Vermont: Where There’s A Fish For Everyone

On a cool, overcast day, I cast my line into the swift waters of East Creek, a small urban stream just off the trailhead parking lot at Pine Hill Park in Rutland. The stream was high due to recent rains and had swollen to a width of 25 feet.

It seemed an unlikely spot to expect much success. Baseball practice was starting in an adjacent diamond. A few cars had pulled up, racked high with mountain bikes. Kids on skateboards were launching makeshift jumps in the parking lot.

But all that was easily ignored. My son-in-law Jason and I were Euro-nymphing or tightlining with  10-foot, 3-weight rods. Our flies were San Juan worms and different variations of Pheasant Tails that we fished close to the bottom.

The creek is tricky with small trees and bushes on the banks, and the swift water made it difficult to wade in spots. And tightlining itself, my first go at it, takes your full concentration.

Using an Orvis Tactical Nymph Leader with Cortland Euro Nymph tipper and the Mirage Tippet, we tried a few spots for several minutes, relocated and on my fourth or fifth cast, wham!, the rod bent double and the fight began.

The quick current and size of the fish made the battle a challenge. Pull too hard and the tippet could break; give too much slack and the mammoth trout would slip off the fly.

I moved downstream with the fish, “Tip up and line tight,” Jason yelled as he rushed over to a shallow riff where a few exciting minutes later he netted the fish.

It was a beauty: An 18-inch rainbow. Healthy, well-fed, with plenty of fight. I briefly held the fish in both hands, its girth filling my palms and the tail drooping over a full three inches. With an ear-to-ear smile, I posed for a picture, then released him back in the water and moved on.

It was one of a handful we caught in that first couple of hours. All were big trout, “trophies” by anyone’s book — yet there we were in a small tributary that runs into Otter Creek on the edge of Rutland town, a stones-throw away from our car.

VERMONT’S TROPHY TROUT

Our luck that May morning was not an anomaly. The Vermont Trophy Trout stocking program puts over 20,000 two-year-old trout in many of the state’s accessible waters to provide an exceptional fishing experience. The stocking starts in late April in ponds and lakes and moves into sections of nine select  streams and rivers through the first few weeks of May.

The result is some of the best trout fishing of the year.

“The trophy trout program provides exciting fishing opportunities for all ages and skill levels,” says Vermont Director of Fisheries Eric Palmer. “Trophy rainbow and brown trout are stocked in the Black, Winooski, Lamoille, , Missisquoi, Walloomsac and Passumpsic Rivers as well as the East and Otter Creeks, while trophy brook trout are in the Deerfield River. Large, two-year-old brookies and rainbows are stocked in about 30 lakes and ponds.”

Fishing for stocked trophy trout might not be what many purists would call the essence of fly fishing — where knowledge of the river, the gear, the natural habitat, and environment, combined with an intuitive sense of the fish all culminate in mystical moments of bliss — but it’s a helluva lot of fun and achieves its overall mission: to get new anglers hooked on the sport.

“Part of what the state’s trophy trout program is about is creating opportunities where the public has easy access to the fish,” says Lee Simard, fishery biologist and head of the state’s trout stocking program. “We want to make it as accessible to anglers as we can, and we also want to ensure that people catch and keep these fish. It is a big investment to raise these fish for two years in our hatchery system, so we want to make sure we’re putting them in places where people have success — and a good experience.”

Such experiences translate to big benefits. “The more you’re connected to nature and the outdoors, the more you appreciate it and want to protect it,” Simard says. “Stocking helps provide that, not only as an easier fishing opportunity for kids but for adults as well. And it doesn’t have to be for novices. It can be for people who have been fishing for 30-40 years. The convenience of where we stock fish, including our trophy fish, is that someone can get home after work and go a few minutes down the road and be fishing. You don’t have to drive an hour and hike two miles in. That convenience and ability to catch a fish is for everyone.”

Begun in 1994, the trophy trout program — which keeps the fish until they’re two-year-olds reaching an average length of 16-plus inches —  was an extention of the state’s stocking program that had been in effect since the 1930s. The state’s brood hatchery in Salisbury harvests trout eggs and supplies the rest of the state hatcheries with them. Each hatchery then raises them from eggs to the adult stage. The other hatcheries are spread throughout the state: Roxbury, Bennington, Bald Hill, Grand Isle and Ed Weed. The goal is to keep the wild populations of native brook trout healthy, while ensuring all species are abundant for recreational fishing.

[See related story: How Vermont Stocks its Trout Stream]

Orvis fishing guide Jesse Haller hails the state’s fishery program as one of the best in the nation. “I really think our fish biologists in Vermont are fantastic,” he says. “They have a pretty sound strategy (for stocking.)”

The trophy trout program also yields a not-so-surprising outcome: some anglers, even those with years of experience, prefer fishing for the larger stocked fish.

