Jess and I got over to southern Vermont in the Green Mountain National Forest for the past two days. We love the area and especially visiting the town of Manchester; the town has a lot of colonial history, quaint shops and restaurants, and beautiful scenery. For the fly-fishing enthusiasts, there is a plethora of attractions. The famous Battenkill River and its picky large browns are in the immediate vicinity. The Orvis Company was founded and is still headquartered in Manchester; its flagship showroom is awesome as well as their trout pond with hordes of 30” rainbows. The American Museum of Fly Fishing is located here too; it has some amazing exhibits. This is truly great place to visit.
I was really excited to fish the Battenkill; however, it has been raining for the past two weeks and the river is at flood stage flowing 4x its normal flow at 3600 cfs. I decided to blue line some tributaries of the Battenkill, and it paid off.
Battenkill – too high for anythingBattenkill – chocolate soup
The flow in the tributaries was still high but I found some nice wild trout in a remote setting among the pockets. It was nice to be forced to fish these tributaries because I would have never done it if the Battenkill was at normal levels. The fish were beautiful and small and colorful and wild. I had an amazing time blue lining. Some samples below.
Classic Vermont
Small Tributary – fishable water, brown from far pocket
Small Tributary – slow oxbowSmall Tributary – still moving fast
American Museum of Fly FishingAmerican Museum of Fly FishingOrvis Trout Pond – Wish I could wet a line hereOrvis Trout Pond
Nick and Jess invited the MKFF Crew up to the Adirondacks for Zach’s 25th Birthday weekend. On Friday evening, we departed New Jersey. The rain was terrible, fortunately we made it up to Brant Lake safely. Saturday’s weather was cloudy and warm, perfect for Bass fishing. I was able to catch Crappie, Smallmouth Bass, Largemouth Bass, Pickerel and Rock Bass on a Wooly Bugger with dumbell eyes. The next day, the sun shined through. Nick killed it on the Schroon using a Minnie Muddler and Slump Buster leveraging a Wet Fly technique. Overall, a great celebration combined with Rippin’ Lips.
I have limited internet acess up here in the Adirondacks, so my posts will be brief and few for the time being. The Schroon has been fishing great the past two weeks. I have found new acess points and remote beats that see few flies. The highlight so far was landing a nice 20 inch landlocked salmon on a hornberg fished as a dry. The salmon fought me for about five mintues on my six weight.
I love finding new water away from the popular fishing holes. The fly for the time being is a mini muddler, it has been crushing up here. I fish it dry up stream, and then I continue to mend and drift it on the swing below me. Big bushy hackle dry flies with a dropper have also enticed trout in the pocket water. Trout, smallmouth, and landlocked salmon are still present. The rest of the MKFF crew is coming up here this weekend to continue exploring the Schroon as well as hitting the legendary West Branch of the Ausable in search of some hogs in the trophy sections. Sampling of the past weeks below:
Mini Muddler: Hook: 12 Thread: 70 Brown Denier Tail: Turkey Body: Silver Tinsel Underwing: Snowshoe Rabbit Wing: Turkey Collar: Deer Hair Head: Spun and Trimmed Deer HairSulphur Comparadun Hook: 18 Thread: PMD Tail: Microfibbets Split Body: Sulphur Super Fine Wing: Coastal Deer Hair
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