Hi Folks, Autumn is finally here and it feels like outside. Lots of cool nights and the water temperatures are dropping. The Lamoille was 58 degrees yesterday mid afternoon and the lake I guided the previous day was 62 degrees on the surface. A small brook I visited over the weekend was 56 degrees. I wet wade for most of the season. When I put waders back on, it is official for me, Fall fishing season is here. The leaves look a little better everyday. Foliage is right on schedule. We finally received lots of rain. We could still use more precipitation for the benefit of the water table. Our river and brook levels are up. The trout fishing has been okay. Working hard to catch a few fish. I have to wonder with the low water we have experienced all season what the impact is on our fisheries??? There is movement by trout to find suitable habitat when under duress. Fish will move into smaller tribs. from big rivers to find cold water or hunker down in big deep primary pools. Just because it rains a lot and the water level rises does not mean that the fish just magically reappear to the same holding spots they were located in during the spring. The rain does give access to brown trout, brook trout, and landlocked salmon to spawning water. My clients have mostly been catching skinny stocked rainbows. I am not a seeing a lot wild trout in the big rivers. Prior to the rain I located some young wild rainbows eating micro caddis off the surface on the main stem of the Winooski. The biggest mystery of September was the lack of #12/#14 Isonychia. It’s as if the large swimming mayfly vanished kinda like the American worker? Currently, there are #20/#22 BWOs hatching, #16 olive bodied caddis, #18/#20 micro caddis, and terrestrials. We have been dead drifting and swinging a #8/#10 heavily weighted tungsten bead head olive/black wooly bugger. A small #BWO nymph dropper off the bugger has hooked trout as well. We did find a couple of risers yesterday and had them eat a #20 Adams dry fly. With the big flows recently, chasing landlocked salmon is not a bad idea. On the still water front, the bass fishing is changing. As the water temps. cool, the fish put on the feed bag. Smallmouth can be seen chasing and crashing into bait balls in deep water. It looks like a blue fish blitz in the ocean. They are eating young smelt I saw and juvenile perch in another instance. When you land a smallmouth, they are coughing up all sorts of minnows. Swim baits cast into the fray are effective as well as soft plastics on jigs. A crease fly or Gurglers with the fly rod have been effective. However, most of the bass fishing is now below the surface. We have been using a 1/4 oz. jig with an olive twister tail as well as 4” watermelon red magic Senkos Texas rigged. Most of the larger smallmouth are holding or suspending in 15’ or greater of water. With the fly rod, sinking lines are now in order. Clouser Minnows, Bunny Buggers, Chocolette Game changers are all good fly options for bass. The largemouth we have been catching have still been in fairly shallow water in and around huge weed beds. It is a good time of year to catch a big northern pike. It is a nice time of year to be on the water. Not a lot of fishing pressure. The best fishing times are midday now as our morning can be a bit chilly. Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home. Have Fun, Willy
