Route 15 from Wolcott to Morrisville
Above Wolcott the Lamoille is a small brook trout stream with some wild and stocked rainbows; through Wolcott it widens, and between Wolcott and Morrisville three tributaries come in, the Elmore Branch, the Wild Branch along North Wolcott Road and the Green River near the used-car lot in Morrisville. The Fly Rod Shop, whose river notes this section follows, says Route 15 parallels the river the whole way with the Fisherman's Access, the 15A bridge and a string of other pull-offs, that all three trout live here with wild browns, brook trout and both wild and stocked rainbows, and that once in a while someone bumps into a wild brown pushing two feet. From the 15A bridge down to the Oxbow the rail trail and the Oxbow lot give access; below the Oxbow the river slows through two Morrisville dams, with deep ledge pools that hold big fish across from the police station, and then Lake Lamoille, which has no trout but good bass and pickerel from a canoe.
Cady's Falls to Johnson: Duhamel Road, Ten Bends and Waterman Brook
Below Cady's Falls the river turns back into trout water. The shop's markers going downstream are the Kenfield Brook mouth off Duhamel Road, the end of Duhamel Road and Morey Road, the Ten Bends stretch off Black Farm Road, then Route 15 again into Johnson, where River Road backtracks to the Waterman Brook confluence. Route 100C out of Johnson runs up the Gihon, the biggest tributary, which holds stocked browns with wild rainbows and brookies, and the back roads between Johnson and Hyde Park cover the middle river; above Hyde Park it is mostly brook trout. Rail trail access points along this middle river are where FlyFishFinder puts the most reliable June evening caddis rises. The Johnson gauge on this page sits in the village, reading 310 square miles, and is the number for everything from Morrisville to Jeffersonville.
Hogback Road, Ithiel Falls and the Fairfax trophy mile
Below Johnson the north-bank Hogback Road is the access, and the Ithiel Falls area is a big spread of runs and pools. The North Branch joins where Hogback Road meets Route 109 at Jeffersonville, and the shop says there is still good trout water on down before the river turns into moving-water smallmouth habitat around Fairfax. At Fairfax the state runs a trophy trout section from the downstream edge of the Route 104 bridge in the village upstream about 1.6 miles to the top of the Fairfax Falls dam, stocked with two-year-old browns and rainbows in spring, two fish a day, no length limit. Farther down, from the West Milton bridge on Bear Trap Road up to the Peterson Dam in Milton, the river is closed from March 16 through May 31, and from that bridge to Lake Champlain it is under lake rules.
Hendricksons in early May, Hex and Golden Drakes in June
Two charts cover this river and they mostly agree. Catamount Fishing Adventures' Lamoille and Winooski drainage chart has Hendricksons early to mid May with black and green caddis, March Browns and Gray Fox through late May, Sulphurs from the third week of May, a short Brown Drake in early June, Hex from mid June through July, Potamanthus late June into July, golden stones in July, Tricos late July and August, Ephoron at the start of August, flying ants and Isonychia from late August, and olives in fall. Big Y's Lamoille chart runs Hendricksons April 1 to May 15, Sulphurs May 15 to July 15, Hex June 1 to July 15, Golden Drakes June 15 to August 15, Tricos and White Mayflies August 15 to September 15, stoneflies from mid April and caddis from mid April through mid October; the Hendrickson start is the one real disagreement, and the row here follows the local guide. The Fly Rod Shop's September 2026 reports list hoppers, Yellow Sallies, Tricos, flying ants, Isonychia and olives with water at 55 to 70 degrees.
Johnson at 150 to 500 cfs, and the 70-degree problem
The Fly Rod Shop's seasons for the Lamoille are mid-to-late May through mid-to-late June and mid September through mid October, with midsummer good only if the water stays cool, and it says outright that the river often exceeds 70 degrees in summer; its answer is to fish early with a thermometer or drive up to the headwaters. No shop gives a wading number, so this page compares the Johnson gauge to 150 to 500 cfs from the USGS record there: typical monthly flows of about 1,530 cfs in April, 720 in May, 380 in June, 230 in July, 210 in August and September, 330 in October and 500 in November. The shop's window lines up with the river dropping through 500 in late May and the fall rains lifting it back toward 300.
Eight trout, two trout, and the winter catch-and-release rule
Under Vermont's general regulations the Lamoille is open to trout harvest from the second Saturday in April through October 31 with an eight-trout daily limit and no length limit, and open the rest of the year for catch and release with artificial flies and lures only. The exceptions are the Fairfax trophy section, where the limit drops to two, the Milton spawning closure from March 16 to May 31 between the West Milton bridge and the Peterson Dam, and Lake Champlain rules below the West Milton bridge. Ten Bends is posted in places; the Fly Rod Shop's directions describe public access off Black Farm Road, but respect the signs where you find them. Smallmouth in the lower river follow the statewide bass season.