Summer fun and nasty little creatures

Hi Folks, It has been a busy week of teaching people to fly fish and introducing young anglers to the art of fishing. It has been a nice hot sunny weather week with a few thunderstorms mid week. The thunderstorms removed the humidity from the equation and the weather in Stowe currently is perfect. The fishing is still best early in the morning or late in the afternoon. Until we have a few cloudy days midday fishing will be slow. Water temperatures are high in the big water. The lower Lamoille has ranged from 73 to 76 degrees. Fine for smallmouth bass, yet mortality for trout. The small brooks have held their own as I have found temps. from 59 to 62 degrees. River flows have been just above seasonal average thanks to the recent thunderstorms. The brook trout fishing has been stellar. Lots and lots of fish eating attractor dry flies. We have been working upstream casting #12-#14 Royal Wulffs, #14 Royal Trude, and a #12 green foam bodied hopper. Every pocket, seam, and eddy held brook trout. We have caught a handful of wild rainbows and brown trout while Brook Trout fishing. A real bonus on a slow action 2wt. and 3wt. fly rods. The smallmouth fishing has been consistent. The topwater bite has been slow. Too damn bright. Early morning and right at dusk have been the window of opportunity for surface feeding smallmouth. I have seen a large number of #10 Epherons (White Fly) hatching and laying eggs at dusk. A few smallmouth have been eating the big mayfly, but more Fallfish than anything else have keyed in on the bug. Swinging #8-#12 rubber legged olive buggers have worked well on feeding bass. #6 Rubber legged olive cone headed bunny buggers have also produced. On the spin front, a 3” Baby Bass Senko has been consistent. There are young bass all over the shallow margins in the rivers and the larger fish love to eat their own. In a serious note, I have removed 2 deer ticks from my body in the last 10 days. The first time ever in my life in Vermont. I walk into some crazy stuff and I never think about ticks or even snakes for that matter. Luckily I removed the nasty little creatures within 24 hours. My advice, keep putting bug dope on yourself, maybe treat your clothes, and check your body thoroughly after being outside. Part of life now in Vermont unfortunately. Remember to clean your gear and keep and the non-native species at home. Have Fun, Willy