen stoneflies, some caddis, and 1 quill gordon. Thats about all I have seen for bugs.

April 30th, 2010
Rivers are on the rise from snowmelt right now and getting dirty. I was up north yesterday and there is still lots and lots of snow. Rivers have cooled off a bit and the Winooski was in the low 40's this a.m. South of here has far less snow and would be the best bet for stream fishing this weekend. Most of the trophy zones have been stocked so there are plenty of big fish to pick at.
To see stocking info go
HERE


April 28th, 2010
Reports are saying that 18” of snow has fallen here in Jeffersonville and it’s not going to end until late
r today! It’s only hovering around the freezing point, so the snow is coming down wet and heavy….what a mess! Many schools are actually closed today and local kids will be digging the sleds out of the garage for one last session in the snow (well, hopefully) before the end of the week brings back much warmer weather. They’re saying 70’s and even some 80’s by Saturday! What the…
The Lamoille gauge in Johnson is at 674cfs and finally on the up & up. It’s got a ways to go before being back at seasonal average, but this weather will undoubtedly get rivers freshened up. They’ll be chilly, but at least they’ll have water.
The raft is ready to go, so get your seat reserved for prime May/June trout fishing on some unpressured water!
**ANNOUNCEMENT**….On June 19th, 2010 there will be a catch & release bass fishing tournament held on Waterbury Reservoir which will be designated a “Fly Fishing Only” tournament! The goal of this tournament is very simple….Get a bunch of fly angers together to enjoy some of Vermont’s fantastic bass fishing! More details on this event will come out in the weeks ahead. Serious competitiveness can be left at the door for this one. We’re just out to have fun and that’s it! A small entry fee from each angler will pay for BBQ fixins following the event and any other cash will go directly to payouts for the winners. We’ll be creating a page on the site for this event so, until then, contact the shop for more info.
BIG deals going on right now in the shop…
** Buy an Orvis Helios or Superfine rod and get a FREE CFO fly reel ($200 value)
** Buy a Fishpond Waterdance Guide Pack and receive a FREE dozen flies ($25 value)
** 25% off Scott G2 and S4 Fly Rods (in stock models only – ends May 1st)
** Maui Jim Sunglasses = 30% Off
** 35% off remaining stock of ROSS fly reels
** 35% off all in stock Orvis clothing, vests, luggage, fly rods (cannot be combined with CFO deal)
Keep up with the Green Mountain Troutfitters on Facebook by becoming a fan of our page!



April 24th, 2010
We’re enjoying a beautiful day here in Vermont before it looks like some more unsettled weather moves back into the region until about Tuesday. Most all of Vermont’s drainages are running significantly lower than they average for this time of year, but the flows sure do look nice right now. Things are still just a bit cold for real steady bug and fish activity, but we’re right on the verge of some of the best fishing of the season as May approaches!
Mike and I took the ole’Sea Nymph out to Lake Champlain the other day and fished one of the bays in hopes for some bass and toothy critters. We threw spin and fly gear and were rewarded with some very good fish including a bowfin of about 7 pounds that Mike caught on the fly, several largemouth bass ranging from 1 to about 4 pounds and a couple’a nice northern pike. We didn’t take a water temp, but I’ve had reports of the bays around Burlington hovering in the mid-upper 40’s.
**ANNOUNCEMENT**….On June 19th, 2010 there will be a catch & release bass fishing tournament held on Waterbury Reservoir which will be designated a “Fly Fishing Only” tournament! The goal of this tournament is very simple….Get a bunch of fly angers together to enjoy some of Vermont’s fantastic bass fishing! More details on this event will come out in the weeks ahead. Serious competitiveness can be left at the door for this one. We’re just out to have fun and that’s it! A small entry fee from each angler will pay for BBQ fixins following the event and any other cash will go directly to payouts for the winners. We’ll be creating a page on the site for this event so, until then, contact the shop for more info.
BIG deals going on right now in the shop…
** Buy an Orvis Helios or Superfine rod and get a FREE CFO fly reel ($200 value)
** Buy a Fishpond Waterdance Guide Pack and receive a FREE dozen flies ($25 value)
** 25% off Scott G2 and S4 Fly Rods (in stock models only – ends May 1st)
** Maui Jim Sunglasses = 30% Off
** 35% off remaining stock of ROSS fly reels
** 35% off all in stock Orvis clothing, vests, luggage, fly rods (cannot be combined with CFO deal)
Keep up with the Green Mountain Troutfitters on Facebook by becoming a fan of our page!



April 17th, 2010
Now Vermont is looking more like Vermont should look in April! This weather certainly doesn’t make the fishing any easier, but it’s nice to see more water in the rivers and less orange and red dots on the USGS map.
As of 2 pm today, the Johnson gauge on the Lamoille is reading 836cfs, which is either incorrect or possibly the water/light dept. in Morrisville was holding back water for Lake Lamoille. The tribs are currently rocking pretty high and fast as well.
A mixed bag of unsettled weather is in store through Tuesday, when a brief high pressure system will set in for a couple’a days before we get the next low pressure system later next week….typical April weather!
As we get into warmer air temps, the fishing will really be turning on. We’ve got plenty of open dates in May for float and wade trips, so get’em while they’re hot! Our raft floats quietly where hard bottom drift boats cannot, so experience a float trip with us first hand this season!
Keep an eye on the stocking reports for upcoming plantings in your local rivers and offer to give a hand spreading out those stocked fish if you should see the F&W truck go by.
The Lamoille River Anglers are hosting their annual river cleanup on Saturday, April 24th. Drop a line for more info on this event.
BIG deals going on right now in the shop…
** Buy an Orvis Helios or Superfine rod and get a FREE CFO fly reel ($200 value)
** Buy a Fishpond Waterdance Guide Pack and receive a FREE dozen flies ($25 value)
** 25% off Scott G2 and S4 Fly Rods (in stock models only – ends May 1st)
** Maui Jim Sunglasses = 30% Off
** 35% off remaining stock of ROSS fly reels
** 35% off all in stock Orvis clothing, vests, luggage, fly rods (cannot be combined with CFO deal)
Keep up with the Green Mountain Troutfitters on Facebook by becoming a fan of our page!
PS - The Burger Barn on Rte 15 in Jeffersonville makes insanely good burgers!! Check'em out next time you come by the shop...


April 14th, 2010
We’re currently looking at very low flows for this time of year in the Green Mountain State. Still more water than mid-summer flows, but LOW for April! The report from the NEK is pretty slow for steelhead. Suckers galore with the occasional steely mixed in and, you guessed it….low and clear water which never makes steelheading any easier. The Great Lakes steelhead season is going to be for the most part wrapping up as May approaches and post-spawn fish drop back to the protected depths of the lake. These fish are very hungry following their spawn, so the season generally goes out with a bang! I’m already itching for next steelhead season and keep in mind it’s not too early to set your steelhead dates now. I’m a licensed NYS fishing guide (#6233) with plenty of experience on many different tributaries of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario targeting very large brown trout and steelhead. Spend a couple’a days with me next fall/winter and I’ll teach you all the techniques needed to catch these incredible fish!
As we get into warmer air temps, the fishing will really be turning on. We’ve got plenty of open dates in May for float and wade trips, so get’em while they’re hot! Our raft floats quietly where hard bottom drift boats cannot, so experience a float trip with us first hand this season!
Keep an eye on the stocking reports for upcoming plantings in your local rivers and offer to give a hand spreading out those stocked fish if you should see the F&W truck go by.
The Lamoille River Anglers are hosting their annual river cleanup on Saturday, April 24th. Drop a line for more info on this event.
BIG deals going on right now in the shop…
** Buy an Orvis Helios or Superfine rod and get a FREE CFO fly reel ($200 value)
** Buy a Fishpond Waterdance Guide Pack and receive a FREE dozen flies ($25 value)
** 25% off Scott G2 and S4 Fly Rods (in stock models only – ends May 1st)
** Maui Jim Sunglasses = 30% Off
** 35% off remaining stock of ROSS fly reels
** 35% off all in stock Orvis clothing, vests, luggage, fly rods (cannot be combined with CFO deal)
Keep up with the Green Mountain Troutfitters on Facebook by becoming a fan of our page!
PS - The Burger Barn on Rte 15 in Jeffersonville makes insanely good burgers!! Check'em out next time you come by the shop...


April 12th, 2010
A nice seasonal forecast is in store for the bulk of this week with cold nights and days in the 50's. The Lamoille is looking clear and high and should stay that way at least till the weekend. The upper Lamoille has been pretty quiet and it sounds like most people are targeting browns downstream. Fairfax was lined up with quite a few anglers this weekend. The word from the Kingdom is very low water. Talked with 1 who said he watched steelhead jumping the falls 1 week before the opener. Talked with another who fished yesterday and said he got 1 small resident trout and did not see any fish jumping the falls at all. So looks like the run is on the early side and there are at least some fish spread through the river system. The water temps on the bigger rivers have been bouncing around the mid to upper 40's.


April 9th, 2010
Happy opening weekend! Not the best forecast for the opener but not the worst either. Most snowmelt has gone and as a result water temps are above normal. The Lamoille is high and pretty dirty but I guess it could be called fishable. It is around seasonal average thanks to some rain this week. The smaller tribs have much better visibilty, in fact some of the tribs are already scary low for this time of year. The better news is that all area lakes have thawed which opens up many more options. Have talked with folks who have had found active pike and the people trolling the lakes are hitting salmon close to the surface. Talked with a buddy who fished a Champlain trib yesterday and he reported catching a bunch of freshly stocked steelhead smolts and seeing a bunch of suckers. Yes, they have started stocking early and look for the trophy zones to be stocked soon. Last year the Lamoille was stocked with browns in mid-April.
We hit an inland lake yesterday under crappy misty raw weather. There was some surface activty when the wind would die but we never could get into range before the wind kicked up. Spent time checking a warm water inlet for pike and they just were not in there.
As for flies this week, weighted stonefly nymphs, buggers, muddlers, and sucker spawn should cover most situations in area rivers. The shop is freshly stocked with thousands of flies so, if you are losing them on the bottom (which you should be) stop in for more. Good luck out there in 2010!



March 16th, 2010
We continue to have very mild weather for March and as a result the fishing is ahead of schedule. We have had second hand reports of steelhead, resident trout, and pike that have all givin up some action this week. Mid-state got socked with rain but not here up north. Very mild temps through the weekend will keep flows up on the big rivers. The Winooski is now closed from Winooski to the 1st railroad bridge above lake until June but still open from Bolton to Winooski. So, with the high water, the best options will be for pike or steelhead this week. There are lakes that are free of ice and Lewis creek gets only mild runoff. Get it while its pleasant outside cause most reports show cooler, more seasonal weather next week. That is fine cause it should slow down the melting of the snowpack.
We have seen stoneflies around the Lamoille and the Huntington this week and they should stick around right through the season opener. Stop in the shop and stock up on stoneflies and sucker spawn for steelhead and we have plenty of pike flies too. We are opened on weekends till April and fulltime after that.
*New Dog river regs go into effect this spring and you can read about them on our news and events page.*


March 5, 2010
It’s hard to believe it’s March already, although the weather’s felt a bit more like spring lately. It’s certainly a nice break from the cold, but a few more big snowstorms this month are more than welcome in my book! The Lamoille’s been steadily melting and breaking up the past week at a pretty fast rate, so bring on some more winter weather!! It’s strange how 40 degrees in March feels more like 60. People are out in short sleeves and shorts practically!
We’re really looking forward to the 2010 VT season. More and more bookings are coming in, so make sure you reserve prime dates asap! I don’t know about you, but it sure would be nice to see a license fee increase in VT sooner or later. A gradual increase over 2-3 years would be easy for anglers and hunters to adjust to vs. a huge spike in fees like NY saw this year. My Non-Res NY license went from $40 to $70 in 1 year!! That’s pretty extreme, but just a couple or few bucks a year increase would really help out VT F&W.
Our retail store is still closed until April, but we’re easily reachable via email (info@gmtrout.com) or you can leave us a message at the shop (802-644-2214)…..but email’s way better!
We’re heavy on fly rods, and will be offering a Spring Sale on select rods at the shop, so let us know what you’re after and we’ll set you up! We still have some Ross Reels left at the shop (can’t seem to give these things away!)…a couple’a Cimarrons and a CLA or 2. they’re 40% off, so drop a line for more info. We also have some Orvis fly lines left that could be spun on a reel at a great price.
Steelhead season in NY is a bit stale right now with low/spooky flows and fish that are focused far more on spawning than eating. Spring brings on some insane steelhead fishing as hungry, post-spawn fish begin their retreat to the lake and gorge themselves on baitfish and insects creating a situation that = happy fishermen. It looks like I’ll be out there for a week or so in April, so send an email to chris@gmtrout.com for booking info. I’m a licensed NY State guide and would be happy to turn you on to the Great Lakes Steelhead fisheries!
Check our “News and Events” page for info on an upcoming Tie-a-Thon benefit in April.
Keep up with the Green Mountain Troutfitters on Facebook by becoming a fan of our page!
Best <"((((((><



Feb 12, 2010
We returned late last week from 5 days in Central New York chasing steelhead in some pretty “wintery” weather! When we left VT, the temps were about -10 without the wind chill, and by the time we hit Watertown, the thermometer on my car read -24 degrees!!...without the howling wind factored in!
It was a brutally cold start to this outing to say the least, but each day warmed up just a tad until our last day out seemed somewhat “bearable.” At least we weren’t pounded by snow on this trip like we were last month, and the sun even made a few breaks out of the clouds!
The steelheads were definitely slow to bite and most takes were very, very subtle. At times, we’d go hours without a hookup and then like a switch turned on, we’d have 3-4 takes within 20 minutes…typical steelhead juju.
Although the fishing was really slow overall, we did land and release some beautiful fish including a female brown of about 9 lbs., a 12 lb. Skamania steelhead that smashed an orange crystal meth fly and a few other steelies in the 7-10lb. range. Due to the extreme cold, we didn’t lift any fish out of the water for photos the first couple’a days so as not to turn the fish into instant ice cubes!
I mean sure, it was “leave no skin exposed” kind of weather, guides iced up every 5-10 minutes and you absolutely prayed that you wouldn’t have to take a leak at any point, but damn it felt great to be out!
Like any winter steelhead outing, there were highs and lows with a ton of laughs mixed in. No matter the weather, no matter the results, we always manage to have a good time on the water. Like a guy said to me on the river last month, “We just come out here to bust each other’s balls and have some laughs….the fish are just a bonus!”
Get out and fish!


Oct, 21st, 2009
I did a trip on the Lamoille with 2 folks new to the sport and managed to drum up a couple but we had to work for them. Landed 2 on #20 pt nymphs and #14 stonefly pattern. We also missed a couple on buggers. We saw 2 fish rise which were both out of distance. The water temp was damn cold but flows and clairity were nice. So even though it is almost over there are still some willing trout around these parts. 40 degree water in the fall has more active trout than 40 degree water in the spring.


