Good thing I took my flybox though, so it was spinners and flies until we found out more. Anyway, the water looked great, and was barely stained at all when we got there, a huge contrast compared to the Winooski, which is completely blown and dark brow. I was amazed to see such small water having such great looking holes to fish. On the way there however, we witnessed the devastation of Irene first hand. Some houses gutted, ball fields covered with debris, riversides torn away.. I couldn't believe I saw nobody fishing the river on our way up, we passed so many good looking holes, and the weather seemed just right.
We arrived at a spot to park before Randy was going to show me the "falls" he used to fish under many years ago, landing monstrous Wild Browns. Before we headed down, we noticed some great looking water under a bridge near where we parked...so we just had to give it a shot. Within minutes, we were into some nice Rainbows, and a little Brown. The largest was around 14".
This one engulfed a little White Wooly Bugger
Shortly after, we walked donw the railroad tracks to the Falls, arrived there shortly after and noticed it was a bit too high to fish under the falls because of the current. It was however, VERY deep under the falls, probably maxing around 12 ft, if only it was lower I think we could have hooked into a monster or 2. We fished there for a short while, checking out all of the debris washed up from Irene, coolers, chairs, tables, backpacks...
No luck under the falls, too much current...so we headed back up to where we parked, and randy decided to fish the other side of the Dog by crossing the bridge. He went about 50 feet downsteam on the other side, and within 5 minutes of him being there, I heard, "FISH ON!" followed by a huge SLAP, SLASH! As soon as I heard that loud thudding splash, I knew it was a nice fish. Right after that thought crossed my mind, he yelled over ,"This is a NICE fish!" After that, I ran over across the bridge to where he was fishing, and as I got there he was landing the fish. A beautiful wild Rainbow...
The picture quality isn't great, my phone for some reason turns off HD pictures after I've taken video.
After he released the beauty, we fished around the same area he just landed the fish, catching a smaller sized Rainbow each. He went further downstream and I backtracked upstream focusing on a deep pool that bends around a corner. Within 5 minutes of being there, I noticed a monster Rainbow swimming by me, heading downstream..a solid 4 lb + fish .I quickly lost sight of it. I threw in where I saw it a few dozen times with no luck, damn! I couldn't believe how clear the water was, even after all of the rain. We had to head out shortly after to be back before noon because Randy had things to do, but overall it was an awesome unforgettable day. I'll never forget the sound of that Rainbow slapping the water after flying out of the water....just awesome.
On a site note, does anyone know more about which section of river is artificial only? We fished near a bridge and the road was called Lovers Lane...off of I think Route 12? Next time I'll not forget to bring my flyrod, hopefully one of these weekdays we get to head back since the Winooski is going to be blown for a while. Figures, the beginning of October and the rivers blown, just like last year, and the best time to fish for Salmon too!
