vermont trouting

[acabtp]

went up to Vermont last week with some friends for an annual trout fishing trip. fly fished, spin fished, kayak fished, river fished, pond fished, stream fished... the trout were everywhere, and cooperative. after a day out with a fly guide we decided the 2 year old "trophy trout" were the most entertaining. like our fall stockers, but 6 months older, these are large 16"+ rainbow and browns, with many going over 19". they stock some of them in rivers where they have a chance to hold over, but like we do in NJ, a lot of them also go into shallow bass ponds where between the eagles and the heat of july/august, they will not live through the summer. the trophy fish are stocked around the same time as the regular 1 year old stockers in the spring. In VT, trout season closes 11/1, so they don't do Fall or Winter stocking.

first day with the guide was good, learned some great new tricks to work bigger waters with buggers and nymphs. the guide brought an orvis helios rod that i was using, sooooo nice... downside that going back to my rod feels like crap now. oh well, have to live with it, no way i will get that purchase past the wife... anyway, had several hookups, but since we were fishing barbless flies on 6x tippets in fast water, landing the fish was a challenge. finally was able to get a couple in for pics & release.



another from the same river the next day


kept exploring different spots over the next few days and caught fish every place we went. here's a nice pool in a small stream way up on the mountain

it is good to finally be seeing signs of the wild trout population on the return after the damage from hurricane irene (all the sediment and a lot of the insect forage washed out of most of these streams). last year i don't think i even saw a fish in this stream.
native brookie on the fly


one of the ~12' deep bass ponds they stock with the trophy rainbows. we spent a lot of time here kayak fishing. lots of tiny bass, some decent perch, loons diving, bald eagle flying around, etc.


this was the big fish of the trip, 21" rainbow

lost one at the boat that was easily a few inches longer. good times. can't wait to go back next year.

so yeah, it was a great trip. even though they were stockers, the rainbows put up a great fight on the ultralight tackle we were using and we all got new personal bests. fishing VT is highly recommended if you get the chance... only 4 hours away from northern NJ, and this time of year they could really use the economic boost of some tourism (local businesses are very dependent on the ski season; we had trouble finding open places to eat dinner). if anyone needs a laid back fly guide for central VT who will put you on the fish, shoot me a PM and I will send you our guy's info. we were real happy

[FASTEDDIE29]

Gotta love Vermont. Great report with amazing pics. I snowboard in the winter and stay in a friends condo in Ludlow, the base of Okemo. Is this fishery in that area? Good job Tom, and again really AWESOME report and pics!!!!

[AndyS]

WOW !!! Great pics and some really nice fish !!

[kcritch]

Wow...Very nice. Heading up to Champlain Area on the 8th through the 10th (staying on the NY side) and plan on hitting a couple of smaller "ponds" as well. Can't wait.

[15FOOTER]

Nice looking fish..looks like you had a great weekend!

[lunkertaker]

Nice report and congrats on the action.

Bet that native little guy hit the hardest and fought the best.