Oct, 17th, 2009
The story this week has been the cold weather. Peaks in Vt are covered with snow, making for a cool backdrop but also making it feel like November. I went salmon fishing with a client yesterday and fished in on/off very light snow flurries. The fishing was ok and we went 2for4 in the 4hrs we fished. No hogs but got fish up to 20inches with light fishing pressure. Around here flows are good but the water is cold.

Oct, 8th, 2009
We got more rain yesterday and right now the rivers around here are high and dirty. The Lamoille is about 1,000cfs and dropping but we could get up to a 1/2inch on friday night. After that it looks like things should dry out through Monday. Also, this weekend temps will drop down to more seasonal averages.



Oct, 7th, 2009
Water is still on the high side around here but clairity is fine. I fished with 2 groups Mon/Tues and both were new to the sport and all hooked fish (but worked for them). The water flows have been fast in every river we have fished. There were a bunch of fish rising to Bwo's on the Lamoille on Tues. but with the higher flows, long casts are in order. Add in some wind and it makes for some tough learning conditions. I did not see many fish rising or bugs before 2:00. Most fish have been hooked/caught on flats or seams in riffels, out of the heavy water with princes and #18 hares ears.
We have a chance of more rain overnight into Wed. and again on Friday.


Sept, 30th, 2009
Just finished 2 (almost) full days with a client and we managed to catch fish in the high water, and cold weather, not many but we did ok. Day 1 (Tues) we bounced around the Lamoille tribs which were all higher than they have been for awhile. Some tribs fished good and some fished poor. Both days we went about 2 for 6 although the fish we did get were nice wild rainbows with a couple in the 12in. range. No complaints. Day 2 we tried to squeek onto the Lamoille upriver but we were a day early. The flow was fast and the visibility was about 2 ft. We gave it 1/2 hour before going back to trib fishing. We fished a small creek from the day before starting where we left off yesterday. It fished well although the brookies were nowhere to be seen. Spawning, high flows, I don't know.
We caught fish on stimulators, copper johns #14, small buggers, and hot wire princes #14. Not a ton of bugs around but we did see some caddis and 2 large adult stoneflies.
The forecast has a chance of rain for the next 5 days. Tomorrow (thurs) or fri. would be a good day to get out cause Fri. night into Sat could bring around an inch of rain. This will keep the mainstems out of the pic for awhile.
Just 1 month to go until the majority of our rivers close so get it while you can.





Sept, 28th, 2009
We got 1&1/4 inches of rain here in Jeff overnight and the rivers have come up quite a bit. Most tribs I saw this am were brown/off color and crankin fast. The Lamoille has gone from 90cfs to 1200cfs in Johnson and still rising. Possibly some water from the last storm let loose from the dam cause that is quite a jump from 1 inch of rain. The Winooski is at 500+ and still rising as well. Up to another 1/4 in. possible tonight so we will have to see.
Before the storm I fished with a great couple from South Carolina that had fished all over the world. They roughed out a cold raw 8hr. day in on and off again rain. They did great on the Lamoille catching a bunch of wild bows up to 14in. mostly on #18 para-adams. Buggers and nymphs caught the rest.

Sept, 26th, 2009
Fished the Lamoille with a nice man from Hawaii who had flyfished once before. Fishing was good and we caught fish on hoppers and small pheasant tails. There was more bugs around than days prior so we saw more risers. Bwo's, caddis and iso's were present. For some reason we could not buy a fish on a prince and they seemed keyed in on the smaller nymphs. So, he landed 2 and missed about 5 more. All in all the fish were active and weather was nice but, that is about to change as we are gearing up for what looks like a pretty wet week. Up to 2 inches by Wed. is possible. We have been asking for it for a while and looks like we are gonna get it. Gonna try to squeeze in some trips so, we will see how high the rivers get and report back.



Sept, 25th, 2009
The Lamoille River and northern VT finally got some much needed rain. Just under 1&1/2 inches fell on Wednesday bringing the river up for the 1st time in a month. The water was a little off color on Thursday am keeping the surface activity to a minimun but, the river was still fishable and we landed 5 fish up to 14in. all on buggers. We missed some fish on nymphs but the bugger seemed to be the ticket in the heavy flows and dingy water. The rivers should drop quick but there is more rain coming Sat. night into Sunday and even trough Tuesday. In the meantime, target the flatwater where the flows are managable and there is the odd rise or two.



Sept, 22nd, 2009
The weather lately has been absolutely beautiful aside from scattered rain showers here and there. Last week’s rain had little to no effect on water levels, so we could really still use a big push of rain to kick off the last leg of the season!
The fishing lately has been pretty good despite the low water which has the fish concentrated and pretty spooky. Long leaders and a stealthy approach are the name of the game…and swing those flies! It’s tough to beat a prince nymph on the swing right now.
We had a very large group fish with us last Thursday-Saturday that was spread out among 3 watersheds. The group arrived on the doorstep of the cold front that came thru, so the fishing varied during their stay in Vermont. Most anglers in the group had decent success on Friday before the cold, bright conditions slowed things up significantly on Saturday. In addition to our in-house guide staff, we also called on some other very talented guides in the area… I want to thank Pleasant Valley Fly Fishing Guides, VT Troutbum and Stream & Brook Fly Fishing for lending a hand and showing this group a great time on Vermont’s trout streams!


Sept, 12th, 2009
I fished the Lamoille with a very nice local women who had done a free clinic last month in the heat. She opted to wait for some good September weather and it paid off. The Lamoille is low as ever and the flows have been further effected by the power company holding back water. The fish did not seem to mind the low water and were eating blue wings/ants on top of the flat water at a steady rate. These fish are normally tough to catch this time of year but with the low water they are extra tough, especially when they are sitting on the far bank. Not an easy feat for a beginner fly fisher. We did not land any of those fish but missed 1 on an ant pattern. Instead, our fish came in the more forgiving riffles by way of swinging princes. All too often people pick up their cast too early to re-cast. Leave the fly in the water and retrieve it fast. Fish will follow that fly out of the current for quite a ways. Flip a rock, find an iso nymph, and drop the nymph in the water and watch it swim away. They are super fast like any minnow or sculpin you might see, so let your fly swim fast across the current and fight the need to re-cast until the fly is back at your feet. My 2 cents! Anyway, she landed some real nice bows with a couple in the mid-upper teens along with some 6-10in. wild bows. Awsome looking fish!
We got just a sprinkle here and we really could use the rain. Looks like right now our best shot is Monday night were there is a 40% chance of showers NORTH of rt.2 for once. We will see.


Sept, 9th, 2009
More of the same yesterday. Low, cool water and good fishing. We fished the Lamoille from 8:00 a.m. till 5:00 p.m. yesterday and found active fish through the day. Mostly wild rainbows 6-14in. with a couple of stockies in the mix. All the fish looked great, even the stockies. The fly of the day was a #18 beadhead pheasant tail followed by a prince and #14 para-adams. Iso's and blue wings mixed with caddis were out and about but not thick. Random risers and not many steady feeders.
Threw the spey rod for 20 min before work today by the shop and missed 2 fish swinging princes. There was good surface feeding, much better than yesterday.
Not much rain in the forecast but a slight chance (30%) over the weekend. It has been fun fishing these low flows. I have gotten to some spots that have been rather hard to get to the past couple of years. Although, with that said, we really could use some rain.


Sept, 7th, 2009
Conditions are still good but water levels in northern VT are below average and the lowest they have been all season. I am finishing up 3 full days with the same client tomorrow and we have been making the best of the low water in our area. Sunday on the Winooski was good and we caught trout everywhere we went ranging from 6-16in. The most common bugs were Bwo's and Iso's. The fish ate a number of flies but at least a dozen came on a #18 hares ears. The rest came on princes and rubber leg copper johns. Never threw any dries cause only small fish were rising. We hit the lower Lamoille today for bass/trout. We caught some nice bass but the trout fishing was slow. I am not sure if the stocked browns were wary of the sunshine or died in the heat of August. The fallfish would not leave our nymphs alone and while the big ones were fun for a minute it got old real quick so we put on clousers and managed to hit some bass and yes, even more fallfish. The most common bugs were tricos, iso's, and tan caddis.


Aug. 30th, 2009
The fishing conditions are perfect right now. Average seasonal flows and good water temps are present for northern VT. It sure is nice to be back on the big water with clients. Seems the fish did well through the heat as we have seen a good mix of wild and stocked fish (8-14in) all in good shape. I have been on the water the past 3 days and the most common bugs have been Iso's, yellow quills, and BWO's, in that order. The surface activity has been rather slow for the amount of duns we are seeing, but the fish have been very active subsurface swinging iso nymphs. Otherwise, we have been throwing dries only when we see the sparatic rise. Para-adams #12 and #14 ususal cahills have been working well on those random rising fish. One customer said he got a half doz. fish on hoppers mid-river on the Lamoille. Another 2 custies said they cleaned up after we sent them up-river. So, in short, the fishing is great right now and the forecast could not look better for the next 5 days.


Aug. 28th, 2009
We have had a welcome cool down the past 2 days which has brought water temps on the big rivers down to the low 60's in the a.m. Very cool temps and frost warnings made it feel like fall fishing overnight. From hot flying ant weather to cool blue wing olive weather in a blink. Flows have been on the low side but that will change with rain expected into this weekend.
Anywhere from 1/2 an inch of up to 2 inches could fall by Sunday. I hate to see the mainstems unfishable now that we finally have cool temps but we could use the drink. For mayfly hatches we are winding down to the final 5- Bwo's, Iso's, yellow quills, tricos and whites. Otherwise caddis imitiations and hopper/ants should work well.


Aug. 24th, 2009
It has been a long time since our last report. Since then it has been almost all brook trout and bass fishing for our clients. Some nice bass have been caught lately along with plenty of small brook trout. Brookies can be fun but, I would rather fish bass any day of the week.
The most notable info is that flying ants have started as of Sunday evening. I saw swarms in both Hyde Park and Stowe. We have some cooler nights coming but mainstems will still be warm in the p.m. thanks to daytime highs in the upper 70's (The Winooski hit 75 this afternoon.) Target the ants on the tribs between 5:00-8:00 p.m. or try to find spots on the Lamoille or Winooski under 70 dergrees. Fishing a sunken ant in the a.m. on the big rivers is usually a good bet. No matter where you fish it the flying ant hatch is one of the best hatches of the season.

Aug. 14th, 2009
It looks like a steady string of dry, hot weather over the next few days at least. Day temps will be mostly in the 80’s, with some spots hitting the 90’s and night temps will mostly in the 50’s and low 60’s. The cool night time temps could provide a small a.m. window of opportunity on the big rivers, but bring your stream thermometer to be sure you’re not trout fishing in water over 70.
The water & light dept. has been doing some screwy stuff with the flows lately on the Lamoille, spiking them a couple’a times for short periods, causing a ton of muddy water to come flowing downstream. Be sure to check the USGS link on this page so you don’t get a big muddy surprise when you arrive at the river.
I floated a very nice couple from N.J. yesterday under bluebird skies, which made for some challenging fishing, but we had a blast! After a quick casting lesson at the put-in, we set out in search of hungry smallmouth. At 6am the river was already 74 degrees and fairly dingy from the previous nights localized downpours. As we rolled downstream, clarity only worsened with the addition of muddy flows from a small feeder and larger tributary of the Lamoille. We had some mixed action mostly before the sun really got up and overall it was a great day out with some excellent company!



Aug. 9th, 2009
Mild temps and clear water have made for a good week of fishing. We have been fishing mostly a.m. where there has not been much of a top water bite. Most fish have been caught on nymphs and buggers. Iso's are coming off strong and para-adams and wulffs are good flies for this hatch. Lots of small caddis around and there should be white flies which I haven't seen cause I have been out in the a.m. Keep an eye out for flying ants on some of the next hot sunny days.
Our cool spell is coming to an end and muggy summer weather will be back through Wed. along with rain. Not what we need but September is almost here and it should be great like last year.


Aug. 3rd, 2009
Another clip of rain came through V.T. yesterday and rivers are high again. Mid-state seemed to take the brunt of it. Here in Jeffersonville we got just under an inch. The big rivers are high and brown but the tribs up here look great. The forecast calls for much cooler temps after Tuesday with nights dipping into the 40's and daytime highs in the 60's for Thurs and Fri.
With the big rivers out of play for a couple days stoneflies and hoppers on the tribs should work. Trailing a sotnefly nymph or sunken ant is also a good bet.

July 28th, 2009
7/29 UDPATE: It looks like we could see some severe t-storms tonight after all. Keep an eye on the radar...

It really feels like summer weather now, and it looks like this weather’s gonna stick around for a bit. 80’s during the day and low-mid 60’s at night. Trout fishing the big water won’t be much of an option in this heat, so try out some small streams or some smallmouth bass fishing.
I had a great float yesterday with a long-time customer who happens to be an outstanding angler! We set out at about 5am with hopes of some nice smallmouth. The Lower Lamoille was 69 degrees at 5:30am and heated up a few more degrees as the day went on. We had success on numerous different flies, but it was a blast watching these fish smash little poppers cast into soft water. We had consistent action throughout the 6 or so miles of river we floated and we didn’t see another person all day! Great fishin’!


July 25th, 2009
Rivers are still on the high side but clear. The past 2 days fishing were pretty slow on our trips. The only flies that were working for us on the Lamoille were small pheasant tails and hares ears #18. We managed to catch fish but we sure had to work for them. Water temps are great right now but look for higher temps and more rain into the weekend.
On another note, I saw online that the Esopus River in N.Y. has tested positive for didymo. It is a another great river to add to the list.


July 17th, 2009
Some pretty crazy storms came ripping through parts of N. VT last evening bringing a mix of golf-ball-sized hail, winds above 60mph and I even heard reports of small tornados in some locations! The craziest storms seemed to move N.E. after boiling up over Lake Champlain, so the upper Lamoille didn’t seem to get hit as bad as the lower end, and the Winooski Valley looks like it was spared for the most part.
I came into work today in practically a sweater, and by day’s end it’s suppose to reach the 80’s! This is a crazy summer to say the least. We had fish rising in bright sun yesterday on the Lamoille which, until last night was flowing at a steady 600’ish cfs for several days and providing some outstanding fishing conditions. Mike had a great night the other night on the Lamoille amidst mostly cahills, tiny caddis and some golden stones. Cahill usual dries, stimulators, copper johns and cahill bird’s nests all fooled the trouts consistently.
For the next several days we’ve got….you guessed it…more of the same below average temps and chances of rain just about every day. Watch the flows and get out whenever you can. We’ve got some great deals on rain coats right now in the shop 


June 12th, 2009
We have had almost another inch of rain over the weekend. Just when the mainstem rivers were coming around, we got hit again. The good news is the forecast looks nice and cool with only slight chances of rain and below average temps. Between my sons 5th b-day and the high water I have not been on the water since Fri. but the fishing was slim pickins and we had to work for them through the flows. Our guests fished some larger tribs that were super fast but we picked up a few browns on buggers and copper johns and missed a few more.


