If you can’t  fish,  hunt…If you can’t hunt,  fish.  These are some words that I live by especially when Turkey season opens.  I have been hitting the Oak ridges rather than the pocket water most recently, with no success.  Probably should have been fishing after talking to the Stream and Brook Guides.  Reports are that fishing has been great!  Smallies are in many Champlain tribs and the trout stocking truck have been on the move.  With precipitation coming at manageable rates we really have some great conditions right now.  Streamers and small nymphs have been the flies that have been most productive.  There have been some really good hatches of  Hendrickson’s , but no trout rising to them. Look for that to change this week as water temps should warm and make the fish look up.

The 1.5 inches of rain I received has been welcome.  Now it’s time to go away and come please come back another day.  Not only has it been raining.  In many locations above 1500 ft. they received snow,  remember the 80′s back in March.        The northern half of Vermont has only received a trace amount of precip  in the last 24hrs, so some smaller streams should start to clean up.  This rain couldn’t have happened at a better time with smallmouth and walleye looking to move up river to spawn and give rainbows an easier exit.  We still stand a chance of more rain and snow until Saturday when we return to sun and more seasonable temps.   If your heading out for smallmouth make sure you have several different colors. Sometimes they only want 1 or 2 and refuse the rest.

This winter was rough on keeping up with my tying and posting “Whats on the vise”.  Thanks to all who took advantage of the “Fly for a Buck” deal.  I think offering that  played a big part in why I’m so far behind in what I need to have done.  Not a big problem, but it is time to start focusing on fishing, so be sure to check the Fishing Journal link to see what happened the last time I hit the water.

Spent a couple hours on the water with Dana Bolton yesterday.  We hit the Lewis in search of steelhead.  Dana has property farther upstream on the Lewis so I wanted to show him the open water where the steelhead are spawning which is the same area the small mouth will be in another month.  We work hard and only produced a foul hooked sucker.  One thing you’ll notice if you get out this weekend is the lack of water for this time of year and a 180 from last year.  Even the color was clear,  instead of the cloudy emerald color we get from mountain run off.  Water temp was 40.  These conditions should remain the same over the weekend, until we have a chance of precip early next week.  Any precip should be lite and any would be welcome.  The outlook for next Saturday’s opener is Sunny, mid 50′s and great water conditions.

The official open day of trout season is tomorrow in New York and April 14th in Vermont.  Don’t forget your 2012 license.

I had the pleasure of spending Friday morning with Matt Bacchi, a local angler who wanted to brush up on his nymphing skills.  We hit Lewis creek and found it  a bit cloudy with all the early mountain run off, 52 degrees and great nymphing flow. We didn’t hook up, but I was able to give Matt a few strategies and techniques that will make him a more successful nymph fisher. It was a beautiful morning and the end to a string of record breaking warm days.  I was hoping we would get the rain that was forecast over night to get some fish moving. No luck. That didn’t stop the suckers as we saw several of them moving.    A good push of water is what we need and that won’t happen until the middle of next week.