Fall Trout Fishing in Vermont

What a great day on the river!!!

OPEN DATES for VERMONT FALL FLYFISHING

The following dates are open for half and three quarter fly fishing trips. The target rivers around Manchester Vt are the Battenkill, Mettawee and Walloomsac...the big three...BMW. Open dates: October 4,6,and 17th....Please give me a call for more information 1 800- 682-0103

Fall fishing has begun

Fall is in the air here in Vermont....the Brook Trout are getting fired up and it is time to bring your waders in over night...There is no need to get started early, most of the weekend warriors and canoes are gone...It is a great time of the year to fly fish for Trout or take a bird dog for a 6 hour hike...Woodcock season opens October 1st....

click on image to enlarge

Southern Vermont Dams being removed

This week and last two dams are being removed. One is at the Henry Bridge in North Bennington on the Walloomsac River and the other on the East Branch of the Battenkill, Dufresne Pond in Manchester. Honestly,removing these dams will have no impact on helping the fisheries but it seems to give the warm fuzzy feeling of doing something good....A whole bunch of local kids used to use Dufresne pond in early season because the rivers aren't always the best option for little kids...and the Walloomsac has a bigger and more impassable dam upstream at the Paper Mill Bridge....point is it won't hurt the fisheries but I don't see it helping either....Pictures below were taken off the web from the Bennington Banner web site:

This is Dufresne dam....I whole bunch of you learned how to fly cast here as I used this place ALOT to teach people to cast

The new Henry Bridge "NO LONGER" Riffle:( IMO it is never a good thing when a man on excavator is in a TROUT STREAM!

Feeling like Fall

With the kids back in school and the summer folks gone....its PRIME TIME again! No idiots at the boat launches and the canoe hatch mixed with inner tubes are gone...I love this time of the year and with cooler nights and the last little spike in water levels the fish are on the chew BIG TIME....Lets go fishing...I do have open dates so give me a call...below are some streamers that have been hot on the Kill during the higher water recently.

2013 Vermont Woodcock Season is now Set

It is official the Vermont Migratory Bird Syllabus is posted....Woodcock season opens October 1st 2013 and is 45 days! AWESOME!

The Battenkill is PRIME!

The current water level on the Battenkill is PERFECT....Caddis, BWO, Ants, Shushans, BH Nymphs, and Tricos....Lets Go Fishing!

Those shore meal Pickles ya'll love!

And yes Chuck Kashner makes them NOT his brother:)

THINK PINK

I had a fun day today guiding a repeat client....Why wear green...GO PINK

GREAT DAY! Let's go fishing

Vermont Summer Patterns

We are in our summer patterns here in Vermont except on the main stem Battenkill. The Battenkill on Rte 313 is fishable now...FINALLY.... but instead of fishing tiny little stuff on the Kill like a normal end of July....swing streamers!!! A favorite combo is a size 14 black ant on the dropper trailed by a Shushan Postmaster Streamer...Ants, Ants and beetles are the hot fly patterns for a wetfly swing....there are BWO in a size 16 around and we should start seeing TRICOS...yes TRICOS....those little spinners that drive experienced fishermen nuts....mountain brooks are happening so are the lakes for warm water species...thanks for the view and please check back....since mother nature has straighten out her attitude:))) I'll try to post more often now

Vermont Mountain Brook Trout Fly Fishing

Vermont has a ton of small mountain brooks. Some which are teeming with native wild Brook Trout. We sampled a couple yesterday and the bite is on!!! Using a 6' 2 weight and wulff style dryflies....mountain Brookies are the jewels of the Green Mountains. Want to talk about fast....those little buggers can hit a fly twice on the same drift and never get pricked. Short rods, short leaders, short drifts.....away from other fishermen in postcard settings...the mountain brookie fishing is a nice change of pace. Alot of days while guiding, we'll spend time in the morning on the bigger water and then move to the mountains. My all time favorite fly patterns are: Ausable and /or yellow wulff

SUMMER HAS ARRIVED!!!!!!!!!!

Summertime patterns and conditions have finally arrived in Vermont. It looks like this coming weekend we will be able to finally get onto the Battenkill. The Mettawee and Walloomsac are perfect now. Otter is good and with the water conditions we had in June...the Black River could even be considered as a target. Lake fishing is also hot and heavy now! Trips are in the morning...the evening bite is too short to guide on. There are plenty of openings so please consider a trip and call me. The mountain brook, little rods and dryfly thing for Brookies is NOW HERE... Hot fly list: BWO 16's, Ants, Beetles, Caddis 16, dun caddis 16, rusty spinners 16 and 18, little green stones, yellow adams wulff, and as always BH nymphs but in 14 and 16's, pheasant tail nymphs, and olive wd40...IT'S SUMMER!

The levels on the Walloomsac are the best in the state BUT...there has been days it hasn't been fishable..the triangles show the historical average levels

Now the Battenkill on the other hand ...at least on Rte 313 in Arlington ...has NOT been fishable since late May....600 cfs is the ok to fish...I really like 450 to 250 cfs.... Sorry for the lack of posts this last month...but as soon as I post I am a liar...Mother Nature clearly still has her panties in a bunch...I have been fishing / guiding and catching fish....but it is a day to day adventure and I am very hesitant to make bold posts.

Vermont Water conditions in June

For my regular followers...I am sorry for the lack of posts....Water levels have been up and down(swings of up to 4 feet). We haven't had the same water level (for two days in a row) since May 21st. To say the least, its been a cruel carnival ride mother nature has thrown us lately....whoever is doing this rain dance...PLEASE STOP...ENOUGH ALREADY...

Custom Fly Tying

I had a guy call me the other day looking for Hellgrammite flies....I guess one of his buddies harvested a fish that was just loaded with big nasty biting Hellgrammites....so this is what I came up with for him...of coarse I tied a few to show the Black River fish too...If you need something special tied...please give me a call...a little notice is nice but I can usually ship stuff pretty quick.