“We see in our statewide angler surveys that a large portion of anglers prefer fishing for stocked fish. It’s a special opportunity to be able to consistently catch 15- to 16-plus-inch trout oftentimes in very nice settings,” Simard says, citing the Black River as one of the more idyllic.

He also emphasized the two-year trophy trout are meant to be kept, not released. “Most of our trophy stocking is what we call ’put-n-take,’ which means we are putting the fish in with the anticipation that anglers will catch them and take them from the system. With these fish, we are not trying to create a wild fishery or restore self-sustaining populations,” Simard explained. “In fact, we hope that doesn’t happen. We’re anticipating these fish aren’t going to be able to survive because we put them in areas that have unsuitable habitat conditions and where they won’t compete with wild populations. Usually that means the water temperatures become too warm by mid-summer. If in that stretch of river the water temperatures stayed cold, we would have wild fish there and we try to avoid creating competition for our native, wild fish.”

“The state works to restore habitat and expand wild trout populations, but that’s a different program with different goals, and that certainly isn’t going to happen in East Creek in downtown Rutland,” Simard said.

Vermont, Simard continued, has abundant wild trout populations throughout the state.  “We have some of the most intact brook trout populations in the native range across the eastern U.S., and we have wild brown trout and rainbow trout as well, which will provide their own unique fishing opportunities.”

And as for keeping a trout, once caught, Simard is clear. “Especially with the stocked fish, if you catch it, keep it — up to your creel limit (which is two).”

DEMYSTIFYING FLY FISHING

Whether you’re fishing for trophy trout or smaller wild trout, the fishing principles are similar: In the spring, when the water temperatures are cold, and the rivers are still high, subsurface fishing with nymphs, streamers and other types of flies fished off a tight line is often most productive. But to be successful, anglers not only need to read the river, but choose the right fly, the right weight leader and tippet, and employ the best techniques.

“In the fly-fishing community, we make fun of ourselves because we enjoy sometimes making it more complicated than it really needs to be,” Haller says. “You know, you go into a fly shop, and you see a fly highway of 1,000 bins and you’re like, ‘Which one do I pick?’ It can be intimidating, but the shops and the reports, they’ll tell you to start with these eight flies, and use these couple of cues based on what you might see on the water, and more than likely you’ll be fishing with the right stuff.”

Pro guide Ben Wilcox, who lives on and operates an 800-acre sugarbush in Jericho, only began fly fishing seriously after college. He got good enough to become a member of the U.S. fly fishing team, but even he agrees the sport can be overwhelming.

“Fly fishing can be very intimidating. I mean, when I learned the stupidest thing I ever did was not hire a guide. I taught myself nearly everything I knew through books because there wasn’t really any You-Tube. Back then I’d walk into a fly shop and there were just thousands of different flies, and all this lingo that made no sense. And what the hell is all this? So yeah, if you can, hire a guide. ”

There are plenty of guides around Vermont, and the biggest name in fly fishing, Orvis, is based here.

“There are so many fundamentals to fly fishing that instruction of some sort — whether it’s through a friend, a professional guide or something like Orvis’s beginning programs — is so beneficial and gets you catching fish instead of getting discouraged,” says Shay Berry, who leads the Orvis-sanctioned guiding program and fly shop at The Woodstock Inn & Resort, one of three Orvis-sanctioned lodges in New England.

There, Berry and others offer everything from $20, 20-minute casting lessons to float trips. Float trips are the fastest-growing excursion among the Woodstock Inn & Resort’s offerings, he said, and include half-day and full-day trips down the White River, which acceses remote sections of the river, waters stocked with trophy trout.

The Woodstock Inn employs five full-time and seven part-time guides, and over the past 9 years, Berry says, has made central Vermont a destination for fly-fishing.

“When we started guiding nine years ago,” Berry recalled, “we did 57 trips. We were about 340 last year, which was impacted by those summer floods, and we hope to hit 400 this year.”

Such growth reflects the boom in fly fishing since the Covid pandemic. The number of fishing licenses sold in Vermont, for example, jumped from 71,000 in 2019 to 87,000 in 2020.

It’s a trend that has continued and one Orvis has seen throughout its more than 70 fly-fishing centers across the country. Just as fish hatcheries have helped create a larger stock of trout, programs like those offerred by Orvis have helped create more anglers to catch them.

The free introductory Fly Fishing 101 program at the Orvis headquarters in Manchester, Vt., offers dry-land instruction that introduces anglers to the gear, the flies, proper knots, and how to cast. The company also offers its Fly Fishing 202 program that get anglers out on the water to learn how to read the river, work on casting, hooking and netting a fish. From there, anglers will know enough to learn from online sources, or through a guide to advance their skills.

