Light it up

HI Folks, I have been on the water daily guiding and the fishing has been pretty darn good. We are in summer mode fishing now. Early morning or late day are the prime times to be on the water. Most of my focus is on smallmouth bass. The big trout water is too warm. It’s not okay to line up on a cool water inlet into the Winooski or Lamoille and fish trout that are thermally stressed. Trout will move to find cool,water. If you are a fly angler and are tugging on fish that are attempting escape the warm water you should trade your fly in for a Ugly Stick and a container of worms! If the water is over 70 degrees, then leave the damn trout alone!! I guided a couple of small brooks recently where the water was 57 degrees and 61 degrees. We caught Brook trout, Rainbow trout, and Brown trout on dry flies. An incredible #14 Yellow Sally hatch. We cast a #14 bright green bodied stimulator, a #12 Royal Wulff, and a #12 Yellow foam terrestrial pattern. All of the small stream fish were wild. You can locate some big fish in small brooks versus lining up at the Little River entrance into the Winooski and tugging on fish in a barrel that are stressed. Or you can go bass fishing which is really good right now. I guided a trophy smallmouth Friday out of my drift boat. A 20” smallmouth that fought as hard as any bass I’ve ever seen caught. The river was 73 degrees which is perfect for a warm water fish like a smallmouth. We caught a lot of fish floating including walleye. All of the bass were holding in slow deep pools or big back eddies.  Untimely the sun got high overhead and the fishing slowed. On the lake front we have been catching smallmouth and largemouth. The giant #4-#8 Hex hatch is currently going on in our NE kingdom lakes at dark. The giant may fly brings large trout and bass to the surface to feed. I don’t think the bass are quite as fussy as trout and will rise to a multitude of prey items. I have had my motor boat on 2 different lakes. The top water bite has been pretty good first light and last light. Any pattern in black has been productive. A close second has been fire tiger colored patterns. The fish have been holding in anywhere from 5’ to 15’ of water on the edges of big milfoil beds. The smallmouth in particular move to deep water during the heat of the day and cruised the shallows bunting at low light. The largemouth seem more oriented to the shallow water regardless of the time of day. They hide under heavy mats of weed and lily pads when the sun is bright. Lots of fishing to be done right now. Carry a thermometer and be willing to change directions based on water conditions. I’m off to bass fish. Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home. Have Fun, Willy