July 8th, 2009
The big rivers are still high but clearing. The tribs are fishing well but still fast. Rain today could be light or up to an inch. If we don't get slammed, fishing conditions should be great into the weekend even though temps will warm into the 70's. Right now the mainstems are in the lower to mid 60's.
The fish we caught this week were all wild fish in great condition. Very nice to see in the middle of summer. In fact, we had some costumers get into some very large fish in the receeding water. Most fish were caught subsurface in higher flows but fish were hitting stimulators once the water cleared up. A stimulator trailed by a #14 copper john or pheasant tails took the most fish. Not to many naturals around just some random stones and caddis.

July 5th, 2009
The smallest of the small streams are coming around a bit today and many of the larger tribs should be looking pretty good by tomorrow. The main stem rivers on the other hand, still look like chocolate milk and won’t be coming around for quite a few days. Big golden drakes and hex’s have been on the menu on certain lakes, so get’em while they’re hot!
We’ve got some great deals going on right now in the shop, including Orvis Endura, Tailwater and Silver Label waders, Battenkill wading boots!! Orvis button-down shirts and vented fishing shirts are as low as 35% off!! All Orvis luggage is 40% off!!
Get in here for some great deals today!!


July 3rd, 2009
About another half inch of rain fell here yesterday in Jeffersonville, and many other parts of the region saw at least that amount. The Lamoille is an absolute mess today, but select tribs are looking good. We may see another bout of t-storms later today, but the weekend doesn’t look half-bad. There’s rain in the forecast thru next week, but lesser chances of it as the week progresses. Be sure to keep an eye on the USGS flows and don’t venture out without a stream thermometer (25% OFF RIGHT NOW IN THE SHOP!!!)
Come get ya Hexes!!


June 29th, 2009
Widespread rain has hit VT and area rivers are currently blown out. We got over an inch of rain in the past 24hrs. and it is still coming down as of noon today. Fishing options will be limited the next couple of days with more rain possible. Throw in some t-storms and stillwater options also shrink. Hex's would be a good choice if you can avoid any t-storms. Play it safe and fish by the put-in so you can get off the water quickly.


June 27th, 2009
We made it through the hot spell and temps are coming back down as days should top out in the 70's and nights get back into the 50's. Crazy storms have been isolated all around northern/central VT. Rain in 1 town only to find it dry in the next town over. So far we have dodged any prolonged substantial rains. The forecast for the next 5 days looks wet with Monday having the best chance of rain. Fishing remained good-fair through the hot spell for all who looked for colder water or targeted warmwater fish. Not much for bugs in this heat but the bugs we have seen are generally on the small side. Fishing tribs we caught fish on princes, hot-wire princes, olive hares ears and small stimulators. Downriver Chris got clients on bass and fallfish throwing clousers and muddlers....those darn fallfish!

June 24th, 2009
The cool weather we have enjoyed is coming to a halt for a couple of days. The Lamoille and Winooski have been fishing great this week. I had 2 nice guests catch around 20 trout on the Lamoille and not 1 was stocked. A freak event but it was cool to see.
The Lamoille was 65 this am at 9:00. Look for the temp to spike over 70 daily till at least Fri. when they are calling for rain and highs in the mid-upper 70's and slightly cooler nights. Dry fly fishing has slowed a bit from last week and most of our fish have been on nymphs. We fished the Lamoille for 4 hours and did not see 1 rise. Drys that have worked are x-caddis/tan, ususal cahill, stimulators, and para-adams. Nymphs have been hares ears#14 and #18 pheasant tail. Princes have been strangley ignored this week even though I saw some iso type swimming nymph shucks in the Lamoille.


June 21st, 2009
Fishing conditions are outstanding right now in Northern VT! Enough rain to keep water in the valleys…enough cooler than average weather to keep stream temps in check….and enough fish to keep the rods bent. The Lamoille is still running above average, but fishing really well. I had a great float last night with Ralph K. from Annapolis, MD. It took a bit for things to turn on, but when it did turn on we had a blast. Most fish came on swung nymphs, a couple on streamers and we lost a real monster that ate a dead-drifted PT/prince combo. I’m guessing that fish was likely over 20”, but that’s one for the story books  Not much for insects, but the fish were definitely on caddis emergers. I got a water temp of 66 at 6pm….amazing for late-June!
Mike had a great wade trip last evening with Greg P. from California who was dying to catch a trout on his fly rod. Greg caught some nice fish on a variety of flies, with hares ear nymphs being the hot ticket. Water temps where these guys were fishing were 62 at 4pm. On another note, Mike and Greg were both amazed to see a “guide” and his clients slip in right above where they were fishing! Most of the guides in the area are very professional and would never high-hole another guide or angler, but it’s too bad that there are people around here calling themselves guides that don’t know the first thing about stream etiquette. With a river that’s 85 miles long, there’s plenty of places to fish and absolutely no reason to crowd other anglers.
Get out and fish!


June 19th, 2009
We’re getting a bit of a misty rain as I write this report, but last night’s rains didn’t seem to have much of an effect on river levels. The Lamoille still seems to be on the rise, but should level off pretty soon. With all the localized rain over the past week, some areas have seen spikes in water levels, while others seemingly were missed by the rains.
This has been some great fishing weather and the big bonus is that the big rivers haven’t jumped over 70 degrees yet. It doesn’t really feel like summer yet, but it sure is great for trout fishing!
Mike, Dave and myself just spent a couple’a days fishing the salt water down in Mass. We fished the Merrimack River estuary and Joppa Flats with Reilly McCue from Massachusetts Fly Fishing (http://www.massachusettsflyfishing.com/). Reilly was a great guy to spend a couple days with and an excellent guide. He had a thorough knowledge of the area and got us into fish both days we fished with him. Look up Reilly if you’re going to be in the Plum Island, MA area or, better yet, plan a trip out there specifically to fish with Reilly!!...you’ll be glad you did!
Mike’s guiding on foot tomorrow, I’m floating and Dave will be guiding a couple spin anglers, so we’ll report back later in the weekend.



June 12th, 2009
We received about an inch of rain last night and it came down pretty slow and steady throughout the night. The Lamoille in Johnson is pushing close to 700cfs and looks like it may have some clarity above the major tribs, but that could change throughout the day today. Some of the smaller streams looked pretty good, while others like the Gihon were looking pretty murky this morning. There’s a chance of rain and/or t-storms over the next couple’a days, but it doesn’t look like we’ll see any significant accumulations. Air and water temps are still very favorable for fishing considering it’s already mid-June, and it looks like that will be the case throughout the next several days at least.


June 9th, 2009
We just got under a 1/2 in of welcome rain here in Jeff. Conditions are great. Hatches in the p.m. have been good and bringing some of the larger area trout to the surface. On the Lamoille, we saw the first of the brown drakes on Fri. and they came off thick and steady till 10:00pm. Since then I have only seen handfuls of duns and no drake spinnerfalls. Trout ingored drake dun imitations and favored cripples. Caddis and sulphurs were also present each night. All our fish this week have been caught on princes, drake cripples, and caddis emergers.


June 6th, 2009
Pheeewww...It really feels like summer weather now up here. We sure could use some rain at this point to freshen up the streams. It doesn’t take much of this heat and low flows to bring up water temps pretty rapidly.
I had a great float last night with Steve D. from here in Jeffersonville and Alan H. from S. Burlington. We had lots of laughs and some pretty decent fishing, so what could be better? We put out later in the day and hit a variety of fish throughout most of the float. Al landed some real beauties including the one in this photo…
Water temps on the main stem were 64/65 at about 7pm and there were very few insects out and about, except for a hatch of huge stoneflies that came and went fairly quickly and didn’t seem to gather much interest from the trouts.
Unfortunately, we’ve seen lots of fish on stringers lately. We watched one guy last night wade into the water and fish for about ten minutes before hooking his first fish, stringin’ it up and headin’ home. That must have been a great fishing experience for him? The 12” fish may have provided barely enough meat for an appetizer, but would have provided a season’s worth of enjoyment for anglers had it been released. It’s always funny when these same people come in and say, “Fishin’ aint what it used to be.”
I didn’t see any drakes last night, but got reports that they were popping off like mad upstream. When conditions cooperate, this is not a hatch to be missed!


June 4th, 2009
Fishing conditions really couldn’t be much better right now! Both air and water temps have been extremely comfortable for both the fish and the fisherman and, aside from a streak of dry weather, the week ahead looks to be a great one for getting out to wet a line.
We’ve had some nice days out with clients this week on various parts of the Lamoille Watershed. Mike had a good wade day on the upper end amidst some challenging wind gusts and higher than average flows. Most of their fish came on hares ear nymphs and elk hair caddis, including a beauty of a 15” wild brown trout.
I had a great float last evening with Jerry and Merna from Stowe. We put in later in the afternoon amidst very bright skies and excellent flows. We threw streamers, dries and nymphs, with most of the action on dead-drifted mayfly nymphs and swung caddis imitations. The lower river was 61 at 4pm and I got reports of 58 degrees on the upper-end!...outstanding for trout fishing! Jerry stole the show with a flawless looking 18” brown trout that put up a great fight and posed for a quick photo with Jerry before going back into the water. The fish were really turning on with every passing cloud that shaded the bright sun. We saw mostly caddis and and sulphurs out and about and they were very thick at times. We didn’t see any brown drakes yet, but we certainly will soon with the great river conditions we’re having.
Dave’s been out on his boat in and around Lake Champlain and he’s had some great luck with big bass and northerns on both fly and spin tackle. He’s gearing up for the LCI Derby, so wish him luck!



May 27th, 2009
Sorry for the delay in reports. Glad to say we have been on the water all week and nowhere near the computer. Chris has been rowing his ass off all week and I have been handling the wading trips. All trips have had fine results despite a bunch of LDR's. This past holiday week had great conditions and with the expection of the freak 85 degree day we had some solid fishing/hatches. Water temps were in the 50's everwhere we fished. Mid-day fishing was up and down during periods of high sun but fish were still active subsurface, mostly being caught on pheasant tails. There are alot of different bugs around so when trout are not keying in, it seems lots of different flies will work. Not to mention the freshly stocked fish who have not yet learned what not to eat. Red copper johns, hares ears, zonkers, para-adams, elk hair caddis, and stimulators have all caught fish. Mostly we have seen sulphers and march browns on the water. Yesterday, we saw a fair amount of large stoneflies on the the Lamoille and the trout were hitting our stimulators. So that was last weeks report, this week ahead looks wet, very wet. 1-3 inches of rain expected by Friday with a flood watch in effect north of route 4. We will wait and see how much we get but it looks like we will be bankfull through the weekend.



May 19th, 2009
A beautiful bluebird day here in the Green Mountains today…and it’s only gonna get better as the week goes on, with Thursday forecast to reach over 80 degrees! The fishing’s already been good, and this quick boost in temps will get the fish moving a bit more.
We had a great float today amidst some slightly stained flows and water temps around 55 degrees. Those cool nights helped to bring temps on the mainstem down about 5-6 degrees from what they were. We hooked and landed some nice fish and had a couple’a good ones come unbuttoned. We surprisingly hooked some fish in the main channel as well, despite the heavy flows of about 1700cfs. Lots of tan caddis and some sulphurs out, but we stuck mostly with swingin’ streamers. We also had a great show from an Osprey that was doing some crazy dives….nothing like a day at the office :-)


May 13th, 2009
We’ve got another beautiful day in store today before things get crazy tomorrow. We could be looking at about a ¼” of rain and quite a bit of strong wind…gusts up to 50mph! The Lamoille’s at about 800cfs in Johnson and has some pretty good visibility for that flow. It’s certainly clearing faster than it’s dropping its flow. Most tribs are still higher than average, but definitely fishable. Mike hit a Lamoille trib last evening a got a couple’a nice wild browns in the 13-16” range on dries amidst a very thick caddis hatch.
I did a casting clinic yesterday at The Essex Resort & Spa (formerly The Inn at Essex) for the Vermont Tourism Network. Afterwards, I was invited to stay for a lunch which was probably the best meal I’ve eaten in awhile. Thanks to Connie, Pilar, Jerry, Randy and Tony for joining me for the clinic and I hope to see you back in VT in the near future for a day on the water with us!
I dropped down on the Lamoille behind my house last eve for some practice with the spey rod. There were blankets of tan, egg laying caddis and quite a few Hendrickson spinners as well. Nothing for fish activity, but the flows still need to settle out a bit.
I talked to Jeremy from the Roxbury Fish Hatchery today while he was out stocking some Lamoille tribs. Jeremy’s doing a great job spreading those fish out and not just dumping them all in one spot. We get more bang for our buck when those fish are spread out. Generally, with VT’s silly creel limits, those fish don’t tend to last long at all.
CHECK THIS OUT…Come in and cast an Orvis Helios rod and win a FREE T-Shirt (while supplies last)!!!!!


May 9th, 2009
Currently, the rains are pounding down with some boomers mixed in. There’s already a flow of water the size of a small brook coming down the Mountain Road and many areas could see an inch or more of rain before this is over. The weather service just updated a report which expects Jeffersonville to get a strong T-storm at about 1:30pm today carrying hail and strong winds.
Tomorrow is gonna cool down considerably to the high 40’s/low 50’s with 10-15mph winds. Higher elevations could even see some snow showers Sunday night!
The Lamoille had dropped a good bit as of today, but all this water is sure to stuff it up again. There was a blanket of insects last night over muddy water on the Lamoille. Lots of Hendricksons and big stones. The Lamoille and Winooski mainstems are hovering right around 60, but will cool a bit over the next few days. The trophy stretch is the only water stocked on the Lamoille thus far and it’s certainly taking the brunt of the pressure.
After this rain, the higher elevation streams would generally be the first to clear, although I’m still seeing snow up on Mansfield which will only add to the flows.
We’ve got openings for guided trips the week before Memorial Day, so give a holler and book your VT outing! Float and Wade Trips Available!
***ROUTE 108 THRU SMUGGLERS NOTCH IS NOW OPEN FOR THE SEASON***


May 8th, 2009
As I drove over the Lamoille last evening at about 5, it didn’t look too too bad. A slight bit of muck but, given it’s flow, not too bad…Then a couple hours later it was turning pretty chocolate as a result of water releases from Lake Lamoille via Morrisville Water & Light Dept. The Lamoille from Morrisville down looks real bad today and will take some time to settle….1100cfs+ in Johnson and over 2300cfs at the Georgia gauge as of this am. Most of the region will be receiving significant rains later tomorrow into Sunday, which could shut things down. The upper Lamoille is on the verge of fishability and is steadily dropping. The tribs are mostly clear and running high, so focus your efforts on the soft water. The Lamoille is hovering right around 60 degrees currently.
***ROUTE 108 THRU SMUGGLERS NOTCH IS NOW OPEN FOR THE SEASON***



May 7th, 2009
We finally got a decent clip of rain and river levels have reacted with a bit of a spike. The Upper Lamoille has finally reached its seasonal average and is still slowly rising as of this afternoon. More showers are forecast, but I think we saw the brunt of it last evening. The Lamoille usually doesn’t handle pounding rains very well, but last night’s rains were pretty light and steady and even at 600cfs+, the clarity is holdin’ on. Of all the tribs, the Brewster seems to be pumping the most water into the Lamoille, but the lower end still hasn’t gotten over 1200cfs as of yet. The Winooski is a’rockin’ a bit more with the lower end receiving a good gush from the Little River. The trophy zone on the Winooski just got stocked and other parts of the Winooski have gotten significant doses of hatchery fish as well. Thus far, the trophy zone on the Lamoille is the only stretch on that river to have gotten stocked.
I’ve seen first hand on the Lamoille and had reports from the Winooski that bugs are out in full swing. Hendricksons and stones are mostly what I’ve seen with some blue quills and caddis popping as well. Always stock your box with attractors like PT’s and princes, and especially in weather like this, be sure to have some cripples as well.
On another note, it still seems that we have folks on our legislature that feel closing VT fish hatcheries is a good way to free up money in the states budget. Please send your thoughts and comments to the reps below and help them to understand the importance of hatcheries and recreational fishing to our state’s economy…

Shap Smith, Speaker of the House, (802) 888-9214, esaxe@leg.state.vt.us
Peter Shumlin, Senate President Pro Tempore, (802) 387-4447, amaclean@leg.state.vt.us


May 1st, 2009
We got a decent clip of rain last night that gave water levels a little freshening up. The Lamoille was on a slow rise this morning, but looks like it will top out at about 600cfs in Johnson and the Georgia gauge at only 936cfs! The state has been stocking here and there and it would be great for a good push of water to spread out those fish, but we’re just not gonna get that kind of rain with this front. We have seen a couple Hendricksons already, so keep an eye out as they’re right around the corner.
Mike got a temperature reading of 58 degrees on the Lamoille the other evening! That’s crazy this early in the season! Some folks are predicting a drought this season, so let’s hope they’re wrong about that. I’ll take a cool, wet season like last year any time over drought conditions.
The Lamoille River Anglers Association is hosting their annual river clean-up tomorrow from Cady’s Falls to Ten Bends. The group will be meeting at 9am on the Duhamel Road in Hyde Park (by Cady’s Falls Nursery.) Bring a canoe, waders and good attitude! The group will float to Ten Bends, where a BBQ will follow. Call 644-2214 or 253-8500 for more info!
Right now, buy any Orvis fly rod (excluding Clearwater and Streamline) and get a Battenkill Reel FREE!!!! Offer good until May15th and while supplies last, so get in here!!!