Independent fly-fishing guides, of which there are many throughout the state, offer similar services, including rafting excursions and hiking mountain streams for Vermont’s wild trout, or fly fishing for any of Vermont’s other species.

WILD FISH IN WILD PLACES

“There are so many ways to experience fly fishing,” Berry says, beyond catching the stocked trophy fish.  “Just knowing there are wild brook trout in our rivers, and learning how to catch them with a simple set-up is a special, almost spiritual, experience, especially here in Vermont. The streams can be small, intimate and serene, and you find yourself fishing, even for small trout, in what are idyllic places. It’s often magical.”

Part of the beauty is Vermont’s topography and mountain streams, and the tradition of not posting private land. “What’s beautiful about the Northeast, in particular, is our land access laws. You can usually find access to a river where it’s not posted, and once you’re in the river you can access the river through its entirety,” Wilcox says. “As you head further West, some of those states get stricter, but compared to other countries, we just have such incredible access.”

What draws Wilcox to the sport is total immersion. “It’s a time where I can completely lock into the situation. I’m usually fishing by myself, the setting’s beautiful, the fish are beautiful. They’re wild and smart, the ones I’m fishing for. Being right in that moment is what draws me to the sport.”

For Wilcox, preserving wild trout, their habitat and the beautiful streams where they live is a primary concern.

“If we accept that these planted hatchery fish are trophies, are we going to fight to protect our true wild trophy trout and habitat?” Wilcox wrote on his blog at maplecountyanglers.com a few years ago. “A hatchery trophy does not require great stream habitat, cool water, and spawning grounds… If more fishermen’s definition of trophy continues to fall in line with that of the VT Department of Fish and Wildlife, I fear the will to protect our wild trout will decline.”

But Wilcox also admits the program has benefits and notes it’s a small part of the much larger stocking program, which produces about 665,000 fish annually.

NOT JUST TROUT

Each of the guides is also quick to say that fly fishing isn’t just for trout. Toward the end of June, the water temperatures start nearing the 70-degree F. mark at which point anglers are discouraged from fishing for trout. In warmer waters which have a lower amount of oxygen, trout easily tire. They can be quickly exhausted if caught and will likely perish, even if released immediately.

“I really encourage all anglers to carry a thermometer and to check the water temperature to be sure you’re not fishing for trout once the water reaches that 70-degree mark,” Wilcox said.  For that reason, guides and most anglers switch to fishing for the state’s numerous other fish — particularly bass, walleye, perch and a host of other fish that can pack a lot of excitement when caught on a fly rod.

“The diversity of fish in the White River is one of the qualities that make this river so special,” Berry said, “and bass and walleye fishing with a fly rod is just fantastic when you hook one.”

The same is true for the larger Lamoille and Missisquoi Rivers in north central Vermont where they spill into Lake Champlain. “There’s nothing more exciting for younger anglers than catching these bigger 18-plus-inch fish on a fly rod, and they’re so plentiful you’re guaranteed to catch a bunch. It’s a great outing for July and August when the waters are just too warm for trout fishing.”

But when cooler waters return in late August and the fall, anglers return to trout. Leigh Oliva, who spent his career selling corporate accounts for Orvis, will never forget the first time he caught a trout.

“I was a kid, and it was in the Mettawee River just north of Pawlet. It was five and a half inches, and it was fantastic. I was over the moon, just over the moon,” he recalled.

“I remember putting my line in the water and watching that trout come up and break the surface to get my caddis, reeling it in and releasing it. It was just spectacular!”

Since then, Oliva has spent a lifetime in the industry and has fished all over the world. He notes that while he could share stories of lots of fantastic streams, you can’t avoid at least mentioning southern Vermont’s Battenkill, the Manchester river that flows through Manchester and inspired Charles Orvis to launch his eponymous fishing tackle shop in 1856.

“The history is magical… all the famous fly fishermen who’ve fished it over the years. The celebrities, the notoriety of the river itself. But what’s important is the beauty and the heritage and the pristine aspects of fishing for trout. Nothing’s better, but it’s a tough river to fish because it gets a lot of traffic. But when you catch a brown on the Battenkill, you’ve hit kind of a pinnacle.”

Yet ask Oliva what his favorite fish to catch are and he’ll respond, “blue gill.” And some of his favorite moments are also fishing for small-mouth bass in Sommerset Reservoir on Vermont’s southern border. “It’s absolutely spectacular,” he says.

For Haller, bass or blue gill are all good, but he prefers trout. “The thing about fly fishing, especially for trout, is that trout don’t live in ugly places. They take you to these really amazing spots… And to me, it’s just the opportunity to be in nature, to enjoy a lot of quiet time when you’re out there and whether it’s focusing on the fish, self-reflection, or an opportunity to clear your mind for a while and just listen to birds. There’s something about that.”