maple syrup and trout

[acabtp]

been a busy week or so since i got back, but every may i make a trip with friends up to the cold clear waters of central vermont for trout fishing. i look forward to this trip even more now that we are rainbows-only here in NJ. don't get me wrong, i like our rainbows, but variety is the spice of life. they do a "trophy trout" stocking program in VT during the spring where they put 2+ year old brookies, browns and rainbows in to a bunch of waters around the state. same idea as NJ's fall and winter stocked trout, but they put them in during the spring because the trout season up there is mostly closed after 10/31. we make other stops for little wild brookies but the trophy trout are pretty much the fish we bounce around targeting.

got up to the house and unpacked and still had an hour and half of daylight left so hopped back in the truck and headed down to the first lake to try to find some brookies
set up a couple lines and trolled the perimeter got a couple perch before it was my buddy's turn to take the rod that was going off and he pulls in our first "trophy" trout of the trip - a 2yr brookie
http://www.tombeauchamp.com/misc/fishing/vt2016-1.jpg
quick photo and release in order to keep the fish-karma up for the rest of the trip. pissed off a beaver by entering his sovereign territory, picked away at a couple more assorted fish on the way back to the ramp and got off the water just after dark.

next morning hit a little watershed trout stream to try to find some wild brookies but couldn't find any takers. there were a few sets of fly client/guides that were also goose-egging so i didn't feel too bad. cold front had come through and it had actually snowed the night before we arrived (the mountain was still skiing until yesterday, 5/31), so i think the small fish were just off that day. on the way back to the truck got checked by a VT CO for our licenses.

switched things up that afternoon and hit a different lake that had brookies and rainbows
http://www.tombeauchamp.com/misc/fishing/vt2016-2.jpg
http://www.tombeauchamp.com/misc/fishing/vt2016-3.jpg

the next morning we headed down early to the trophy section of the black river. this is always a highlight of the trip, nice sized river, fast moving, lots of holes and they absolutely load it up with 2-3 year and larger trout.
http://www.tombeauchamp.com/misc/fishing/vt2016-5.jpg
the requisite covered bridge is actually one of the trophy section ends
http://www.tombeauchamp.com/misc/fishing/vt2016-4.jpg
http://www.tombeauchamp.com/misc/fishing/vt2016-6.jpg
http://www.tombeauchamp.com/misc/fishing/vt2016-6b.jpg

we were shooting the breeze at the truck and just about to pack it up when 8 carloads of volunteers and the stocking truck roll up on the hole
http://www.tombeauchamp.com/misc/fishing/vt2016-7.jpg
still had waders on so asked if we could give them a hand and they were happy to have the help. got on the in-the-river end of the bucket brigade and helped get a couple hundred more trout (all rainbows this load) into the water. this was the second time that we've run into the stocking crews on the river and been able to help out... lot of fun to see just how big the fish they put in there. after the truck and volunteers headed downriver we went to see if any of the fresh fish were in an eating mood.
http://www.tombeauchamp.com/misc/fishing/vt2016-8.jpg
turned out they were hungry so we all C&R a few to help educate them before we called it a day.

[acabtp]

went for lakers the next morning. while out there got checked by another VT CO. this guy had some dedication too... was driving by the lake in his truck when he noticed us out there so he pulled off, dropped a kayak in, and paddled across the lake to come check us out. i would absolutely love it if NJ DFW COs were so motivated. got some intel on the lakers before the CO took off, but it was pretty much what I had already been trying and we didn't end up connecting with any.

hit black river again that night to sooth the laker burn and did well again, landed about 10 fish, got most of them on video too, link down at the bottom

hit the brookie and rainbow lake again for the morning of the last day. my duranautic, the Ellie Bea, alone on the lake on a Satuday morning
http://www.tombeauchamp.com/misc/fishing/vt2016-9.jpg
did catch plenty of other fish too like dink larrys
http://www.tombeauchamp.com/misc/fishing/vt2016-10.jpg
and a the occasional solid perch
http://www.tombeauchamp.com/misc/fishing/vt2016-11.jpg
but the trout are really what we go up for
http://www.tombeauchamp.com/misc/fishing/vt2016-12.jpg
http://www.tombeauchamp.com/misc/fishing/vt2016-13.jpg

unlike previous years nothing really stood out as the go-to lure and we really threw the tackle box at each place to dial it in. the fish were there though, and it was just a matter of figuring out what they were looking for.

i love fishing in my home state of NJ (was very happy to move my PB trout back to NJ earlier this year), but if you like mountains and if you like good beer and if you like awesome access to water bodies (boat ramps everywhere!) but you still like nobody else on the lake you are on and if you like no litter in the streams you are wading... maybe a trip to VT is not a bad idea

and did i mention the maple syrup?
http://www.tombeauchamp.com/misc/fishing/vt2016-14.jpg

videos! click to watch
http://www.tombeauchamp.com/misc/fishing/Black%20River%20Day%201-small.jpg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aK5lGtovak)
http://www.tombeauchamp.com/misc/fishing/Black%20River%20Day%202-small.jpg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtmzWvZ2thQ)

[23cardinal]

Congrats! That's a solid trip

[bunker dunker]

great trip!!!!!!you are blessed my friend

[Andrushkin33]

Beautiful pictures and fish.

From looks of it a solid trip all the way.

Andre

[River Renegade]

Epic trip and nice fish also great work!

[Rich196]

Thanks for the post, LOVE the VT Pictures.

[Skunk City]

Beautiful pics and nice report!

[Chrisper4694]

wow, i would've never guess freshly stocked fish eat that quickly after going through the process of being transported and dumped.

some sweet fishing!

[Mikey topaz]

Just the scenery in those pics are worth more than the fish, fish are just a bounus. Do they launch those trout from nets or put them in the buckets and gentley pour them out ?

[Predator]

Great report thanks for sharing Tom. It was a pleasure to read.

[NJSquatch]

Awesome pics and report.

It truly is gods country up there.

[FASTEDDIE29]

This is a PHENOM report! One of the best I've read! Way to go buddy! Great pics, great report, great fish! Vermont is a beautiful state! This time of year most of it's empty and waiting to be taken advantage of! God's country indeed! I use to have access to a condo in Ludlow, VT! It was located at the base of Okemo! The fishing nearby was ridiculous and I never saw another sole in sight when I was up there! Oh man, I miss this place! Thanx again for the report!!!:D

[AndyS]

I was around the same latitude last year when I fished the Ausable up in the Adirondaks, I got completely destroyed by black flies and it was early June, were black flies a problem there ?
Love the photos, great fish !!

[acabtp]

thanks a lot guys it was a great time

Just the scenery in those pics are worth more than the fish, fish are just a bounus. Do they launch those trout from nets or put them in the buckets and gentley pour them out ?
agreed and the pics can't even do it proper justice, it's just great up there.
the fish are kinda big to launch from nets... so they launch them from the buckets! looks about the same, trout sailing through the air, etc. when a bucket was coming down with a real big fish in it (tail sticking out of the 5 gal bucket), it would get dumped in a little more gently. didn't see a single dead fish anywhere though, so it works.

I was around the same latitude last year when I fished the Ausable up in the Adirondaks, I got completely destroyed by black flies and it was early June, were black flies a problem there ?
Love the photos, great fish !!
no black flies thankfully, but plenty of gnats to inhale and/or land in your eyes. really was only bad when the wind was down.

[JDTuna]

Awesome! Looks like a great area to visit. Great job on the trout!