I Lovermont - Not Just Fishing

That's what the sugar packets said at the Bed and Breakfast where Elizabeth and I stayed. I couldn't agree more, Vermont has to be one of my favorite states. Its not just the scenery, and the maple syrup, its the fishing, friends, and all around outdoor activities the state has to offer. It also helps when your buddies own and run an outdoor store, that has everything you need from fishing equipment to camping and hiking equipment (Middlebury Mountaineer ). Anyway, back to it, the fishing was pretty good, had an awesome fall day chasing pike, and a nice cool morning fishing for browns. It was fall, so the warm water fishing was starting to slow, but the trout fishing was picking back up. However this was the first vacation I have taken in a long time, that wasn't formed around fishing. Elizabeth got to pick many of the activities, and hiking was on the top of her list. We hiked Mt. Abraham one of Vermont's four peaks of 4000 feet. It was a beautiful day for a hike, cooler temps and over cast skies, made for an awesome time hiking to the summit. Take a look at the photos from the trip. Thanks again Jesse, Steve, and Dave for showing us a great time yet again!!!

Corn Field Chaos - VT in a Nutshell

All last week I was up in Vermont, spreading the smallmouth cheer that has taken over my life. I was doing a presentation of PA Smallmouth, and a couple tying demos, but the underlying idea was to fish, and fish we did. However, where there once was a corn field, there was now a lake, and where there were roads, there were now rivers. It was Chaos, prime time for spring runoff, the pike were moving into the fields and the trout were hunkered down, riding out the high water. No fish came to hand in 4 days of hard fishing. It sure wasn't for the lack of trying, we were up early and out late, hours spent behind the windshield trying to find semi clear and low water. Stories of the good old days, and prime conditions kept us moving forward.
OK, now that I'm done cursing Mother Nature’s name, I have to give a big shout out to the guys from Middlebury Mountaineers, and Green Mountain Adventures. They invited me up to do some tying demos and fishing. They tried like hell to put me on fish; Mother Nature had a different plan. Vermont is beautiful, even when the rivers are in the corn fields and flowing with the color of chocolate milk.

Hell of a time boys! Thank you so much for all your efforts and hospitality!!!

 

 

Green Mountain Adventures - Weekend in VT

It was about 2 months ago now, Steve and I were up on the Delaware for a Patagonia Dealer Camp. We were floating down the river, frog hoping another blue raft like mine. We had about 30 mins to be 2 miles down river for dinner, so we finally talked to the guys fishing out of it. "Hey we gotta blow by you, have to get down river", i said, "where you taking out?" they said, I told them the West Branch Angler. Next thing I know we are drinking PBRs on the river, and we are both now late for dinner.

Its funny how friendships start in this industry. Steve and Jesse from VT, Jesse being the manager and Steve being the owner of Middlebury Mountaineer, welcomed me up to VT this past weekend. In conversation planning this trip, Jesse told me "we would get after it the whole time you are here.", Yup he meant it. We slept about 3 hours a night, fished 12 hours a day, drank for a few hours and slipped some food in when we could. It was a great trip, fishing was awesome, weather was great 100% chance of rain, and nothing, gotta love the weatherman.

Day 1, started at 5am after staying up until 1:30 drinking beer and telling guide stories about our season. We fished the White River for bass and trout, it was about 5 mins into the trip and we had 2 fish in the net, a sweet smallie and a bad ass rainbow. The action continued pretty much all morning, some of the sickest takes I've seen from smallmouth, and some very hungry, or maybe angry rainbows. Wildlife was out and about as we floated, Bald Eagles, Beavers, and Ducks everywhere. It was awesome, fishing slowed as the sun came out, but that was cool, we sat down and cooled off with a couple beers. We picked up a few nice fish in the afternoon, and had the boat out just in time to drive back to camp before dark.

Day 2, 4:20am, I flipped the coffee maker on and went back to sleep for 5 mins, it was Toothy critter day! Steve met us before the sun was up and, we fished hard for about 4 hours for musky with no love. Steve had to do the whole family thing, so we met up with Dave another GMA guide, and hit the creek for pike. Now the background story for pike, Jesse tells me it hasn't been good lately, "yeah I don't care, lets just go for it." I don't know, but we must have done something right, we smoked pike all day. It was awesome, some of the sickest takes I've ever seen. Musky are awesome, but Pike are insane, freaking awesome time.

Day 3, 5:00 am the coffee maker went on, and after a cup, we were off to musky country again. No love, but it was a sweet spot, I cant wait to go back. After that, Jesse had to open the shop, so I went along, I had to check out the shop. If you're ever in Middlebury VT, go check it out, they have everything you need to fish, camp, hike, Kayak and well do just about anything outdoors. WWW.MMVT.COM

Have to give a big shout out to Jesse Haller, dude is a master at vermont fly fishing. He put me on fish the whole time, and caught some nice fish when I could convince him to fish, that it was ok for me to row the boat. Thanks Pal!

Ok so now the pictures