April 28th, 2013,Thornapple boat launch, Muskegon MI

April 14th, 2013, Newaygo MI

 Pre-season report March 20th, 2013, Dorset, VT

February 19th, 2013

SPECIAL FISHING TRIP, LABRADOR ATLANTIC SALMON, AUGUST 2nd-9TH,2013

Join me and my close friend Alan Erdossy of Broadside while we host a party of anglers to the BIG RIVER in northeastern Labrador Canada for Atlantic Salmon and Trophy Sea run Brook Trout. This is a very special and remote location to fish  for Salmon and while Salmon numbers have flucuated from year to year in other parts of Canada, Labrador stocks are very healthy and numbers are growing due to the almost total ban on high seas netting in and around Labrador. I went to the Big River for many years back in the mid-late Nineties.  The fishing was good and I am told that now the fishing is much better according to the Outfitter.

November 8th,2012  End of Season report

September 21st.,2012

Fall rains have improved the water levels and the fishing conditions since my last report of early August. Rain events on the 6th,11th,and 26th of August and rains in this month have brought water levels closer to normal though still a little on the low side. I have found the fishing to be best a day or two after these events. Some small water targets are fishing well again when water levels in these streams are toward normal. Caddis or puffy dry flies have worked and now with water temps. starting to drop from summer highs, small nymphs have worked well when water is still cloudy after a rain event. Hatches have still been on the light side ,a trend we have seen all summer and fall.  The small Blue Wing Olives which are so important at this time of year have been almost non-existent.  Isonychia and fall Caddis have been present but again in only sporadic hatches as best.  One note however, I am seeing lots of Brachycentrus caddis larvae. This is the case maker Caddis that has a pyramid like house.  It is a spring (May) hatcher and the olive puppae is a great fly during Hendrickson time.The numbers I am seeing on th Batten Kill and the Mettawee are something to pay attention to in early May.

I will be guiding this up-coming week and then I am off on a busmans holiday myself, fishing for Atlantic Salmon in Nova Scotia, Canada. I can't wait.  I will be using "Spey Rods" and learning  this old and yet for me a new style of fly casting.  I will keep you posted as to how my week went.

Tight Lines,

Peter Basta

August 4th, 2012

Since my last report our weather has continued in full summer mode. Beautiful warm to hot days, great for the beach but not great for trout fishing. This is summer time fishing.  Early morning trips and fish activity ending for the day between 10-11 a.m..Its the time we see the shift of hatches to mornings only, and very little activity in the evenings. Overall from the later part of June till now the fishing has been fair to good, especially after the few rain events (6/25,7/15,7/29) that ticked up water levels. On a whole for July our levels have been on the low side. Examples would include 150-225 CFS for the Kill, 30-75 CFS for the Walloomsac and 25-40 CFS range for the Mettawee in VT. While under low water conditions some targets are not fishable, there are  some places I fish, only fish well under these conditions.

As for hatches,small cream Caddis, BWO's and tricos are the main fair.  The "trics" started 2 weeks early and right now are in full swing!  This hatch should continue well into the month as we head towards Labor Day.  To be successful under our present conditions  you must do several things.  Fish early in the a.m., fish long leaders and 6-7x tippets, and go slow on your approach or in fishing to a rising fish.  Make the cast good, drag free, and if he doesn't take, rest the fish between casts.

From this time in August on we should see cooler and longer nghts and better  water levels later in the month.  From mid-August on we should be able to shift to evening fishing as well as the good morning fishing we have presently.  See you all on the river!

Tight Lines,

Peter Basta

June 23rd.2012, upper Mettawee River,Dorset.

I am just finishing my notes for the month after todays trip. It has been a busy period, trip wise, and the fishing overall was excellent. I wish I had some free time to fish myself! Since Memorial day weekend, water conditions have remained good through the middle of the month, however we sure could use some rain now. Small rain events on the 3rd, 6th, 8th and 14th kept our water levels in the optimal range (Walloomsac 150-200CFS,Kill 500-700 CFS,Mettawee 175-250 CFS in NY). June is our prime month and this year was no exception.  Small water fished very good and in most places we caught 3 year classes and some nice sized fish as well. Stocked fisheries on the NY side of the Batten Kill and Mettawee continue to fish well, especially during or after rain events.  As for bugs the progression of hatches continue its earlier than normal cycle times.  Hatches do continue to be on the sporadic side, however when I look at the rocks, I am finding many caddis especially Glossoma and "Brac" (American Grammon).  The "Brac" is next years May olive caddis and there are enormous numbers both on the Kill and the Mettawee! 

I am taking a much needed break starting tomorrow and going with the family to the Jersey shore for a week at the beach.Be back on July 1st rested  and ready to go again! The forecast is for an excellent sunny week and warmer than normal ocean temperatures!  Body and boggie boarding- here I come!!!

Tight Lines,

Peter Basta

May 28th, 2012

This is the first day off in a while and wanted to bring you up on our spring fishing. I would characterize our fishing to date very good and with recent rains has brought our water levels back to normal  from the low flows of winter/early spring. The mild winter and early spring pushed up our hatches in some cases by 2-3 weeks.  Right now it  is mix of late May and some June bugs we don't  usually see for 2-3 weeks.  Hatches are sporadic in most locations save for the Batten Kill which is reporting plenty of bugs, and I too agree. 

As I write this water levles are in the normal to slightly low range.  The Mettawee is 120-50 CFS range, The Wallomsac is 150-175 CFS, and the Batten Kill  700-800 CFS range.  All good levels.  Rain events  on the 8th and 14th-15th, made small water targets  fish excellent ,and the recently stocked fisheries in the Black and the NY side of the Batten Kill are fishing well too.It is interesting how much some of the areas I fish and guide on have changed post Irene. In some ways I am relearning water, its like I have never been here in some places, even though I may have fished that spot for over 30+ years!  Its kinda neat, I am liking the new challenge. Overall I am finding  the changes to water courses untouched after  Irene to be different but in many in cases better.  Hatches are definately down on some watersheds (Black, Wallomsac) but on others the bugs are fine and plentiful! Right now  there are alot of bug species around but not many of one particular kind. Caddis  brown and tan  (14-16) March Browns (12-14), Light Cahills (14-16), Yellow and Lime Sallies.  Oh Yes, there are Sulfurs around too. (18-20).

In summary fishing is quite good now and bodes well for going into June our prime spring/early summer month.  Get out and do a little fishing and I hope to see you streamside!

Tight Lines,

Peter

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