April 27, 2009
I’m back from my week in FL and it’s hotter up here!! Thankfully this heat, as nice as it feels, won’t last for long. As the week continues, temps will drop a bit and isolated showers will pop up here and there, but nothing significant. Flows are mostly WELL below their seasonal averages which has made for some great early season trout fishing, but let’s keep our fingers crossed for some rain….we really need it! The Brewster’s still pumping pretty good with runoff, but tribs draining lower elevations are looking low.
Plenty of steelhead have been caught in the NEK and days like this will bring out some decent stonefly hatches. We’ve got some great conditions this week for an early season float trip, so give a holler and we’ll take you out!
Florida was a blast! I fished last Tuesday with John Maskauskas of Stuart Fly Fishing and we had a lot of fun. I just met John but felt like I was fishing with an old friend. We caught some big Jacks, a couple’a Bonito and I blew my only 2 shots at Tarpon…one of which was about 125#. It rolled 10 feet off the bow and I led the fish by about 3 feet too much….see ya!....next time I’ll get’em. This pic is of a Jack I landed on the fly. It went 24 pounds and took about 25 minutes to bring in on the 12 weight. I was wishing the fight to be over at the end! Those fish went nuts over poppers and are, pound for pound, the hardest fighting fish I’ve come across to date. Thanks John! I’ll be back!
Check out John's site at www.stuartflyfishing.com


April 21, 2009
We have been treated to some great early season conditions. Glad to say the shop has been busy and lots of folks are enjoying the spring fishing. Everyone has had better than average luck hooking up this week thanks to the low water levels. Look for the weather to turn wet for the bulk of this week, which is good. We need rain. Rivers are well below average across the state. The soil around here is dry as a bone and there are fire bans already, which is odd for April. The state has started stocking places already and without high water to spread those fish out, they are easy pickin's, as we have seen this week. Dave spoke with some anglers who had limited out every day last week. 40+ fish between them subtracted from 200 fish planted. I would guess, by now, over half the fish planted last week in the Lamoille are now gone.
Anyway, water temps range throughout the 40's and the only insects I have seen are early stones. Dave had luck swinging buggers for trout in the Lamoille and found fish (bass/walleye) holding deep (15-20ft) in a local pond. Steelhead are present up north. Saw 1 nice male that was kept and I released an average size female. I hooked about 1/2 doz. suckers but did not see anyone else get into them. They are there but, not too thick like late April/May.
I am holding the fort while Dave is in Pulaski and Chris is in Florida. We will report back on their adventures as well as local conditions soon.


April 14, 2009
Wow has it been cold the past couple'a days!...and windy!! Things will warm up to the 60's by the end of the week, but it doesn't look like that weather will stick around for long. Daytime temps aren't too bad, but it's still been really cold at night, which will keep things from warming up too quickly.
Hopefully, ya'll had a good opening weekend despite the colder weather. We heard of mixed success with varying species of fish, from trout, to pike to walleye. The Lamoille kicked out a few nice fish, including a 22" rainbow that was caught in the lower reaches of the mainstem. We heard of a couple'a steelhead from the NEK, but we didn't get up there this weekend. Mike and I did a little pike fishing yesterday which was short-lived due to the wind. We got blown around pretty good and didn't see much action on the 40 degree water.

Our buddies Gary and Ken had some luck at one of their favorite pike holes...



April 11, 2009
Opening day of the 2009 VT trout season is upon us and it's a beautiful day! Night tempa have still been pretty cool, but daytime temps have been crawling into the mid-50's. Things are still lookin' pretty messy and early-springlike around here, but with some nice weather, things will green right up! Aside from tomorrow, which is gonna be chilly, the rest of the week looks pretty good.
Flows have dropped considerably since last week, and some of those early season haunts will certainly see some anglers out today. The flows in the NEK are looking great for steelheading and the stones will be coming off like crazy in this weather. Some of our favorite pike waters are thawed and ready to go, so that's where we'll be this week.
We've got some great sales going on in the shop right now, so get in here and check it out! We've got breathable waders for as low as $65!!! Here's a BIG DEAL...Buy an Orvis Helios, T3, TLS or Superfine and get a Battenkill Bar Stock, Mid-Arbor or Large Arbor Reel FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!
We're still facilitating bookings for guided Salmon River, NY spring steelhead trips....Just ask when you stop in.
We're hoping for a great season and we'll look forward to seeing ya'll on the water and in the shop. We've got some talented new guides on-board this season, and we'll also be floating some new beats as well. We had lots of very happy clients last year on our float and wade trips, and we hope to keep the trend going this season. Give us a call!
I'm off the Florida next week, so hopefully I'll have some good reports. I'm fishing 1 day with John from Stuart Fly Fishing (www.stuartflyfishing.com) <"((((((((((((><


March 22, 2009
As I write this, the snow is flying outside and the wind is whippin’ like it was mid-January. The first thing that came to mind this morning, after I rubbed my eyes in disbelief of the new blanket of snow, was STEELHEAD!! Nothing like snow fallin’ and steelheads tuggin’! Post-spawn steelhead on the Salmon river are starting to drop back to the lake and they’ll slam a fly or streamer on the swing! We can still set you up with everything you need to catch these amazing fish, including a drift boat guide, lodging, flies, gear, etc.. You’ll kick yourself for not getting out there sooner…
VT’s season is right around the corner and we’re really stoked for another season of good’ole Green Mountain fishing! As of April 1st, the shop will be open 7 days a week for all your fishing needs. We’ve got some great sales to start off the season, including Orvis Silver Label2 Waders, Scott A2 and E2 series fly rods, fishing clothing and outerwear, and much more!
The main stem rivers are mostly ice free, except for a few remaining spots where ice jams are still piled up. Time to get the pike flies out!
We look forward to guiding many of our return clients as well as some new faces this season. We’re also very excited to be offering our guided float and wade services in the Lamoille, Winooski and Whiter River Watersheds. We’ve also added some new guides to the roster, each with their own specific areas of expertise, and all with extensive local knowledge and years of experience fishing the Green Mountain State.
See you on the water!


March 7, 2009
Dave and I made another trek out to NY last week with the raft in tow. First day we fished down river on foot and were each rewarded with multiple hookups and double digit fish amidst extremely cold temps. We each got a buck over 10#'s that were absolutely beautiful and fresh outta the lake. We couldn't have asked for better fishing, hooking almost a dozen fish and landing anbout half of them between 2 of us in a few hours fishing.
Next 2 days we floated, first upriver then mid. Lots of boats out...10 including ours! Fishing was much slower and most fish seemed to be concentrated in certain areas. Air temps were -2 degrees when we launched, but nuttin' like a few steelhead to warm you up! Check out more pics from this trip on our "Photo of the Week" page.

The economy hasn't seemed to slow down bookings for us and May is filling up, so give a holler and make your reservation for a unique Vermont fishing experience. Our drift boat is a state of the art STAR inflatable, completely outfitted for fly fishing and the absolute perfect vessel for floating our rivers in Northern VT. It is the only drift boat of it's kind in our area and offers an extremely comfortable ride. No clanging and banging like hard bottom boats. Give a call or email and book your float today!


February 7, 2009
The winter doldrums are really setting in now…
At least we’re getting into a bit of a mid-winter thaw with some temps in the 30’s and 40’s predicted for this week.

Finally got the chance to do a little steelheading last week with Dave in NY. We had been waiting for the right weather window to open up and, with temps in the 30’s predicted, that was our chance. So, we dragged the raft out to Pulaski on Sunday, fished Sunday afternoon on foot and floated on Monday and Tuesday. We hooked tons of fish over the 3 days, landed quite a few dinks and only closed the deal on a few nice fish in the 6 pound range. Dave was definitely the hot rod for the trip and fought a couple’a real monsters before they came un-buttoned. Not many grip’n’grin shots, but we were pleased with the amount of hookups we had and the raft allowed us to get into some really nice wintering spots that can’t easily be reached on foot. We are now offering guided trips on the Salmon River via Captain Pat Thayer of Redline Sportfishing. These trips come HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, so drop us a line in regards.

Bookings have started coming in for the ’09 VT trout season, so call or email to reserve your guided wade or float trip for the season.


Nov 1st, 2008
The 2008 season has come to an end. G.M.T. would like to thank all of those who fished with us this year as well as our customers that came in the shop. There are still winter fishing options around so consult a reg book or the vt fish and wildlife website. Our shop will be closed in Nov. so check back around Dec. for our winter hours. Have a good winter.

Oct 28th, 2008
I just returned from spending the better part of last week in N.E. PA and I had a chance to fish one of New Jersey’s finest trout streams…the South Branch of the Raritan River in Califon, NJ. Check out an article on the South Branch in the most recent issue of
Eastern Fly Fishing Magazine.
I had fished the SB with little success in the doldroms of winter quite a few years back and I’d really been wanting to go back and fish it again. I stopped into
Shannon’s Fly Shop right in downtown Califon, and these guys were extremely helpful. I chatted with Charlie about what was happnin’ in the Ken Lockwood Gorge stretch of the river (which was literally right across the street,) he recommended some flies, gave me some ideas for parking spots and off I went. Stop into Shannon’s if you’re ever in Califon and they’ll treat you right!
The fishing was humbling to say the least….tiny flies on light tippets is far from my comfort zone. I managed to drum up a few pretty lookin’ browns, but it was tough. The fish were very selective.
Looks like a snowy forecast no matter where you live tonight into tomorrow. Get those egg patterns tied up!


Oct 26th, 2008
We have gotten about 1 1/2 inches of rain overnight and area rivers are cranking right now. A pretty fatal blow with only 5 days left of trout season. Fishing yesterday was slow for us. Water temp on the Lamoille was 40 degrees and the wind was brutal with the storm approaching. We did see some fish rising out of range and spooked 1 other. Only 1 rainbow landed on a bugger. The rainfall has bumped water temps up a bit and the Winooski was 48 this morning. We have more wet weather forecasted in the form of snow/rain. Colder temps will prevail with highs in the 40's for most of the week.



Oct 20th, 2008
When I woke up yesterday morning to sub-freezing temps, the steelhead fever really was starting to set in. I'd really like to hook a steelhead on the spey rod this fall and the onset of cold weather that generally slows trout fishing down in VT is always the time that I really get the bug. I didn't expect to see rising fish on the Lamoille, so I just brought the spey rod out to practice my casting and swing some streamers. Of course when I got to the river, the fish were comfortably rising...cruising...sipping along the warmer shallows of the river. Worst possible scenario for a 13' 7 weight.
Needless to say, I shut most of the rising fish down with my, "lots of room for improvement" spey casts, but I did get a couple good solid bumps on the swing which felt real nice on the 2-hander. I'll be out again this evening doin' some more "practicing."
Give us a holler if you're planning on doing any Great Lakes fishing this fall/winter. We've got great deals on rods and reels right now and we can offer great advise on the GL fisheries.
We'll be doing floats throughout the fall, so give us a call to set one up!
Enjoy the last couple'a weeks of trout season and leave the spawners alone!

Oct 18th, 2008
Air temps have cooled off quite a bit and yet the surface feeding remains very good. Funny how 50 degree water in the fall can be great fishing but 50 degree water in the spring is a different story. Anyway, I got out for 1 hr after work on the Lamoille and was suprised to see so many BWO duns still on the water. The fish were rising steady until about 5:30 then it tapered off till dark. Got a new steelhead rod and was excited to try it out. I figured at that hour I would be swinging streamers. So there I was throwing big gear to rising fish with #20 biot BWO and a 12ft 5lb leader. You guessed it, hooked a very large bow that jumped and screemed all over the pool. Got him to my feet and didn't loosen the drag and broke him off. Some more LDR's and some missed stikes before it was all over. Only 2 weeks left so, grab your favorite soft action rod rod and get out and enjoy.


Oct 14th, 2008
The local fishing this week has been very good. Not many large fish caught but lots of wild bows on dries. In fact, this week has been by far the best surface action I have seen this season. Constant surface feeding every time we were on the water. Mostly between 1-4 p.m. The fly of the week for us has been #18 para-adams. We also a couple on #18 pheasant tail, #14 prince, and buggers. No doubt, we are beeing treated to some great late season conditions. The rest of the week looks the same with no major weather changes until the weekend when we will cool off to more seasonal temps.


Oct 11th, 2008
Another beautiful Fall day and, as soon as it warms up a bit, the fishing should turn on. The dry weather will be around for at least the weekend, as will the 60 degree highs, so keep on fishin!
The NEK salmon run appears to be seeing alot of traffic this year, and it was surprising to hear that there was a guide operation with a group of 12 or so anglers up there last week. That's a bit excessive. There's plenty of places to take a large group like that and a small stream with actively spawning fish is not one of them.
We've got open days and prime conditions for a float, so give us a shout. We'll get you away from the people and in front of the fish!

