No fish were harmed for this report

I was out in Vermont for the last month giving my sister a well deserved break from assisting our aging father who's slipping into dementia. I brought some fly tying and fishing gear along, intending to get a little fishing in and I thought I'd share the experience.

Two days after my wife and I arrived, we got 10-12 inches of snow and bitter cold temps....

So we hunkered down by the fireplace, drank tea, and enjoyed the postcard view outside my sister's place.



My wife returned to WA after about a week and so it was time to figure out where to wet a line. I'd noted some decent stretches of river while out sight seeing with my wife. The Dog looked great but was closed. The Lamoille had some nice looking runs but it was an hour plus drive from my dad's place. The North Branch of the Winooski had potential and was kind of along the scenic route to my dad's place....Basically there were a bunch of choices and I was kind of like a kid in a candy store, not knowing where to start so I stopped at......



to get some advice. (Not my picture here by the way... I was there for multiple Mud Seasons so it was never this green )

At the suggestion of the guys, I focused on the Mad River, which was great cuz my first stop was less than a 20 minute drive from my sister's place and it wasn't too far out of the way when heading up to Stowe to hang out with my dad.

Due to weather and other stuff, I was only able to hit the river maybe 4 or 5 times during my stay. I'd head out early....trying to find the window between line freezing in the guides and being up at my dad's place for lunch. I usually got about an hour or two each outing and was really starting to have fun.

Guys at the shop suggested these three flies under an indicator....


I'm not much of an indicator fisher but figured I'd give it a go....'when in Rome' and all that stuff. Holy cow did I make some knots. I started out with two flies...figuring if Tom could throw three, I oughta be able to fling two. Nope. I kept hearing Tom telling me to slow down my cast but shit oh dear I just continued to make messes and go through the tippet so one fly, an indicator, and some split shot would have to do.

No love for my first outing but it was awesome all the same. Before I left WA, someone wrote that Vermont was tremendous blue line fishing and they weren't kidding. Although I didn't touch a fish for my entire stay, I definitely saw the potential for a lifetime of walking and wading.

Guys at the shop said not to expect much because it wasn't known how many fish had survived the previous year's flooding and no planting for 2024 had been done yet. Flooding and crazy high water evidence was every where and I could only think many of the previous years fish had washed out into someone's field or got stuck in the trees but I found this sweet bear lawn ornament in the high water debris to adorn my sister's mailbox...so all was good.


For my second outing, I followed advice given and hit a pool below a covered bridge....



As I mentioned earlier, I got no love, but for me it was storybook fishing in Vermont....until I got under the bridge and saw the same types of graffiti that one finds under a bridge in Washington.

Outing 3 was further down stream and the stoke was high



Flows seemed good and visibility was perfect....but nada.

Day 4 was a little further down stream and looked all fishy....



I swung streamers on the way down and then tossed the indicator on the way back up. It sure felt good to be on the water but again, no bueno....

Somewhere in there was the solar eclipse....which we got to enjoy from the deck of my dad's apartment.



Followed by another dumping of wet sloppy snow...


Followed by some Moose hunting in the Northeast Kingdom...



About this time I had gotten it dialed in a bit more. I found the USGS streamflow site AND stocking/planting reports from the previous year. I zero'd in on the next place to hit on the Mad but it wasn't meant to be....rains, run off, and other stuff kept me from getting another outing. Still it was all good. I got to spend some time with my dad, flogged the water a bit, explored some really neat areas, reminded myself what it was like to tie size 14 flies, and pushed myself to do some watercolor sketching...which I haven't done in something like 20 years.



Unfortunately, reality set in once I got home...



but my oldest helped me get a bunch of painting done while the weather was good...so maybe tomorrow I'll see if I can find a fish or two around here

 

[Wadin' Boot]

Hey MD regardless if you caught fish or not you found some good distractions out there....that covered bridge hole looks like a fun spot for sure! Maybe worth a watercolor too...