May 13th, Upper Mettawee, Dorset,VT

As I write this I have been back in VT since last Sunday. I'm so glad to be back home, be with my family, and fishng my local haunts.

I finished up my Steelhead season at the beginning of May with fishing about the same as last reported. A few fresh fish here and there, but nothing to write home about.  In some ways I was glad to see it end, only because we were running out of fish.  All in all not a bad season, some nice large fish, good numbers of fish, but a very screwed up timing for the run.  I should of went to MI the first of March this year!!!!  Hey lets have a normal winter with some snow, and some cold temps. and a slow easy spring.  That is good for Steelhead fishing in MI.

When I arrived home (May 6th), local water conditions were excellent and afforded good scouting before my first trip later that week. Small water was fishing well. With good water levels on the NY side of the Mettawee  ( 250 CFS), I found stocked Browns taking dry flies at several locations on May 7th. It was a beautiful 70+ day and Caddis and Light Cahills were hatching sporadically. I scouted the Black on the 8th, if only to re-learn the water, again a result of Tropical Irene. The trophy reach of the Black and the highway (Rte 103) were very much impacted by Irene. The road was closed till just before Christmas! The stretch in many was has changed. Some of the places are a little harder to get to in accessing from the road. The actual fishing water and habitat  appears, from my observation, for the better!!!   We now have small pools, deeper runs and a more concentrated water channel that under low water conditions should be of benefit. I will let you know how it fishes when I am there guiding in the next few weeks.  I am very encouraged!!!!!

As I finish up my notes for this report, I am sitting streamside in one of my favorite small water haunts. I just guided a good client and friend on a beautiful small water target that host mostly Rainbow Trout.  The water was marginally high, so our fishable zones were limited.  However, where the flows were right, he caught fish, three year classes!!! Its a great start to the season is all I can say!

Tight Lines,

Peter Basta

April 24th, 2012 Hess Lake, MI

I have a day off (sitting on the dock) guide lingo for not guiding.  The very hot fishing  that was going on when I arrived in March is definately on the wane. It seemed that the peak of the run was 2-3 weeks earlier than normal or most years. Water levels were in the 2000-2200 CFS range till the 15th when we recieved rain and again on the 23rd. Water levels then rose to near 4000  and dropped into the 2200-2400 range. Those 2 rain events did bring in fresh fish so all was not lost.  In addition, fishing for drop backs (Steelhead heading to the lake)in the holes was productive.

The successful patterns have been the same as reported in early April and when you find the fish they do cooperate and take the fly!  We  are hoping for our May fish to arrive early and the few fresh fish caught yesterday brings hope.I will be here in MI till the 4-5th of May and then back to my haunts in VT and eastern NY . Speaking of the reports I am getting from back east, Because of the lack of snow pack, and the resulting low water conditions of the streams I target, flyfishing has been very good to excellent for this time of year. Thats unusual as compared to most years when its snow run-off and very cold temperatures.  I am told Hendricksons are almost done, when this is when it just gets started!!!! What a strange year.

April 6th,2012, Muskegon River,MI

I arrived here on the 23rd. of March on the tail end of some record breaking warm days of 80+F temperatures for west MI. Water levels were high (4500-5000 CFS) and already in the mid forties. Lots of fish were in, and spawning was already beginning!  Thats early in comparison to other years. The average size of the fish this year is   bigger than the last several years. That fact and the number of fish indicates this year class had good survival and plenty of food in their ocean, Lake Michigan.

All the standard flies, Nuc  and Otter Eggs, Copper Buggers, Stone flies, and Chinook fry patterns have all worked well.  As we got into April our weather changed to more normal with frosty mornings and temps. during the days in the high 30 to mid 40's F. Water levels have dropped to the low 2000'S CFS and river temps. have dropped to the low forties which should have the effect of spreading the run out for the month of April.

My read on the run is is its a good one with pulses of fish arriving a couple of weeks early overall.  Since the Muskegon gets runs well into May, I am very confident we will have good fishing till the first Of May when our late April and May fish begin to arrive.

I will be in Michigan till the 5th of May when I travel home to Vermont for our trout season there. As I write this, conditions in Vermont are early as well and water levels are at late June levels! Water temps. are already in the upper Forties and there have been reports of Hendricksons and Caddis on the NY side of the Batten Kill!  Vermonts season opens next week and NY is already open (April 1st.). Again with the screwy weather it is anybodies guess how the early season will play out.  More on the  Michigan season and  how things are in Vermont  on the next report.