Oct. 8th, 2008
Nothing quite like bluebird skies, bright foliage and excellent fall fishing! It’s sad to think that trout season is coming to an end…but it’s definitely going out with a bang!
I’ve been firing up the wood stove this week and we had a pretty widespread frost last evening which hammered the last standing perennials in the garden. But a morning that started out just over the freezing mark will see temps top out around 60 degrees. Drastic warm ups like this can turn the fishing on in a big way. Scattered BWO’s were the only insects visually present yesterday, but the fish were slamming streamers. The brown trout are incredibly lit up right now in their spawning regalia. We floated over a couple’a fish yesterday that appeared to be sunning themselves. One of them appeared well over the 20” mark and bolted as we approached. Our raft makes for a stealthy approach and is the perfect rig for fishing our larger rivers. We float water that is unpressured and inhabited by some really nice fish. Join us for a float on the Star and see for yourself!


Oct 5th, 2008
Bbbrrrrrr….. A bit of a chill is in the air this morning and it doesn’t look like it’ll get much over 50 for at least the next couple’s days. The higher mountain summits got some flurries the other night and it was crazy to come into work and see a snow-capped mountain. Flows are receding nicely after last weeks rains ramped them up a bit and the fishing has been pretty darn good. I floated a couple guys in the rising flows on Thursday and the fish were definitely active. We also saw some pretty good bug activity ranging from tiny BWO’s to big ole’ Iso’s and most of the fish we hooked were right off the bank. We really didn’t come across any active bass to speak of, but the trout were definitely on the feed. Clousers and nymphs were the ticket of the day.
Mike is out guiding on foot today and I’ll be floatin’ some folks downtown tomorrow….and I may even be breaking out the gloves for this one! Check out news and events for ANR press release on Lamprey treatment in the Winooski River.


Oct 3rd, 2008
We got double the rain forecasted yesterday and we had just under an inch in total. River levels came up quite a bit but, held decent clarity. Chris was on the river throughout the rainy/raw weather and the fishing was actually pretty good throughout the rising flows. Fish were rising quite a bit until the flows peaked and they managed to hook a bunch of fish. Landing them in the heavy water proved to be a little tough but a couple came to net. Rivers are coming back down but, more rain is forecasted for Friday. This weekend will be raw and overcast with a slight chance of rain.


Oct 1st, 2008
We have recieved 1/4 in. of rain overnight and expect up to another 1/4 in. tonight. The rivers still look good, as of now, but there is a fair amount of leaves being washed downstream. Fished the Lamoille yesterday and the fishing was very good. Hatches were pretty strong mid-day consisting of Bwo's and Iso's with a couple of caddis around. The only fish we saw rise were in slow water or backeddies. Typical Bwo feeding where you see trout crusing with dorsal fins out of water. Never targeted them on dries because streamers were working well. When hatches picked up we threw nymphs but soon switched back to streamers. Streamers were working well but with the low water there were alot of follows w/out strikes. Trout just nosing the fly and following it for what seemed like forever. Some cooler temps are on the way with some Mtn. snow possible later this week. Air temps this week will be in the 50's mid-day. Get out and enjoy the rain, only 30 days of trout season left.



Sept 24th, 2008
Looks like the weather will take a turn this upcoming weekend after some very cold nights and some very sunny days. During the cold mornings we were not seeing many insects at all, until it would warm up a bit. The Lamoille on Monday was 54 degrees when we started fishing at 10:00 a.m. Then once it warmed up caddis and bwo's were around but high sun with no clouds did not make for the best fishing conditons. I fished with 2 very seasoned anglers who, despite tough conditions, managed to catch fish throughout the sunshine on Monday. All nice looking wild rainbows and 1 brown, which is always nice, just nothing to big. All of their fish were caught on small beadhead pheasant tail flashbacks and soft hackles under small indicators. Zero surface activity while we were on the water (6hrs.) This week we have seen mostly bwo's and caddis along with some yellow quills. There are still hoppers out and about on the banks and nearby fields. The p.m. seems to be best for dry fly fishing on the Lamoille right now. All that might change as we head into the weekend with a 50%-70% chance of showers from Friday into Sun with 1-2 inches expected. We are getting what we asked for so break out the streamers for the weekend into next week.

Sept 14th, 2008
Fishing this week has been slower than previous weeks for us and most we have talked to. Some here, some there but, nothing crazy. I have not seen much surface activity at all and when the fish were rising it was very sporatic. I was on the water for 6 hours on Fri and did not see 1 fish rise. Bwo's have been present at most times of the day and saw some spinners over riffles in the a.m. Some a.m. caddis around as well. Yesterday, was humid and some fying ants made a showing around Jeffersonville and parts of Stowe. Rain for Sunday and Monday and after that things look very nice into the weekend. Only 6 weeks left of fishing season so get out and enjoy.



Sept 8th, 2008
Looks like we will get hit with some strong storms tonight into Tuesday. Upwards of an inch of rain is expected with stong winds and hail. After that air temps will cool down considerably with possible frost in some areas.



Sept 6th, 2008
Just finished up 3 days with a nice couple from Florida. Yesterday and today caddis (tan #14) were active in select streches of water in the early a.m. and would disapear by 10:30 or so. Henryville specials and elk hair caddis were working up top and caddis puppa down low. Both days once the caddis were gone the fishing slowed. Today we fished for bass and had a great time despite having to battle some strong winds. Heaps of bass between 10-16in. caught mostly on poppers and a couple subsurface when the wind would pick up.
Looks like the cool weather is here to stay so the fishing should remain good. Keep some BWO patterns around this week and hope we get some rain. Bwo hatches can be pretty tough when we have low water, which is usually the case in the fall.


Sept 4th, 2008
The hot weather has caught up with us a bit and the Lamoille river was a balmy 70 degrees in Jeff at 6:15 a.m. this morning. The Winooski hit 72 degrees yesterday. It feels like the July we never had. We fished a small trib this morning and the fishing was o.k. Mostly small wild fish that took princes and stimulators. Have not seen to much in the way of hatches the past couple of days and the hatches I did see, the fish were not responding on the surface. A couple more hot days with a chance of rain this weekend and then more seasonal weather returns.

Also, word up to the mad-dog crew, fish and wildlife, and all the others who had a hand in the removal of the Cox brook dam, which is now underway. Check out the VPR story by clicking on news and events.

August 31st, 2008
The forecast looks great again this week with nightime temps in the 50's and daytime temps around 80. The Lamoille is close to seasonal flows so it might flirt with the 70 degree mark when temps hit 85 on Tues. Should not matter, in fact this week, like the past couple should be great hopper fishing. Hoppers and ants have been the best producing drys for us this week along with caddis patterns. Iso's have also been present (zug bugs, princes, and adams).

August 30th, 2008
The fishing and weather have both been superb lately, and we've been busy guiding clients ranging from 5 to 65 in conditions that couldn't be much better. The past few days, most of the hatch activity has been caddis....and the fish are definately tuned in to the hatch, with caddis imitations out-producing just about anything else we've thrown. The ratio of wild to hatchery fish has been pretty impressive. I'd say that we've been averaging a catch of roughly 90% wild fish. Bring on September!


August 22nd, 2008
Some beautiful weather we're having here and the fishing is heating up with it! I had an outstanding float trip yesterday on the 'ole raft with some super nice clients from Rhode Island. This was the couple's first float trip, and they loved it! We floated for 8 hours in all and landed 3 species of fish under blue skies with the nicest fish of the day being a beautiful 18" wild rainbow and a brightly colored 14" wild brown. We also had 1 very large fish slam a streamer just as it hit the water and dart right to the bottom. After some big head shakes he spit the hook and it was over. We also landed lots of bass from 12-15" that put up some great fights.
The water was 66 at about noon yesterday and still running a bit stained at about 1000cfs. Iso's were everywhere, but we didn't take many fish on Iso imitations.



August 20th, 2008
The Lamoille and Winooski are still high but, fishable. All other rivers and creeks look great. Not the typical August trickles but nice steady cool flows. The Lamoille fished well this week with all reports consistant with healthy stockies. There have been fair amounts of Iso's and random fish rising here and there. Also saw quite a few yellow stoneflies in the #12 range and what looked to be yellow quills #14. Have not seen any flying ants since the cooler weather started but, these next couple of warm sunny days could help them return.



August 15th, 2008
The weather for this week looks great. It almost feels like X-mas again with all of these rivers coming back on line. Tonight we saw some good swarms of flying ants in both Stowe and Hyde Park. Be sure to have some flying ant patterns this week. I have seen the fish rise for them in pretty high flows before so the hatch should be fishable in many places. Although, with the high flows a drowned flying ant at anytime over the next week could be a top pick.


August 13th, 2008
Things are coming around this week as the rain has eased up enough to bring more local rivers back into play. The Lamoille is another story as it is dropping at a painfully slow rate. Either way, the fishing is improving. We caught some beautiful wild browns this week in the 13 to 18+ in range as well as lots of brookies. If we can avoid more rain we might get some hatches to come into play. Most notable over the coming weeks will be white flies, iso's, tricos and flying ants. Stimulators and beatles have worked well up top and princes and buggers have turned fish subsurface.


August 11th, 2008
It seems that just as the bigger rivers start to come around, we get hammered with rains. The passing storms have been all over the place...dropping several inches of rain on some towns and barely missing others with not so much as a sprinkle. I just heard the weather man say that the rains may carry right into the Fall. I can only imagine what things were like around here during the 1927 flood with the big rivers ranging from 30-60,000cfs. Hopefully, that's a 500 year event.
Small streams will maintain fishability until they get pounded with rain again. Use big bushy flies like Wullfs and stimulators. Terrestrials like ant and beetle patterns will also be big producers.

August 4th, 2008
This is getting depressing...
Looks like today will be "relatively" dry....as in, there's only a 50% chance of showers throughout the day. Tomorrow night, the next weather system will move into the area bringing, you guessed it, more rain!
All of our fly rods in stock are currently 20% off! Now's your chance to get a great deal on a new setup!

August 2nd, 2008
More rain is forecasted for today with as much as 3" predicted in certain locations. The Lamoille this morning was already muddied up from the previous few rain storms and it's been flowing at over 1000cfs for the past few days. After today, it'll only be going up, and over its banks in some spots if we do receive significant rainfall. Thankfully, we have plenty of small streams to keep us busy when the big rivers are blown out.
Mike had an enjoyable day yesterday guiding 2 anglers from Holland on a few different tributaries. They had lots of wild trout eat the fly and pose for pics. A very memorable outing for a couple guys from Holland that have never caught a trout.
We've had to cancel a couple drift trips this week due to muddy water. The raft will be back in action once the flows allow, so get your spot reserved for a truly unique VT experience. Our raft can take up to 2 anglers and a guide. For these trips, experience and accurate casting are preferred.


July 30th, 2008
Flows look good on tribs around here and the mainstem Lamoille is just coming around. Look for flows to increase again as a cold front takes hold Wed. night into Thurs. dumping up to 1 in. of rain. After that the forecast remains wet with a 40% chance of rain into next week. That's o.k. because the last wet summer we had delivered some great fall fishing on the Lamoille and Winooski.
What that means is more of the same, brook trout and Bass fishin'. Water temps have been in the low to mid 60's in the a.m. As for bugs, Iso's, Trico's, White Flies, Yellow Stones, and Ants/Hoppers/Beatles will be on the menu.


July 25th, 2008
The entire state has gotten soaked with rain spiking rivers close to or above flood stage. The Lamoille hit 9000cfs and 14ft. gauge height. (Check out photo of the week to see some high water shots.) We are drying out today (Fri.) and getting ready for more wet weather this weekend. Needless to say, that most rivers will be unfishable in the coming days. Stillwater and fast draining upland brooks are the only game in town.


July 22th, 2008
The big rivers and most of the tribs I've seen are currently blown and likely won't be coming down any time soon with quite a bit more rain forecast over the next couple'a days. The ground is absolutely saturated, so any more significant rainfall will make flooding a very real concern.
Any fishing over the next several days will have to take place on steeper drainages or stillwater. Watch the radar closely since t-storms are forecast for just about every day this week.



July 20th, 2008
Heavy rain is currently falling and an inch or two is expected by the time it is all said and done. Flows will be quite high for the next couple of days. Rivers that never came down from 1+in. of rain on Fri/Sat are getting another dose. Best bet for the early week will be fishing stillwater and smaller tribs.
Air temps will ease just slightly with highs in the upper 70's and lows around 60 degrees. Most reports have been slow to good but not much outstanding fishing reported this week.


July 17th, 2008
The forecast for the next 5 days looks like the forecast for the past couple of weeks. Highs around 80 and lows around 60 with 30-40% chance of T-storms.
The mainstems are warm and a.m. fishing will have the best water temps. The Winooski was 70 degrees early in the a.m. The little river has been cranking for days now which could help cool of the mainstem.
Potomanthus and cahills have been the most common bugs we have seen. Ants, hoppers and beatles are where it is at right now. Hex's are still around on some lakes up north. Earlier in the week the fishing was good with lots of Hex's and fish responding to them. I managed to get into the club and hooked my first bat. I was lucky and got a LDR. Otherwise, last night the fishing slowed with only a couple of bugs, a few bats, and fewer fish.


July 15th, 2008
The Lamoille still looked muddy this morning, but the flow has dropped back to about 600cfs as of this a.m. Small streams look great right now. It's nice to see some water back in the streams, but the ground was so dry that most of the rain just soaked right in.
It was pretty cool last night which allowed for some cooling of water temps. The Winooski started off this a.m. in the mid-upper 60's, but could easily rise back over 70 with the onset of 80 degree weather. Be sure to carry your stream thermometer and if you've fished the Mad recently, by all means disinfect your gear!
We'll be chasing Hex's tonight on a big puddle up north.

July 14th, 2008
We REALLY needed yesterday's soaking rains. The main stem rivers are pretty mucky today, but they'll likely recede relatively quickly. Steeper drainages seem to be in pretty decent shape. Trout fishing's generally pretty slow through late July and August, so it's best to expand your horizons with some bass fishing. Don't harass trout in warm water.
The Winooski looks like it dropped below 70 this morning, but I doubt it will stay that way for too long.
Make sure you're armed with terrestrials on the water.


July 12th, 2008
The Lamoille and Winooski both got to cool off a bit which is a nice break for the trout. The Winooski was 66 degrees this morning. I have spoken with a few anglers this week and most have reported marginal trout fishing. The bass fishing on the other hand has been more productive. The Lamoille last night got under 70 degrees and we saw large swarms of what look to be cream cahill spinners. They did not fall.
Look for temps to spike back up with weather in the 80's this weekend. Rain could be heavy Sunday into Sunday night with anywhere from 1/2 to 2 inches expected. Air temps in the 70's are forecasted for Mon/Tues.


July 10th, 2008
It is a sad day for local fisherman. It seems that didymo has been confirmed in the Mad river. Since Didymo has raised its ugly head in V.T. we have always talked of which rivers were next. The Mad was at the top of the list due to its physical make-up and somewhat close proximity to the White River drainage. It seems to be well established with thick blooms found around the town of Warren. Only time will tell how this will effect the Winooski watershed. Spread the word as fast as you can. It is now more important than ever to clean your gear after fishing any V.T. waterway. For the full press release click on news and events.




