Hatch Chart for Lamoille and Winooski Drainages
For all of my fly angling clients I am including a hatch chart for the upcoming season for my home waters of the Lamoille and Winooski drainages. Many hatches are affected by weather. Time frames are merely a reference point and not necessarily exact. The hatches mentioned below occur in moving and still water. However, most are exclusive to one or the other. I am not including the Latin names as trout do not speak Latin.
Remember when using this chart that many patterns work to represent these various hatches. I am offering up some patterns that have served me well. More often than not the presentation of the fly is far more important than the actual pattern itself.
| Common Name | Hook Size | Month | Patterns |
| Brown Stonefly | #12-#14 | late April to early May | Spring Wiggler, Brown Rolling Stone |
| Cranefly | #10-#16 | late April thru August | Tan Cranefly Larvae |
| Blue Quill | #16-#18 | First week May to third Week of May | Turkey Flat Blue Quill Dun, Pheasant tail |
| Hendrickson | #14-#16 | early to mid May | Hendrickson nymph, Red Quill, Rusty Spinner |
| Black Caddis | #16 | Mid May to end of month | Grayish black pupa, black x-caddis, CDC Winged adult with dark grey body |
| Candy Apple Caddis | #14 | First week of May to third Week of May | Candy apple bodied x-caddis, Green caddis pupa |
| March Brown | #10-#12 | Mid May to end of month | Pheasant Tail nymph(flashback), Brown Copper John, Compara Dun, Ausable Wulff |
| Grey Fox | #14-#16 | Mid May to end of month | Pheasant tail, Adams, Sparkle Dun |
| Sulphers | #14-#16 | third week May to end of Month | Yellow Soft Hackle, Sulphur nymph, Sparkle Dun, Spotlight emerger, Catskill Style sulphur dry, Parachute Sulphur |
| Little Sulphers | #18-#22 | End of May thru August | Sulphur snowshoe hare emerger, Pheasant tail, Spotlight emerger, Sulphur Parachute |
| Cinnamon Caddis | #16-#18 | Season Long beginning in Mid May | Tan/brown caddis pupa, Henryville Special, X-Caddis tan/brown body |
| Brown Drake | #8-#10 | 5 day hatch within first two weeks of June | Dave’s Red Fox Squirrel nymph, Ausable Wulff, Drake Parachute, Rusty Spinner |
| Light Cahill | #14 | June | Tan Bird’s Nest, Yellow soft Hackle, Catskill Style Cahill dry |
| Hexagenia | #6-#10 | middle June through July | Hex nymph, Crippled Hex Dun, Compara Dun, Spent Spinner |
| Potamanthus | #8 | End of June through Mid July | Compara Dun, Hare’s Ear Nymph, Grizzly Wulff |
| Baetis | #20-#24 | May, early July, late September through October | BWO nymphs, peacock soft hackles, BWO dun, BWO Parachute, BWO spinner |
| Golden Stonefly | #6-#10 | July through mid August | Double Tungsten Stonefly, Orange bodied Stimulator, |
| Tricos | #22-#26 | late July through August | No hackle dun, Compara dun, black/white spent spinner, Trico Dun, drowned spinner |
| Epherons | #10 | end July to first two weeks of August | White Wulff, White Miller, White Spinner with extra long tails |
| Little Black Caddis | #18-#20 | end of July through August | Grey bodied pupa/larva, black/ grey bodied x-caddis, black CDC caddis |
| Micro Caddis | end of July through beginning September | Vermont Caddis, Tan-bodied X-caddusm tab/yellow caddis Pupa. | |
| Terrestrials | #10-#20 | June through September | Foam Hoppers in green, Black Ants, Foam Beetles, Green Stimulator |
| Flying Ants | #14-#22 | Late August through September | Cinnamon/brown foam Flying Ants, parachute ants |
| Isonychia | #12-#14 | Late August through September | Pheasant tail, Isonychia Nymphs, Zug Bug, Adams, Grey Wulff |
| Green Sedge | #14 | August through September | Green bodied caddis, Green wire caddis pupa, Olive hares ear |
| Blue Winged Olive | #20-#26 | Late September through October | micro mayfly, BWO dun, BWO parachute |
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I would like to mention that Vermont is a pretty nutrient poor place. Not tons and tons of prolific hatches like other places in the country. Don’t rule out using attractor patterns like Prince Nymphs, Royal Wulffs, Mickey Finns.
One fly left out in the hatch chart is the good old Wooly Bugger. Maybe the one nymph/streamer that you can’t miss with. A bugger in black and olive is an excellent representation of a crawfish. Many large trout in the Lamoille and Winooski make a habit of consuming crawfish. Dead drifted or presented off a sinking line is extremely effective.