Tight Lines,

Peter Basta

March 14,2012, my office, Pre-season report.

Hi, every one!  Hope you had a good winter with what little we had!  What a strange one but not unprecedented in New England. This will still go down as the 4th warmest  on record and virtually no snow save for 1 early March storm and several dustings, thats it. As I write this all the snow is gone, even in high elevations. We are on the back side of mud-season. Usually it is just starting now! It is an early spring.

I am busy preparing gear for my up-coming spring Steelhead season. I leave around the 20th of March and there till first week in May, when I return back to Vermont. Like here, Michigan is having an early spring and I think I will be into some good fishing when I first arrive. Water conditions on the Muskegon right now are excellent with levlels recently rising to  4500 CFS, which is optimum for thefishing on the river. I will give you an update once I get there, get the boat in the water and do some scouting!Spring Steelhead on the Muskegon is a hoot!

As for present stream and water conditions for Vermont and nearby NY. Due to a combination of lack of snow,l ittle precipitation and warmer temps. our area streams are for the most part at  excellent levels save for the lower Batten Kill which is over 1200 CFS. Other area streams are at excellent levels, Walloomsac (250 CFS), Mettawee (277 CFS) and Black (500 CFS). Remember our season does not get going till April both in VT and NY I will be taking some scouting walks in the next days along some of my small water to see how things look  from the fall. I will let you know what I observed.

My bookings for the spring fishing time (May June) are filling but I do have some weekday and a few weekend times. If interesested in fishing please contact me ASAP to see what is still available.

I hope you are spending time geting gear together for the soon to be here season.

Tight Lines,

Peter Basta

October 15th,2011 Mettawee mainstem, Pawlet VT

I am sitting in my truck making some notes for this report after driving and scouting  to see if I have fishable places after another high water event last evening. It seems that once we get good water levels for a few days (and I should say good fishing), mother nature throws us some more rain, Oh well.  I am  thinking and remembering some of the recent good fishing, yesterday  was a perfect example. I was fishing with a new guest from Pennsylvania on the mainstem of the Mettawee River. We had fishable water levels (slightly high) so I targeted pools that have been fishing well in these higher conditions. Everywhere we went we hit a fish or two. Rainbows mostly, some small 6-10 inchers and a couple that were hooked and lost, one fish ws clearly in the 14-16 inch range. Dead drift nymphing and wet fly swing were the ticket, just get it "low and slow". It was a beautiful  afternoon, air temps in the low 60's and water temps still 52-52 F. Our colors were nice in some places and with no wind, leaves were not a problem hanging up on the fly. I said to Joe, my guest that day, "lets hit this one last place before we call it quits." We fished upstream with a dead drift in the deepest part of the pool, nothing. I went through my ususal "tinkering", change flies, adjust weight, adjust the distance from fly to the  strike indicator, still nothing.  "Joe lets get up on the bank and slowly walk around toward the head of the pool  and fish down and across, be quiet and walk slowly getting out" He did as directed and we started down and across from the top once I took off the "bobber".  Third cast he had a pull from a small fish at the end of the swing,"there you go", I said, but he didn't connect."take your time and lets continue down staying right on the edge of the bank" After a few minutes, I noticed  he was moving the drift too fast and picking up too early."Joe, I said, don't rush it and let me show you how to slow it down" He handed me the rod, I made the cast and verbally instructed what I was doing. I handed  him the rod at mid drift and across it came to a straight down position next to our shore. He began to pick up and he got a slight pull in less than 12" of water. He didn't strike back hard, which was a good thing. "There you go I Said, you got a fish!" He tightened, the fish moved off into deeper water. It was a much bigger fish than we have connected earlier. A bull dog fight and I knew it was clearly in the 18 inch category. We landed it and it measured 20 inches on the mark, a beautifully colored up male and it took the small soft hackle wet fly behind  a dark Hares Ear Nymph. The only negative was that in preparing to take the picture it slipped out of Joes hand right when I was framing the shot, too bad, but we still had the memory of it, GREAT!

Overall, I must say, the fall fishing has been  pretty darn good, even after the damage of Tropical storm Irene. Even some of my small water targets that  looked like  they were"destroyed "or   had "catastrophic" damage, the fish were still there. I'm sure some were lost, pushed downstream or up over the banks. I was still finding 3 year classes of fish and in fishable numbers! I'm convinced they will bounce back quickly because, though the habitat has moved around, it still is there and as I have said before much of the habitat looks to me to be improved!