July 8th, 2008
Not much new to report right now. Water temps are still very high with the Winooski topping out at 78 degrees and a low of 71. Smallies and brookies are the best bet until things cool off later this week. Smallmouth and largemouth fishing has been very good this week and while we have taken some fish on poppers, most have come subsurface. FYI: some large yellow mayflies have shown up on the Lamoille. Most likley Potomanthus, but never got one in the hand.
Cooler weather is on tap for thurs. and Fri with some rain forecasted Wed.


July 6th, 2008
It is hot and dry all around northern V.T. with low flows and warm temps. The Winooski was almost 75 degrees at 4:15p.m. Ouch! Don't despair, there are still plenty of fishing options around. We have have had good bass and brookie reports from area ponds and creeks and Hex hatches are coming off as well. Carry a thermometer and try to avoid trout water that is over 70 degrees.

July 3rd, 2008
It's currently raining cats and dogs here in Lamoille County and, despite that fact
that we've had a rainy season thus far, we really needed this rain to raise the flows and lower the water temps. After spiking up to almost 75 degrees yesterday in the balmy heat wave, the Winooski is back down to 68 degrees today and seems to be hovering around that mark. The Lamoille is a similar story and will certainly appreciate today's rains after nearly dropping below 100 cfs this week. Needless to say, carry your stream thermometers and please check water temps prior to fishing. If you're fishing the bigger rivers, the crack of dawn is your best bet for favorable water temps, so long as the nights cooperate and do their cooling job. This weekend into next week looks to be warm with highs in the 80's and overnight lows only in the 60's.
We've had some excellent days out with clients this season and are looking forward to many more as reservations fill up. We've tied quite a few "never-evers" into their first fish on the fly and we should have pics up on the website as soon as we get a chance to pull them off the cameras.
Our new store (Mansfield Outfitting) in the Stowe Mountain Lodge is coming along
nicely and we're doing our best to keep our heads above water with 2 stores and a
guide service to manage. We're still looking for someone to work 3 days a week at the Troutfitters, so give a call if you're interested.


June 30th, 2008
We somehow avoided the big rains up here and flows are looking great. Water temps will be an issue this week on the mainstems with most days topping off around 80+ degrees. The good news is it will be much less humid allowing for some cooler nights in the 50's. The Winooski is running higher than the Lamoille right now and the Little river is cranking. So, all in all we are still sitting pretty with decent temps and flows going into July.

June 28th, 2008
Another good week of fishing this week. We have been lucky with water temps so far this year. The Lamoille and Winookski have both been between 60-63 degrees in the a.m. Some good spinners falls at dusk have been the most consistant surface action otherwise princes, caddis pupa, and buggers have been working.
We are bracing for some severe weather over the next couple of days with up to 2+ inches of rain through Tues. This will slow down the fishing so we will keep an eye on it.


June 23rd, 2008
Fishing has remained good this week with water temps in the 60's. Last night the Lamoille valley got almost 1 1/2 in" of rain and the rivers are brown. South of us dodged the bullet but more rain is heading our way. Atfer today (Mon.) things should shape up as water levels drop. Air temps will be in the 70's this week.
Pinces, Hares ear's, Caddis pupa, PT nymphs, Stimulators, and buggers have all caught fish this week. The most active insects we have seen are Stoneflies, caddis, and Cahills.


June 15th, 2008
The Lamoille valley has gotten just under 1in. of rain overnight and right now the rivers are brown but dropping. We have more rain forecasted for the next five days with some cooler weather coming. Highs in the 60's mid-week with 60% chance of rain each day. Fishing in the a.m. was prety slow yesterday but the p.m. has had lots of rising fish. Caddis, march browns spinners, and sulphers were all in the air, as well as very small yellow stones. We will post again when conditions improve or worsen.



June 11th, 2008
We made it through a hot muggy strech where the Lamoille was well in the 70's and its tribs were reading 68 degrees at 8:00 a.m. After some small monsoons, we are back to cool weather and the forecast for the rest of the week looks great weather wise with no precip thru Friday. The rains have nastied up the rivers, so giv'em a few days to recover and keep an eye on the USGS flows. We still saw a march brown dun or two the other day and sulphers, caddis, and yellow sallies continue to be the main players. I have not seen many light cahills but, I expect to soon. Haven't looked for drakes because the Lamoille was hot but will be looking around the next few days. Speaking of drakes, now is the time where they should be popping off some of the Hex lakes. Hex's will also show early on some select lakes. Remember, drakes 3 tails, Hex's 2.

June 4th, 2008
The flows remain on the high side making for some thougher fishing this week. Wolly buggers have saved the day more than once this week during the higher flows. South of Stowe has been less efected by the latest round of storms. Although the mainstems are up, there is still plenty of good fishing around. Large sulpher spinners, small sulpher duns, yellow sallies, and large march brown spinners have been the most common insects this week. Hot muggy weather is on the way for this weekend so watch the temps on the large rivers. Also keep an eye out for brown drakes which should show up any day now. Water temps will be high but if we get more rain, but not to much, the hatch might be fishable. Speaking of rain there is a 30%/40% chance of T-storms forecasted for the next 5 days.


May 26th, 2008
Yesterday was like the day before. Some spots seem to be fishing poorly, while other spots are fishing great. Once we found active fish, our persistance paid off. I saw mostly march browns/caddis where we were fishing. Only 1 fish rising, a wild brown of about 13in. Last night there was a mess of march brown spinners over the lamoille at 7:30p.m. This week looks like cool weather in the 60's and nighttime temps dipping into the 30's, not bad for late May.

May 25th, 2008
There was good amount of fishing pressure for the holiday weekend. The Lamoille on Sat. was still on the cool side, throw in some stiff wind and we had to work to find rising fish. Still managed to find a couple between wind gusts. We caught most fish on princes and para-adams but had to work hard for them. A mix of stocked and wild rainbows and it is always an ocasion when you get a wild brookie from the mainstem Lamoille. Saw mostly sulphers during the day and lots of airborne caddis at dusk, no spinners on the water where I was last night. Sun. and Mon. will be warmer with temps in the 70's along with a chance of T-storms on Mon. and then it looks like back to cooler weather after that.



May 23rd, 2008
Cool weather has been present all week but this weekend should bring some nice, more seasonable weather. Across the board people are reporting decent hatches with little surface activity. Because of this, trailing a nymph behind a dry a is good way to go right now. The only predictable surface activity I have seen is spinnerfalls just before dark on the Lamoille. Very short surface feeding lasting about 15 minutes before the lights shut off(headlamp required). We have seen some sulphers on the lower Lamoille and expect march browns if they haven't started already. This weekend looks great weatherwise so get out and enjoy!



May 18th, 2008
The weather has been great this week and we have had some good reports from all around. We have a bunch of nice pics that we took or were sent in that we will post on the site a.s.a.p (pictured right is a hog of a brown that was caught/released by Dave Durovich this week in the Winooski watershed).
The Lamoille has been starting the day around the 50 degree mark thanks to the cool nights were are having and toping 60 degrees in the evevings. Hendricksons spinners have been around at different hours each day and we have seen yellow sallies and reports of caddis on the Lamoille. We should start seeing some march browns and sulphers soon. Fishing has been hit or miss depending on where you are. Most rivers have now been stocked and there are no shortages of hatchery fish.
Looks like a drastic turn in the weather for this week with cooler temps and chance of rain for the next 5 days. Recent weather reports have been pretty far off so we will see.


May 14th, 2008
Sorry for the delay in reports....
Fishing this week has been getting better everyday. I had the pleasure of fishing with my brother and Uncle this week and the Lamoille gave up a bunch of fish including a couple large browns and bows on Monday. Hendrickson duns have been showing up around 2:00p.m. but I still have not seen to many fish responding to them on the surface. We watched a strong hatch with not one rise to speak of. I threw a dry/dropper and all fish came subsurface. Most fish this week have been caught on #14/#12 pheasant tails, princes, and streamers. Water temps have been in the low 50's in the a.m. and pushing 60 toward dusk.
Now is the time to get out there! We have some wet weather coming this Fri-Tues. Also, temps will drop significantly with highs in the 50's later into the weekend.

May 4th, 2008
Kind of miserable weather we’re having right now. No wonder so many people get the flu this time of year. Some 70/80 degree weather for awhile and BAM, right back down into the 40’s/50’s with spotty showers here and there. Today’s rain showers will be taking a break mid-day and then likely returning this afternoon for one last fly over. Tomorrow and Tuesday will be sunny and in the lower 60’s and then we may have spotty showers again on Wednesday afternoon with temps still in the 60’s.
The recent rain showers have had little to no impact on stream flows, so with the return of some more favorable air/water temps, the bite will start to increase. The F&W Dept. has begun stocking and will likely continue to do so while flows allow.
Many of our customers have been reporting tough fishing on the tribs, which isn’t too surprising considering the amount of snow still left up in the higher elevation mountains….that’s some cold water comin’ down.
Steelhead are still pushing up the Magog tribs accompanied by PLENTY of suckers. Anglers putting in the time are usually able to weed through the crowd and eventually hook up with a steelie. Sucker spawn patterns have been the ticket. Stop by and grab some on your way up.
The reports of pre-spawn smallie fishing on the Champlain tribs have been outstanding! Lots of big bass being landed…..just don’t harass the fish on their beds and definitely don’t keep any of ‘em. The lake needs those fish.
Steelhead fishing in the Great Lakes will begin slowing down as many fish are dropping back to the lake, but there’s still some time left, so swing by in you’re going out there and we’ll set you up with the right tackle and techniques. I gave Dave off through Wednesday so he could go out to Pulaski, so we’ll have the report in a few days.
Sorry the newsletter is a bit late, but I’ll get it out shortly. Sign up for it if you haven’t already done so.

ATTENTION
We will be hosting a 2 Day Beginners Fly Fishing School on….
May 16 & 17 (2 spots left)
&
May 31 – June 1 (2 spots left)
*Check out our “Clinics & Classes” page for more info on the school. This is the best way to learn the sport of fly fishing in a relaxed environment with friendly instructors
*Call 802-644-2214 or 800-495-4271 for info



April 25th, 2008
Some outstanding weather we’ve been having here in Northern Vermont. It’s a bit scary to have 80 degree temps in April, but quite a treat to kiss “old man winter” goodbye….for a few months anyway :)
It looks like we’re in for a showery week, with a chance of rain just about every day and temps getting back down into the 50’s.
The Lamoille as of today has come down to about 1600cfs and is still dropping. It is fishable at this flow, but likely not your best bet for some action.
Between our small crew here at the shop, we’ve landed some real beauties thus far this season. Some big browns, lakers and steelhead have come to hand on both fly and conventional gear.
We witnessed F&W doing some electro-shocking on the Willoughby River last week……nothing to write home about. In about 10 minutes we only saw about 5 or 6 fish netted and nothing was bigger than about 20-22”. Although, just yesterday Dave went up and they were shocking the river again. This time they had a biggin’ in the bucket….just shy of 7 pounds. There ARE some big fish running that gauntlet.
Pike fishing last week was a little slow on Arrowhead Lake. Dave and I managed couple’a small ones and had some exciting follows, but no signs of big fish other than baitfish frenzy here and there. The water was almost 56 in the back bays, so the big females may have been in full-on spawn mode and completely un-interested in our flies. We’ll let them do their thing and go back at it after they’re done spawning.
We’ll see what this week does, but conditions should continue to improve daily unless we get slammed with rain.

We will be hosting a 2 Day Beginners Fly Fishing School on….
May 16 & 17 (2 spots left)
&
May 31 – June 1 (2 spots left)
*Check out our “Clinics & Classes” page for more info on the school. This is the best way to learn the sport of fly fishing in a relaxed environment with friendly instructors
*Call 802-644-2214 or 800-495-4271 for info


April 20th, 2008
Crazy summerlike weather has been hanging around and will continue to do so for a while. This weather is enjoyable but I do not like seeing this dry pattern. We want temps to rise up slowly, not spike like this. Anyway, the very warm weather has the rivers high right now with the Lamoille full to its banks but, there are still plenty of options for fishing right now. In fact, this week has given up more large fish than any opener in a while. A couple of 20 in. brown trout, some steelhead, some pike, and even 7lb. lake trout (from shore w/ hardware) have all been caught this week. All fish were caught on baitfish imitations, streamers, and eggs.
For what it's worth, early dark stoneflies have been pretty thick in the p.m. on the Lamoille this week. Otherwise, we have not yet seen to much in the way of bugs.

April 14th, 2008
Water levels are receeding and some smaller rivers are looking better day by day. The Lamoille is flowing at 2100cfs. which looks low compared to two days ago when the flow was almost 7000cfs. Nevertheless, there are opportunitites out there as our buddy Dave proves with a very nice early season brown. Conditions will continue to improve daily this week with high pressure and pleasent temps present into the weekend.

April 12th, 2008
Hey Folks!...Happy Opening Day!
Unfortunately, it's not lookin' like there will be much, if any decent fishing opportunities. The Lamoille in Johnson is flowing at about 3300-3500cfs and it will likely fluctuate from high to intensely high flows at least over the next couple'a days.
A stationary front producing a mixed bag of rain, snow and even partially sunny skies will hover over VT today and only add to the mess. We've gotten just over a half-inch of rain thus far.
I would avoid larger moving water all together for a bit and focus on some stillwater as soon as it thaws, which may in some places be before the rivers are fishable.

Look for the April issue of our "Fly Times" newsletter in your inbox soon!
If you haven't signed up for the newsletter, just click the "Join our Mailing List" link on the left side of this page.



March 13th, 2008
Alright winter...enough is enough...I'm ready to fish!
Attended a F&W public board hearing last eve in Waterbury. The hearing was in regards to some new regulations for Muskie, Walleye, and Trout. There was little to no interest in the Walleye/Muski reg changes. However, a show of hands revealed that all of the 35 or so attendees were there in full support of a new trout regulation that will close certain Winooski River spawning tributaries until May 31st of each season.
The F&W board may vote to close the lower sections of the following tribs for the spring spawn...
- Joiner Brook, Bolton - From the confluence of the Winooski River
upstream approximately 1900 feet to the first falls.
- Pinneo Brook, Bolton – From the confluence of the Winooski River
upstream approximately 100 feet to the railroad crossing.
- Preston Brook, Bolton - From the confluence of the Winooski River
upstream approximately 2600 feet to the first falls.
- Ridley Brook, Duxbury – From the confluence of the Winooski
River upstream approximately 1700 feet to the first falls.
If this vote passes with F&W, the new rule will go into effect for the 2009 trout season.

On another note, be sure to sign up for the Lamoille River Anglers Association 2008 Poker Tournament Fundraiser...
Poker Tournament Info


Hey Folks.
We're back to work after a nice month off and our Great Lakes trip this year was off the hook!

CLICK HERE for some photos from our trip
Don't miss the crazy deals we've got going on for the holidays! If you haven't seen the sale list, drop us a line at info@gmtrout.com and we'll shoot one over to you.


