Fish are flying in the Northeast Kingdom

A thunderous roar can be heard along the Barton River at the Willoughby Falls in Orleans. Visitors alike lined up by the dozens, including one Springfield resident, hoping to catch a look at the jumping fish!


www.mychamplainvalley.com

Fish are flying in the Northeast Kingdom By: Torrance Gaucher Updated: May 08, 2018 07:35 PM EDT ORLEANS, Vt. - A thunderous roar can be heard along the Barton River at the Willoughby Falls in Orleans. Visitors alike lined up by the dozens, hoping to catch a look at the jumping fish! "Everyone is waiting on Facebook to see are they jumping," said Randi Morse from Orleans. She says, coming to see the migration is a yearly tradition. "It's something in nature you don't see all the time. When you first see it there is that gasp... they jumped," she said. Similar to fishing, you need to pack your patience. But the wait would not deter Jack Smith, he made the two-hour drive from Springfield, Vermont. Smith says it's worth the drive and the wait. "It's awesome, it's incredible! The will to get up the river, it's just awesome," he said. The steelhead rainbow trout are moving out of Lake Memphremagog, and spawning in the Barton River, just above the Willoughby Falls. "We don't have a lot of opportunities like this in Vermont, or even across New England. Where we have these big migratory runs of steelhead rainbow trout," said Jud Kratzer a fish biologist with Vermont Fish and Wildlife. He expects the fish to continue to jump up the falls for the next week, and the best time to view the fish. Late morning and early afternoon.