Only 2 weeks left in the season and only several trips left for me. On a personal note I will be having long needed  surgery on the 25th of October. I have had arthritis in my right hip that has been getting worse , especially in the last year.  It finally is time and I am having  hip rplacement surgery to make me fully mobile once I have rcovered. I will definately be guiding next spring and should be back  at my winter job in December, if all things go well.  Thanks again to all who have fished with me this season and look forward to next year! You probably will find it will be a little harder to keep up with me as I will be moving alot quicker!

Tight Lines,

Peter Basta

September 20th, upper Mettawee River

This is my second report since Tropical Storm Irene. As water conditions improved I found that many of my small water targets, both in  The Batten Kill and the Mettawee  drainages are fishing well! I have also had a chance to fish lower downstream in these watersheds and once agian we are finding fish and at times some very good fishing. In some places, river channels have changed but not catastrophic.  Some of the pools have actually improved, though they are sometimes in different places than  before the flood! Many of the habitat structures in the Kill are intact and fared well. The only watershed not in good shape is the Wallomsac, where significant stream alteration is being done on the Roaring Branch in Bennington.  Last time I went down there, waters are still very muddy and unfishable.

As for insect hatches, in that area I am seeing all the typical hatches, but bug numbers are few to infrequent.Fall Caddis, Isonychia, and Blue Wing Olives are those I have seen.  I am doing very little dry fly fishing save for small water at times.  Upstream nymph fishing and wet fly swing  have given us the best results. The fish appear hungry and agressive in taking the fly. 

While I was very concerned about our fisheries immediately post "Irene", the more I fish, scout myself, and visit my haunts I am amazed at how these wild fish have survived and seem to be fine and healthy. It is really neet to see and bodes well for our future. The insect hatches will bounce back.  Already the rocks are getting their algaes and plant life which were scoured form the floods. I feel much relieved and look forward to "learning all the new water" which many of it now is.

All the best and if you get a chance go fishing this fall, its a great time to be out before it gets too cold snd wet.

Tight Lines,

Peter Basta

September 5th, post "Irene" River Report

I would like to start by thanking many of my fishing friends who called or e-mailed regarding my family and myself following the devastating floods in much of the State. We are all fine, our home is o.k., just the inconvience of no power and a washed out town and private road that left us some what isolated for several days. Thanks again to all of you for the check-in!

Tropical storm Irene dropped 4-7 " of rain when it slowly moved through our state on sunday. You all have seen the photos and videos of the destruction and utter power of alot of water moving downhill!  In the southern half of the state, the worst hit rivers and steams were those in the heart of the Greens and tributaries to the Connecticut river drainage.  The further north and west you go, from say Middlebury, little or no damage. The worst damaged streams were these in the same areas where some of the 12 towns that were isolated last week, so my thoughts and a prayer go out to them for their losses and hardship.

I have waited till a week after the storm to post this for several reasons. First, no power and limited travel allowed  near affected streams for several days after Sunday. Second, I wanted to see what the watersheds looked like, once levels dropped and cleared. That took till Thursday. Third, I wanted to fish and possibly guide to see if we had fish, how many and where.

I would like to start by answering the third point. Yes we have fish, fishable rivers and conditions! Smaller water located in our upper tributaries fared the best after the storm. Yes, some stream damage, but the fish are still there. I guided on small water, Friday and Saturday, caught wild trout, even three year classes!  In the southwestern part of Vermont and adjacent NY, the three main watersheds I guide on at this time of year took a variety of damage from almost non-existent to almost total destruction in 1 tributary of the Walloomsac River.  I have not been  able to fish the lower Kill and the Mettawee due to muddy and still somewhat high water.  Damage to stream channels is little to moderate in a few places. I am finding bugs in the air and on the rocks in those areas least impacted.  On the Kill in the areas where they did improvement, many of the structures held that were placed  for high water flood protection, thats great news. The structures placed for protection in lower water, its still to hard to tell due water levels.

For those who will be visiting  and/or fishing in our  area in September and October, do not worry. We have fishable water and conditions. It will only improve as waters continue to drop.  Traveling, lodging and restraurants are all good in our area. Little  or no delays for travel.  The major road problems are in the mtn. areas to our east. There is very extensive work being done and more and more roads are opening daily.

Tight Lines,

Peter Basta