Oct 29th, 2007
We're just about to wrap up another VT trout season and it was another great season in the store and on the water! Thanks to all our customers for your support!!
We will be going on our annual Great Lakes trip in mid-November and will be closing the shop from November 1st - November 25th. We will re-open on the 28th.
Although the store will be closed, we'll still be checking email and phone messages so, if you need anything, don't hesitate to drop us a line.
Best Fishes -------------------------<")))))))))><


Oct 27th, 2007
Lots of rain has fallen today and rivers that looked like they might come down this a.m. are now blown out.


Oct 24th, 2007
It was quite the soaker we had all day yesterday, delivering just shy of 1.5" of rain to the area. The Lamoille is currently a rockin' muddy river and will take at least a couple'a days to come down to fishable levels. Tribs are also currently out of the question unless your white water rafting.
Not much left to the season now. We'll be closing from November 1st - 25th for a brief break, so get in here now to stock up for your November fishing excursions!
Also, if you need flies tied for your Great Lakes outings, let us know. We'll tie you flies that catch fish at a nice price.

Oct 21st, 2007
The Lamoille and Winooski are both stuffed full of water right now. The Lamoille has some visibilty in spots. Warm/dry weather will continue till about mid-week. Streamers and nymphs will be the name of the game this week. With the warm weather we are still seeing active terrestrials so a sunken ant is also a good fly to try.

Oct 19th, 2007
Certainly feels like indian summer with temps in the mid-70's forecast for today. Here's an interesting tidbit...
Back in 1947, VT experienced a record Fall heat wave with 4 consecutive days above the 80 degree mark in October. Interestingly enough, that following winter turned out to be the coldest of the entire following decade. Get that firewood cut and stacked!....but after you get back from fishing <")))))))><
Some heavy rains are forecasted for later today and tonight and this system could bring up to an inch of rain with it. Fishing conditions today should be outstanding. The warm weather will have the fish charged up a bit and ready to take your fly so get out there and fish!
We've also had a large influx of beetles over the past day or so, so be sure to have some beetle patterns in your box. Otherwise, bwo's and caddis are on the menu.

p.s. - sorry for the temporary outage of the website. We had to renew our domain :)


Oct 13th, 2007
Rivers looks great right now and this weeks fishing looks great as well. Dry cool weather is expected until at least mid-week. Much better than yesterday where it felt like it was December. 42 degrees and rainy/windy makes it hard to tie knots. Even in the cold weather the wild rainbows were agreable eating princes and buggers. Only 2 1/2 weeks left of trout season, so it is cruch time.


Oct 8th, 2007
Another inch of rain fell here in Jeff last night. The rivers are now pretty full and will stay high depending on how much rain is still to come. More rain is forecasted but, it is supposed to be on the light side.
Last night the Lamoille was still clear but, rather slow for me. Fished for about an hour without seeing one fish rise. I only managed 1 wild brown. Bugs were most numerous at dusk but nothing coming off in large numbers, where I was anyway.



Oct 7, 2007
We got over a 1/2 in. of rain yesterday. The rivers look nice and refreshed but the Winooski looked dirty in Montplier.
This week ahead looks like BWO weather all week. #18-24 comparaduns and para-adams work well. Also try olive or gray CDC patterens since most BWO action is on flat water. Also, now with the higher flows, streamers will be a good fly of choice.



September 28th, 2007
Our rain gauge here at the shop is showing about 3/4" so far for total rainfall. The Lamoille has spiked up to about 280cfs as of 8:15 this morning, but didn't look overly dirty from what I could see. Those warmer nights we recently had pushed the Lamoille dangerously close to the 70 degree mark, and likely over 70 in some spots, but thanks to the rains, the river is nice and freshened up. We're in for some excellent fishing this week!
Hatches have been heaviest at dusk with lots of caddis of different sizes and colors, some iso's and plently of bwo's bringing fish up to the surface.
It's a great time of year to be out on the water!



September 24th, 2007
Fall is officially here. Certain things have come to mean fall fishing in V.T. for me. Corn stalks in the river, tiny little BWO's, and swinging nymphs and picking up leaves (and setting the hook) are some of these things. 80+ degree days are not one of those things. The Gihon was a balmy 68 degrees this weekend. Everything points towards Fall but something just doesn't feel right. Like last year when we fished for trout on the last day in Nov. in short sleves. It just feels out of wack. A couple more unseasonably warm days before we get some cooler rainy weather later this week. Tues and Wed. of this week will have the potential for record high temps.
This week we saw the usual suspects. Iso's, Yellow Quills, Flying ants, Caddis and Bwo's. We caught fish on princes, ants, caddis pupas, and stimulators. Talked to one angler who was fishing for bass and said that dragonfly nymphs were the ticket.
As low as our water is, it's nothing compared to western N.Y. where Lake O tribs are at crazy low levels with some smaller tribs dry down to the creek beds. They have a severe drought going on and without major water events, levels are predicted to stay low throughout the fall.



September 22nd, 2007
Despite the lack of rain pretty much everywhere and the low flows, fishing has been great! The temporary return of summer like weather has caused insect activity to really pick and we've had some great dry fly action on both the small streams and larger rivers. On yesterday's outing we saw good numbers of Isonychias, yellow quills, and flying ants. I had a larger female flying ant land in my shirt yesterday, and she had a number of very small males all over her.
Fish rising everywhere...


September 14th, 2007
Current fishing conditions really couldn't be much better. Water temps have the fish very comfortable and willing to eat. The small stream I was on last eve. was fishing great and I had some really nice wild rainbows and a wild brown come to hand. A royal stimulator was the trick with a prince dropper cast right into the plunge. Tons of fun on the 6'6" 3 weight!
Just got back from a short trip to Cape Cod and MAN was it sick!!! I had negotiated for 2 mornings away from the family to do some fishing. I only had to break away from the fam once, snince we had busting bait, stripers and bluefish right in the surf of the beach we were loungin' on. All the bass I saw off our beach were schoolie size and I landed one of about 4-5 pounds and lost several others. Sight fishing for stripers is absolutely awesome!
We got hammered by rains one day, but the tides were just right for fishing from the beach. I went out to the mouth of the Bass River in Yarmouth and got completely soaked by monsoon type rains. I almost left 2 or 3 times, and I hadn't even casted yet. Finally the rains subsided, and I started'a'castin'. Not much doin for awhile and then BAM. Like a freight train, this fish hit my fly and pulled most of my intermediate line off the spool in 3 or 4 seconds. A 5 or so minute fight on the 9 weight revealed a beautiful striped bass of about 28-30" that I will never forget. The very next cast I had a huge strike again that shook it's head twice and took my clouser. Felt like a good one, but I'll never know.
A great trip to the Cape with no crowds and plenty of fish. I'm already thinkin' of going back later in the month. That's the "problem" this time of year....the fishing's getting really good just about everywhere!



Sept, 12th, 2007
We got some more rain last night and the rivers look great. All signs point to great conditons this week so get out while the getting is good. Expect to see BWO's on these cooler/overcast days. With the extra water, streamers are also a good option.


Sept, 7th, 2007
Low low low. The rivers are very clear and we could some rain, which might come this weekend. Flying ants and tricos were on the water this morn. Fish crusing flat water were eating very consistantly but not holding, just crusing the pools. Very spooky fish. Targeting moving water, wherever you can find it, will get you into less spooky fish. Up top, ant patterns were working and for nymphing, we used wet ants as well. The wet ant was the ticket.


Sept, 4th, 2007
The rivers are very low right now. Crazy weather this week will start very cool and by Fri. we are looking at temps in the mid-80's. With the Lamoille flowing under 100cfs., it will run warm despite the shorter days.
Fishing/water temps have been good and most fish we have caught have been on princes, stimulators, ants, and para-admas. Mostly, we have seen Iso's on the water and there have been lots of shucks in the eddies. Don't be shy to throw a size 10 dry to imitate these mayflies, they really are big. Also look for Bwo's, White Flies, Yellow quills, and caddis.
Good flies this week would be adams/para-adams #10-12, princes #12, Stimulators #8-14, White wulff #12, Yellow comparadun #14-16, Bwo Comparadun #18-22, and Ants/Beatles/Hoppers



August 28th, 2007
After tomorrow, some cooler weather will be moving back into the area with highs around 70 and night time lows in the 40's/50's. This will bring water temps down on the big rivers and offer some great fishing conditions.
The Lamoille has receeded from it's recent muddy flows and should shape up nicely for the return of the cooler weather. Be sure to still keep stream thermometers handy and check temps before fishing. The Upper Lamoille is currently 70 degrees and will likely climb up a bit more by days end.
It's hard to believe that Sept. is right around the corner, as is Landlocked Salmon season.


August 27th, 2007
The Lamoille Valley got a good dose of rain last night and the Lamoille is flowing brown. The smaller tribs are clear and the larger tribs are stained. The Winooski drainage was less effected and the mainstem is flowing low and clear.


August 25th, 2007
A MASSIVE flying ant hatch last evening had just about every fish in the Lamoille looking up! Unfortunately, the water temps were likely over 70 by the time the hatch was in full swing, but I watched from a bridge over the Lamoille as trout gobbled up flying ants over and over again. I saw some pretty large trout roll on the surface and had flying ants in my hair, flying into my pockets and swarming everywhere!
Get the stream thermometers out and be sure to check temps before you fish.
Air temps should be cooling down a bit as of tomorrow.



August 23rd, 2007
The Lamoille started off the day yesterday at 60 degrees and only topped out in the mid 60's by days end. We'll likely see river temps rise above 70 in the afternoon/evening hours this upcoming week since air temps are forecasted to climb into the 80's again.
I had a great night on the Lamoille last night catching rainbows from 10-15" on mostly prince nymphs. There was some real heavy surface feeding at about 7:45p.m. with a thick caddis and stonefly hatch coming off the water. Not many wild fish in the piece of water I was fishing, but the hatchery fish were certainly gorging themselves on the plethora of insects floating by.
Everything is fishing great right now, so get out there!


August 19th, 2007
We have had some very cool weather the past couple of days which has been a blessing for the fishing. Expect more seasonal temps and some rain for later in the week. The Winooski is low and cool and the Lamoille is just clearing up from the large storms we had. I would say the next couple days should be great conditions.
This week we had some action packed fishing and throwing a stimulator/prince combo was the ticket. I hadn't seen much for hatches this week but, I fished mostly tribs. Reports of Iso hatches have started and so did the flying ants. I saw ants twice in Stowe last week but when the heat stopped, so did they. Expect them to return on the next hot/sunny day. Trico reports have been rather inconsistent. Some folks have reported large swarms and heavy surface feeding while the next day, nada.
On the water look for Tricos #22-28, Isonychia #10-12, Flying Ants #16-22, stoneflies #6-10, BWO's 18-22 and Hopper/beatles.


August 17th, 2007
That storm last eve was certainly no joke! 70mph winds, quarter sized hail, downed trees everywhere and a real mucky looking Lamoille River. I don't think that any tornados touched down, but they were forecasted and it definately looked like Kansas out here.

Read the Burlington Free Press Article
The Lamoille has spiked up to approx. 950cfs and looks muddy from, at least Hyde Park down to Jeffersonville. The East Georgia USGS gauge reads only 546cfs but, east of that, I believe that the strom tracked right up the Lamoille Valley, likely mucking up most of the upper reaches as well. The tribs that I saw looked alright, but some may have gotten hit harder than others.
Rest assured....there's good weather ahead!


August 15th, 2007
Some spotty showers and t-storms are currently moving through the area and are expected to appear off and on today and tomorrow before giving way to a clear & cool weekend.
I walked down behind my house last night to take a Lamoille temp at about 7:30p.m......74/75 degrees!!!!Ouch!!!! Thankfully we have some rain and cooler weather in the forecast to help bring those temps down. Flowing at onle about 150cfs, it's tough for the Lamoille to combat even mildly warm weather.
Tribs have been fishing just fine with terrestrial patterns producing nicely on top, as well as stimulators. Lots of BIG stonefly shuks around.
We should be looking at a great week for fishing!


August 10th, 2007
We're getting spared from some pretty serious storms that are currently moving through the southern portion of the state and most of the rest of New England for that matter. It's currently beautiful outside with a nice breeze.
The Lamoille was 68 at 9a.m. today in Jeffersonville and looking really nice. We still should see some fairly warm weather this week, but the nights will be our saving grace with air temps ranging from the mid 40's to upper 50's. Bigger rivers will definately be fishable in the a.m. hours and tribs continue to maintain desirable fishing conditions.
Our first order of Korkers just arrived and are ready to go for just $119 (including 3 soles!!!!!) These boots feature interchangable soles made of felt, rubber lug, and most importantly non-absorbant AQUASTEALTH. Compared to Simms L2 Aquastealth at $139.95 and the LLBean River Treads at $109 (Both featuring only 1 permanent sole), our Korkers are the best deal around. Throw in FREE SHIPPING on top of that and your ready to hit the water with the finest in wading boot technology!


August 8th, 2007
Cloudy and humid is what we're currently lookin' at here in Northern VT. Some showers are expected to pass through the area tonight, which could bring 1-2" of rain to the area. The Lamoille is flowing in the mid 300's currently, but still looking pretty dirty and will certainly blow out if we get a good bit of rain. Tribs are looking and fishing just fine, so we'll check back on them after any showers pass through. Mike spotted an abundance of flying ants last evening in the town of Stowe, so make sure your box has plenty of ant patterns for this hatch which can produce some outstanding fishing!
Our first order of Korkers just arrived and are ready to go for just $119 (including 3 soles!!!!!) These boots feature interchangable soles made of felt, rubber lug, and most importantly non-absorbant AQUASTEALTH. Compared to Simms L2 Aquastealth at $139.95 and the LLBean River Treads at $109 (Both featuring only 1 permanent sole), our Korkers are the best deal around. Throw in FREE SHIPPING on top of that and your ready to hit the water with the finest in wading boot technology!


August 6th, 2007
About 1/4 in. of rain fell on our area this morning, which will fill the rivers a bit. Except for Tuesday, air temps should be cooler this week than last week. Many flies would work now but stimulators, ants, and princes are some good picks. Haven't seen to much hatching but, there are a bunch of stonefly shucks around.


July 31ST, 2007
The Lamoille is flowing clear and was 68 degrees @ 8:00a.m. Hot days in store this week before a shot at rain on Friday. Thursday is expected to push 90 degrees. So a.m. fishing on tribs would be best for the fish and fisherman. I have heard only good reports on local bass fishing in both rivers and ponds so, now is the time. Hex's and some drakes continue to come off some lakes although surface water is warm, Lake caspian was 74 @ 10:00p.m.
Ants, Hoppers, Beatles, Stimulators, Princes, Cahills, Yellow stones, have all been working.

July 29th, 2007
We got some rain yesterday which brought the Lamoille up over 400cfs. Just in time for this upcoming week which looks hot and dry. The Lamoille this a.m. at 7:30 was 64 degrees upstream. A big improvement from earlier this week when some Lamoille tribs hit the upper 70's. Even some smaller mountain streams hit the mid 60's by mid-day. So this week trout fishing should take place in the a.m. whenever possible. Otherwise, stick to smaller tribs and bass fishin'. Still some Hex's popping off as well.
With the hot, dry weather ants, hoppers, and beatles are the go-to bugs. Cahills and stimulators continue to produce as well. Potomanthus (golden drakes) have been steady on larger streams but evening temps will be too warm for targeting them. Also look for trico's on select tribs.


