Fishing the S.W. corner of the N.E. Kingdom (VT)

Spent 5 days in the Southwest corner of the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont (Greensboro to be exact). We arrived on Saturday and that evening, while standing lakeside with friends around I glanced to the water and in the distance saw a hatch of large Mayflies that interested me and some fish. I opted to stay with friends and relax rather than set up and make a dash to the lake. Next day I went in to the local store and looked at their fly selection to see if they had any exact matches. Well they had several boxes of flies, 3 or 4 of each type and two boxes of #12 Hex flies. Don't ya know, those must be the ones. So I bought a few and next night had a great time fishing the hatch. I got off the water a little early as people were all gathering around the new arrivals (including a 1 month old beautiful boy) and I too could not resist a chance to hold him. Next night the hatch was minimal, but my most fun was the first night, where I was able to fish the hatch in my mind and hook a lot of virtual fish.

In the mornings, I opted not to do alot of fishing on the lake. It is 145' deep, and the main fishing is for lake trout. Not best suited to the fly rod in mid July.

I did go to a pond near by that rarely got over 4 feet deep. I've caught a few 'gills there, but mostly what I find are Pike. I chose to fish only top water with deer hair poppers. The fishing was great! Lots of good sized Pike and a few even larger. At one point I had a popper on a 4" steel leader and the Pike took it all, biting me off above the leader. Based on that and the tug on the line he was impressive.

Second morning I went out there I was beaten to the good spot by three other fishers. These were fur covered otters that were cavorting and fishing. Being a gentleman I allowed them the good hole and when I went back there after they departed I did not find alot of action. For some reason even the larger Pike were being shy. I guess a trio of otters can do that to a good sized Pike.

Top water fishing for Pike was definitely a highlight for this trout weeny. Its something I will have to do more of.

jed