Regular season ends tomorrow

I got out last weekend on Ayer's Brook, a tributary of the Third Branch of the White.  It can be a fun little stream at times, especially in the fall when browns leave the Third Branch to spawn in Ayer's Brook.  My previous time out, I hooked one brown but didn't get it to the net.

I was fishing that day with a friend who had taken a couple nice rainbows in Ayer's recently as well, and he turned two bows that night, but got nothing to the net.

But, this past weekend, the river seemed dead.  I was very careful as I approached some of the holes where browns will spawn, and I saw nothing.  Not one strike.  It was pretty frustrating actually, as I lost 5 dropper nymphs (fished behind a streamer) in 2 hours.  The stream is small and full of downed wood, so losing flies is not uncommon.  But, losing 5 with 0 strikes was frustrating.

The regular season for Vermont's trout waters ends at the end of October.  I had hoped to take off work tomorrow and fish that last day, but it just isn't going to happen.  So, as I think back on the season (it's not really over, but lots of water will be closed before the weekend), I'm torn on how to summarize things.

I caught more trout in Vermont this year than any other season in my life.

I had the most prolific trout day of my life outside of the Sierra Nevada or Alaska on the main branch of the White River.

I failed to catch one big fish this year, after taking 3 last year that I'd put in the "big" category.  I see pictures on Facebook all the time from people who are catching big fish here in Vermont.  The truth is, most of those fish are taken by guides that I know, by their clients, or by people who get to fish way more often than I fish.  If I'm lucky, I get in about 40 days per year.  And, I do consider myself lucky to have a life that allows me to fish that many days per year.  Every year, I try to ski 50 times and fly fish 50 times.  I rarely make that goal, but any time I get to 40 for either, it's a good year.  I'm not quite there for this year yet.

I got completely shut out this year on the Middlebury, Furnace Brook and Otter Creek.  The only trout I caught in Addison County came on the New Haven.

I caught only 2 small brookies on the Dog River, and I can't remember the last time I caught a brown on that river.  The Dog was listed as one of 5 Vermont streams in a new book published this year that listed the top 50 fly fishing waters in the northeast US.  If you count the Connecticut, on the VT/NH border, there were 6 local rivers in that book.  I've never fished 2 of them, and I fish 3 of them every year, but the Dog is a river that I still don't understand.

I caught fish on some new waters this year and found a really fun White River tributary that gave me one especially memorable morning of dry fly fishing.

I caught way more fish on the White this year (main branch and Third branch) than ever before, and I had one really short but fun evening with dries on the Third Branch.  Both rivers are still recovering from Hurricane Irene, but my best fish of the year all came from the Third Branch.

I caught my first ever browns on the Winooski, and I got 5 of them in that one day.

Rivers I fully intended to fish this year, but I didn't include the Lamoille, Clyde, Batten Kill, West Branch of the Au Sable in NY, Waits, Wells, Lewis, and the Black in southeastern VT.  I did fish the Black in northeastern VT.  Of those rivers, it's the Clyde and Batten Kill that I most want to fish, and I need to get there.  Sometimes, the learning curve of a brand new river that requires a long drive leads me to stay closer to home on waters I know.

I've still never taken a landlocked salmon (that's why I need to fish the Clyde) or a Vermont steelhead (Lewis).

I wish I had the money to fish with guides on a regular basis.

I'm hoping to save enough money over the winter to buy a 2-person pontoon float boat.  If I can pull that off, I'd use the boat mostly on the White, but also the Winooski and Connecticut.

Lastly, thanks to a new law that went into effect on January 1 of this year, a number of waters are now open year round for catch and release fly fishing.  Those include the main branch of the White and the Winooski, which is where I spent almost 50% of my fishing days in the regular season.  Plus, I can still explore the Waits in the extended season as well.

Tomorrow, my snow tires go on my car.  Ski resorts are getting ready to make snow.  Thanksgiving is coming.  But, I'm not quite done with the fly rod yet.