July 26th, 2007
Sorry for the delayed report folks! Mike and I were both out of the shop for the past few days.
Hot days in the upper 80's and low 90's have been around for the past couple'a days and the night air temps have also been pretty uncomfortable for the fish and the sleeping fishermen as well. Looks like a front will come thru this weekend with the possibility of some precipitation. The Lamoille is currently at 265cfs and will continue to drop in flow and rise in temperature as long as this hot, dry weather sticks around, so let's hope for some cool rain! Tribs are looking low and spooky clear, so approach slowly so as not to push the fish away before you even get a cast off.
I'd seen good numbers of Golden Drakes (Potamanthis) on my window screens during the last round of cooler weather that we had. This morning, when I stopped in Johnson for gas, there was a big beautiful dun on the gas pump. They're hard to miss with their large yellow/golden bodies, so keep an eye out.
Although the bigger water is heating up, there's still plenty of good fishing to be had. Whether it be small streams, bass water, stillwater, or whatever, there's always some place to find great fishing experiences in VT!


July 19th, 2007
Scattered showers, expected to be heavy at times, have moved into Vermont this afternoon from the west. Before the latest spat of rains, the Lamoille had high flows, yet decent clarity and was fishing good with a temp of 62 at 6:30 this morning. Tribs are still looking good despite the rain and should maintain decent flows and clarity as we approach the weekend. Tributary trout have been responding well to stimulators, prince nymphs, stone flies, hornbergs, and wulff patterns. We didn't see too much insect activity on the waters we've been on, but reports of micro caddis, small stones and paraleps(Blue Quills) have come in. To imitate the Paraleps, swinging tiny PT nymphs are a good bet in sizes 18-20.


July 15th, 2007
Still some rain around keeping the flows up on most rivers. Tribs in the area look good but some are still running fast. The smaller streams have been productive and it seems they are fishing better with the exta water. The big rivers are still brown. This rainfall is nice cause it looks the like days will warm into the 80's this week.
Yesterday on a small mountain stream I saw many little yellow stoneflies(#14) and some larger stones(#8) as well. There we also some larger mayflies but I couldn't catch any. I think any fly would have worked but I used a red wire nymph and a smalll stimulator.
Haven't heard to much about Hex's. Talking with a friend, we figured that the constant threat of T-storms has keep some people from Hex fishing as much as usual.
For hatches we have seen: stoneflies #8-14, Cahills #12-14, Golden and yellow drakes #10-12, paraleps #18-20, Black caddis #18-20

If you haven't yet checked out our Didymo Information Page please get over there right now and educate yourselves on this madness!
We need to spread the word on this as quickly as possible.


July 13th, 2007
Happy Friday the 13th! Not much else to do today than sit in front of the tube and watch some guy behind a hockey mask wreak havoc through sequel after sequel.
Smaller streams started off looking pretty decent this morning, but this band of rain that is currently moving through (2 p.m.) is mucking things right up again. Select tribs should clean up once again by tomorrow.
If you haven't yet checked out our Didymo Information Page please get over there right now and educate yourselves on this madness!
We need to spread the word on this as quickly as possible. From what I have seen on various fly fishing forums there are numerous anglers who, unknowingly, waded in the stuff on the CT and then went on to fish other rivers in the region. In that case, all we can do is act fast so that it doesn't spread any further. I'll be honest when I say that it's not looking good.
Please print the following Didymo Facts Poster and spread it around to as many users of these resources as you can.


July 12th, 2007
The Lamoille is a very, very angry river right now at 7500cfs. In some spots the Lamoille has already jumped its banks and caused some pretty serious flooding, as have many other rivers statewide.
It was a nice treat to wake up this morning to some much drier and cooler air temps. The smallest, steepest tribs aren't lookinig too shabby and should be in real nice shape by the end of the day. The bigger rivers will take some time to come down, so we'll keep you posted on their conditions.
Now's a great time for stillwater fishing!
Please take a look at the Winooski River Tributary Closure Petition if you support wild trout management in the state of Vermont. Delayed opening of the Winooski's tributaries each season will assure that trout from the Winooski main stem can safely reproduce without being "hooked and cooked" by anglers taking advantage of spawning fish.

Kayakers ruining your day?
Here's the answer...

July 11th, 2007
Rain, rain, rain is the story of the week. The good news is, however, that cooler air temps are on the way and smaller tribs are currently in decent shape for fishing. The bigger rivers are gonna need some time to come down after all this rain passes us by. Time to sit down at the vice and replenish the fly stock.
Please take a look at the Winooski River Tributary Closure Petition if you support wild trout management in the state of Vermont. Delayed opening of the Winooski's tributaries each season will assure that trout from the Winooski main stem can safely reproduce without being "hooked and cooked" by anglers taking advantage of spawning fish.

July 10th, 2007
More rains last night and the rivers are currently stuffed. Stillwater's gonna be the name of the game over the next few days. Good thing for the high water as air temps will be pretty warm this week.

July 9th, 2007
We recieved a good bit of rain region wide last night. The major rivers are up and stained with the tribs running fast. We have warm weather coming this week so a.m. fishing should be the best bet. With the higher flows I would expect nymphing to be the most productive tactic. Princes and stonefly nymphs are a good choice.

July 7th, 2007
Well...it looks like there is confirmation that Didymo is, in fact, in the Connecticut River. Read todays
Burlington Free Press article for the full scoop. For detailed info on how to clean your gear go to www.biosecurity.govt.nz. They recommend soaking felt soled boot/waders for at least 40 minutes in a solution of 5% dishwahing detergent and very hot water. Let the gear dry as throughly as possible. This is really really not good news for Vermont & New Hampshire fisheries, so please educate yourselves of how to help stop the spread of this invasive species that has already destroyed aquatic ecosystems in the United States and abroad!

The Lamoille upstream was 69 degrees last night at 7 p.m. with fairly weak insect activity until almost 9 o'clock. The a.m. hours are most definately the better bet for the Lamoille and Winooski currently. Small streams have been fishing well lately with water temps ranging from the low to mid 60's.
We'll have some pretty unstable weather this week with some less than favorable night time air temps in the upper 50's to low 60's and a chance of showers just about every day. We could certainly use a bit more rain to bring up flows and cool down temps.

July 2nd, 2007
We decided to fish the Winooksi last night and so did everyone else in Vermont. A ton of anglers were out enjoying the cool weather on the holiday weekend. The Winooski is very low and as a result was still 69 degrees at 7:00p.m. last night. Alot of bugs present (Yellow drakes, Golden Drakes, Iso's, Bwo's and caddis) with very few fish responding to them (where we were). We still did alright hooking up with caddis pupa, pheasant tails, buggers, large elk hair caddis and cream parachutes but not much luck with any iso/drake patterns.
We were fishing around 8:00p.m. when the water 40 ft. downstream exploded with a huge blast. I looked up to find the farmer that fired the shot and couldn't see anyone nor could Chris who was across the river. 20 seconds later I saw the coulprit high on the bank. I shouted and they jumped in the car and peeled out. It appears we were victims of a 4th of July prank. Damn Kids! Have a safe holiday.


July 1st, 2007
The Lamoille is flowing just below average with the Winooski running a bit lower than normal. Downstream of the little river might be higher depending on where they level the flows on the little river. The flow chart for the little river over the last 48hrs. looks like an EKG graph. This cool water should help the already low Winooski.
This week ahead look like great fishing conditions with daytime temps around 60/70. In the eveining we have seen iso's and caddis, but mostly cream cahills and yellow drakes so be sure to have a couple of yellow colored dries. X-caddis (olive), para-adams and stimulators have all taken fish in recent days.


June 28th, 2007
Last nights localized t-storms brought heavy downpours in some areas, while leaving other areas untouched. We received about 3/4" here in Jeffersonville and the Lamoille is currently looking pretty brown and flowing just under 300cfs in Johnson. Some of the Lamoille's tribs have dirtied up a bit, while others are just flowing a bit high. The Brewster is looking half decent and should only improve throughout the day.
The Winooski looks like it was missed by the rains and temps of 72 degrees were reported yesterday in the mainstem, so please avoid fishing it until it cools down.
Cooler weather is forecasted for the next week or so with daytime temps in the upper 60's - low 70's and nights in the upper 40's - low 50's.
Please use your stream thermometers and never fish in water over 70 degrees. We welcome any reports of stream temps if you would care to send them in to us at info@gmtrout.com



June 26th, 2007
We're in for a real hot one today and tomorrow with air temps in the 90's! The bigger rivers will be too warm for trout fishing, so please focus angling efforts on smaller streams and/or warm water species. This weekend is calling for much cooler weather of 60's-low 70's during the day and some chilly nights, so water temps should once again recede.
Didymo? Is this invasive specie gaining a foothold in Vermont waters?
Read Lawton Weber's CT River report from 6/25/07


June 23rd, 2007
Thanks to Dave Durovich for sending in this great photo of a wild Winooski 'bow! Here's what Dave wrote...
"Hi,
Here's a picture of a beautiful wild rainbow I caught and released on the Winooski in Bolton today. As good a fight as i've ever had with many long runs and jumps. Caught on a Hare&Peacock nymph. I hope you enjoy the picture, nothing more beautiful than a wild Vermont Rainbow..
Thanks for the great reports!!
Dave Durovich"
If only the Little River had higher minimum flows....The Winooski would remain quite a bit cooler downstream and likely sustain a much healthier trout population. We'd have tons of 20" fish just begging for photo opps.
The Lamoille jumped up to over 400cfs with last evenings downpours and is looking pretty dingy. This a.m. the river was 59 degrees with about 2 ft. of visibity. It souldn't take too long to clear up and should be fishing really nicely upon clearing a bit due to much more favorable air temps = much more favorable water temps = happier, hungry fish. Looks like air temps will barely get out of the 60's today.
Smaller streams look great and should fish well today and if you're planning on floating one of the bigger rivers, this would be a good time over the next few days. A solo pontoon boat (hint...hint) would be ideal. And what do ya know, we just happen to have some of those boats for rental/sale ;)
No crazy hatch activity to report.
Good luck!

June 22nd, 2007
Thanks to the cold front that swept into the area yesterday, the Lamoille is dropping back down into the upper 60's, but anglers should still use caution and check water temps before fishing. Flows are still pretty low and seemingly unaffected by last nights downpours aside from a slight bit of dinge to the water.
Mike and I found water temps of 68 degrees last night on the stretch of the Upper Lamoille that we fished. Just about a dozen fish landed between the 2 of us and probably just as many hooked and lost, and not a single wild fish came to hand. Some nice holdover fish of about 14", but no wild ones. There were tons of insects and very few fish feeding on the surface. Streamer patterns were giving us the best results until pushed off the water by a lightning storm at about 8:30.
I did get the one 43 pounder in the photo to the right :) Alright, maybe not. But some guy in Canada did. Looks like a record....or a photoshop masterpiece?


June 21st, 2007
Until Sunday we should have some cooler weather which make for some very favorable fishing conditions. Water levels are still low but Fri. should bring some more rain. Next week looks to bring more summer like temps back so get out on the rivers while the gettin is good. We have had reports of heavy surface feeding on area lakes at dusk.


June 17th 2007
We recieved almost 1/4 in. of rain last night here in Jeff. Looks like that amout was localized and some areas got less. Any rain is great at this point because rivers are at very low levels. The Lamoille yesterday was 67 degrees at 6:30 a.m. and hit 70 by 9:00 a.m. I counted 16 trout stacked up against the mouth of a small Lamoille trib yesterday. It is best to leave these fish alone until things cool off or we get more rain. Both are possible this week after some warm weather Mon. and Tues. Air temps are forecasted to stay in the 70's after Wed. and some rain is also possible.
P.S. A little birdie told me the north branch has recieved its spring stocking. These fish should be larger than normal due to the extra time spent in the comforts of the hatchery.

Anyway, with the warm weather this week I have started to see alot of new mayflies popping up. Most notable would be the light cahills 12-14. Also BWO's 16-20, paraleps 18, yellow quills 14-16 cream cahills 14-16 and even an isonychia dun 10. March Browns 12 are still around (not for long) as are sulfers 16-18. Yellow drakes 8-10 should also be showing up in some areas.


June 14th, 2007
The Lamoille in Jeffersonville was 68 degrees at 9a.m. this morning which means that it WILL climb to 70 or above by days end. The good news is that we have a cool night ahead of us tonight, which should bring the river back down a couple'a degrees over night.
Time to break out the canoes, rafts, pontoons, float tubes or whatever and hit some stillwater or warmwater options. We've got rentals if you need(wink...wink), so stop on in!
Nothing new for hatches but Hex's are right around the corner!

**As per requested, we will now be archiving all of our reports so that you may look back on previous dates**

June 13th, 2007
The Lamoille got hit with a double wammy yesterday when predicted (much needed) thunderstorms missed the area, air temps reached the mid-80's, and Morrisville Water and Light Dept. reduced flows on the Lamoille to 100cfs for most of the day.
The week ahead doesn't show signs of too much precipitation and air temps will be topping between the upper 70's to mid-80's, so the bigger rivers are gonna need a break as they climb into the 70's. Make sure to always carry a stream thermometer and use it! Fishing in water that's too warm is unethical and any fish that are hooked will likely die from the stress and lactic acid build up. Even if water temps are hovering in the upper 60's, don't overplay your fish and land them quickly. We can all help keep our trout populations up by simply knowing when and where to fish.

If you're having trouble catching fish or not quite sure if your doing what you should be to help you catch more fish, stop in and we'll help straighten you out. Fly fishing isn't always an exact science and we're always willing to share tips, tactics, advice, or anything else that has helped us along the way and could help hone your fly fishing skills as well. We're here to help so don't be shy....get in here and start askin' questions!
Good Luck!

Hatches: Caddis#14-16, March Browns#10-12, Sulphers#14-16, Cream Cahills #12-16, Brown Drakes #10 and stoneflies #8-14


May ORVIS Wader Swap!!!!!!
This is something to definately take advantage of...Starting May 1st...
Just bring us your old, leaky waders (any brand)that you've been wearing for 10 years and swap 'em for a brand new pair of ANY ORVIS SILVER LABEL, PRO GUIDE OR TAILWATERS WADERS at 25%OFF!!!!!!!!
View ORVIS Wader Selection


This year we’ve added a couple 8 foot solo pontoons to our rental fleet that will go for $45 per 24 hours. Just throw one on top of the car and go! They’re lightweight, easy to handle, and the ultimate fishing craft for our region as well as a great way to see the river like you’ve never seen it. Check out our
Watercraft Rentals Page for more info.

We’re now open 7 days a week from 9am to 5 pm, (4p.m.on Sun,) so we’ll start posting reports more frequently, as well as updating our “Fly of the Month” and “Photo of the Week” pages on a more consistent basis.

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