General Fishing Report for June 8, 2019

Hello anglers!  I trust that everyone is having a great start to the summer season. We’ve still been dealing with rain and higher water but fishing has remained strong on the trout front and the pike fishing is improving. Look at trout fishing in two ways, with high, stained flows and dropping and clearing water. Streamers seem to be getting the most looks during the higher flows still. Color is a personal preference but white and olive are doing the best. If you go for a color change while out fishing, consider doing a complete opposite switch, say from light to dark or similar.  Sometimes that can be a trigger to get a fish to commit. Pattern is also personal preference but keep a couple different sizes handy and having flies that can move in the water on the pause help too. Think patterns with marabou, buck tail, artic fox, etc. 

With dropping and clearing water, nymphing has been paying the bills. Hatches have been getting stronger as well.  Yesterday morning I saw at least four different species of bugs around the water. A big mayfly (I think March brown but didn’t id), a smaller sulphur, yellow sally stonefly and a medium sized tan Caddis.  Nymph selection is pretty straight forward now, with frenchies,pheasant tails and hares ears in sizes 10-14 for the bigger mays, iron lotus and perdigons and similar slim bodied flies in sizes 14-16 for the smaller mays.  And some tan Caddis larvae and pupa patterns in sizes 14-16. I cleaned up yesterday on a fly like the carotene jig or Olsen’s soft hackle carrot, which as my memory serves me worked great at this time last year!  Having some bigger stones around as an anchor fly for your rig is helpful, plus the silouhette of the fly gives the fish a target during stained water. And the bigger stone naturals get knocked loose pretty easily in the current.  With this extended sunny weather, while nymphing you may need to drop in tippet size and also fly size.  Having a well stocked box is one of the keys to be successful during ever changing water conditions. Keep some dries handy too, as Craig got into a serious March Brown hatch the other day while on a trip.  Yes they caught a bunch on nymphs, but they were able to set up  on a few fish picking off the emerging duns. Observe, make a plan and execute!

Steve has been floating the Otter recently and has started to find some success.  I think the more stable flows and slightly warmer temps have been helping the cause.  One key this time of year has been fly placement.  If floating, hitting the bank with your fly and stripping it from there has been the ticket.  At the very least, get the fly to land within a few inches of the bank.  Wade anglers should give this a shot too. Also look for ditches or small streams to cast to, as these tend to hold the bait.  For right now, keep the flies in the 4-6 inch range.  Colors that have been working are white, olive and perch colored patterns.  One combo that works great this time of year is a olive over white clouser. It does a good job representing the small pike that are on the move this time of year. A few years ago, I was having some trouble hooking up to some pike, although they were chasing bait near me. As I paused for a breather after portaging around a log jam, I watched as hundreds of 3-5 inch pike hugged the shore traveling upstream to parts unknown. A quick fly change and I was into fish. 

With some sunny days ahead, look at time of day for planning your outing.  Pocketwater fishing should be strong all day, but slower stretches might be better early and late in the day. Water temps are awesome right now, mid 50’s yesterday morning, and they should be good throughout the weekend.  I’m always take at least one temp during a session, as it gets logged in my journal to try and develop some sort of pattern with these fish. Steve is available in the shop to answer questions, along with Min on sundays and I’m always available at dave@mmvt.com. Have a great weekend everyone, good luck on the water,

Cheers,

Dave