Well I got tired of having no clue how to fish the rivers around here so I hired some help over the last week (I am on vacation with the house to myself...gotta stay busy somehow!).
Saturday, went south and got skunked on some tribs of the Winooski. No fault of Brian my excellent guide, that day was part of my learning experience. We got some rises but I am pretty sure I pulled the fly out of the mouth of every fish. Too anxious. Monday and Tuesday I headed the other way, up to the Lamoille watershed to hit a bunch of tribs, again guided so I wouldn't waste the day on dead stretches. The Lamoille itself was too high and muddy from the rains, but the feeders were all in good shape and cold enough to fish. I have to say: I think I had THE Classic New England Trout Fishing Experience (TM). I pulled in all 3 trout species, all of them wild, most of them on the surface (hoppers), one on a nymph, one on a woolly bugger. The biggest was only a foot or so but hey: wild trout! on dry flies! Breaking the skunk on *both* fly rods I built last winter! After so much time striking out, or taking advantage of dumb stockies, this was all a revelation. It was true prospecting; "if the first cast and drift isn't good and soft, don't bother with a second, move to the next pool" kind of thing. I've been reading about that kind of trout fishing for literally decades and never managed to piece everything together. After we completed the trifecta with a lovely colorful rainbow, we went looking for deeper holes and bigger fish; I had some takes but didn't get any of them into the net. Tuesday was more of the same, on different stretches of the same rivers.
I pick up my youngest tomorrow afternoon; I think we will do some evening fly casting practice on the lake, then head back North this weekend. Hopefully the weather will be good and the streams will be cold!
