My father always says, one weather extreme follows another.  After 2 very wet years, including the wettest summer on record in 2024, the well has run nearly dry.  We are in a mostly dry and sunny pattern for the past 2-3 months.  It is actually amazing to see how fast things went from wet to dry/ drought conditions.  The summer was tough on many local trout streams, but I do not think that this summer was worse than gong back 4-5 years.  In my area of Eastern Chittenden County, VT I would not actually consider us to be in a  drought.  We have certainly had more rain than areas further east, and when I was in Maine 3 weeks ago it was much drier over there.  In fact, the small stream behind my house did not dry up this summer, as it has in the past, and there is still ground water just below the surface.  

We got over 2" of rain last week, and the ground did soak it right up, not even upping the river levels.  I did learn a lot about trout behavior and how they make it through the hot summer months this year.  I spent several days with the kids snorkeling around local rivers, all marginal trout streams, during the hottest days of August.  What we found that the trout seek out wood, specifically dense root balls and undercut banks and get as deep into them as possible.  We literally would peel back layers of roots and find a fish, (sometimes of shockingly large proportions) staring at us, unwilling to leave the cover.  Depth and spring influences didn't seem to matter.  They basically just holed up in the darkest, densest spots and waited, I assume, until night to feed. I am planning on mousing for the first time tonight now that things have cooled off. The good news is that many wild fish, and some stocked fish made the summer.

Fish are still going to be somewhat stressed, especially in the smaller rivers and streams until we get some consistent rain.

I actually have not fished much since I returned from Alaska. I have been working on a house addition all summer and trying to wrap it up before I start the fall guiding season again in the next week. When I have been out it has been ok fishing. Nothing spectacular.  Fish have looked at dry flies, both Iso's and golden stones. Do not overlook skinny fast water.  The most oxygen is in these areas and the fish love to set up in the riffles in the fall.

I am uploading the first part of my Alaska adventure article that is appearing in the North Woods Sporting Journal in the Articles page here on the site.  It was an amazing adventure with great fishing and some adrenaline filled events.  Here are some pictures from the trip in the gallery.

June has left us sadly, and possibly my least favorite month is upon us.  It's hot and humid every day and I am wishing for the 65 degree drizzly days we had earlier this year.  Looking back at June, it was a great month of fishing.  We had a lot of smiling faces join us on the water.  We got into some giant fish, including the two massive rainbows above a client caught on dry flies.  We saw a lot of shuffling around of trout in June as the water levels dropped and the temps began to climb.  Some stretches of small rivers that fished great early seemed to have emptied.  It appears the wild fish were doing a lot of migrating prior to the heat we had at the end of June and finding their way to the summer lies.  Likely deep holes and springs that only the trout know about.  

On the Bass front, my partner Mike and I were able to win the team category of  15th annul Ditch Pickle Classic on Lake Champlain again this year, while I was able to take 1st individually for the third year in a row, while Mike took second place just a point behind me.  We also got the cash prize for the biggest bass a 20.25" smallmouth I hooked on a popper and Mike netted.  The fishing was a grind under bright sun and we picked away at fish deep and slow during the day and had a great top water bite in the evening.  Day two was crazy windy and stormy and Mike needed two more big fish. I kept the boat in control in the wind and mike got his two big ones before we called it a day.  

The Hex hatch was good at the end of June this year, but had already peaked and was waning during the fourth of July which seemed to be the peak years ago. Depending on the body of water it could be over or they could hatch sporadically for a while longer.  This hatch is what made me want to become a fly fisher.  

July looks to be mostly a game of warm water species on the bigger lower end of the rivers and small stream fishing.  Early mornings and evenings for bass on poppers, frogs and hoppers is a really good way to beat the heat.Fish slow, and subtly.  No big pops, and a lot of pauses will get you the most bass.  Crayfish are also great if you have no luck up top. The streams fish well after a rain and cool down, however many stay cool most if not all of the hot days. I recommend going early and please take a thermometer with you.  If the water is 70 call it. When I say small I talking blue lines and upper reaches of tributaries that have good canopy cover at higher elevations. I guided a great couple on a recent hot and humid day. The small stream started out at 64 and fished good throughout the morning,  The fishing really slowed as the water hit 68 and we fished for another 45 minutes with no bites until it got to 69 and we called it.  The fish had called it earlier than we did.  A combination of dries and nymphs worked.  A simple dry dropper was the real ticket  however.  Flies didn't seem to matter all that much. 

We will be in the summer pattern for a good 6 weeks.  Keep an eye out for those big rain events and below average temps,  you'll have more options to fish at this time.  I am really hoping for a wet remainder of the summer to help mitigate the high temps.  Unfortunately, with climate change I do think that above average temps are here to stay.  As we have seen, the changing climate seems to favor more rains as well.  Let's hope we don't see widespread catastrophic flooding, but plenty of precipitation, to help our very healthy population of wild trout make it through the summer.

All of our guides, including myself  will be in Alaska the end of July and beginning of August, on the DIY drop float fishing trip in the remote Western portion of the state.  I'll have pictures and stories to tell on the report when I get back.  I'm hoping for safe travels, no super close grizzly encounters, and a once in a lifetime adventure.    

We've made it to June, though for the much of late May it felt like the end of April pr early May.  In fact the water temp on two mid sized streams the past two mornings has been only 49 degrees!  

Things are setting up for a good old fashioned June, as long as we don't get any crazy heat waves, I anticipate trout fishing to hold strong on all of our rivers for at least a few more weeks. Time will tell.  

The fishing has been quite variable,  we have had one of the wettest May's on record in the northeast.  At times the fishing has been closer to early May, with mostly larger browns out eating bigger meals in higher and cooler water than normal.  We certainly have not been catching the numbers of smaller fish and especially rainbows that we normally expect at this time of year. I anticipate that will become more consistent going forward. It is too early to tell if the population of browns has increased and the population of rainbows had decreased on some of our rivers but it's a possibility as our catch rate has been so skewed toward browns this spring.  Typically wild rainbows far outnumber the wild browns in our area, and I think that we will see it's still the case as we move into summer.

We have also had to work around blown out rivers and unfortunately we have just happened to have quite a few trips scheduled for a day or two after a big rain event and clients that were set on floating or fishing a certain river and were just unable to safely do so.  The past two days I have been on three rivers scouting new water one day and guiding the next.  Two days ago while scouting we found really tough fishing but all of the fish we hooked were quality browns, including a giant pictured above that was living in a trib of a trib.  It ate a dead drifted jig streamer on the edge of some whitewater. That day the fish only wanted bigger flies, and we only hooked fish in the deepest pools. Yesterday on a similar sized river, but in a  totally different watershed the fish were eating a walts worm for my client in the morning before the hatches started.  After lunch we moved up river about a mile or two and the fishing was dramatically different.  We had a big golden stone hatch, march browns, caddis, lime sally's, crane flies and a few other smaller may flies around that I didn't identify.  I expected the fishing to be even better, but after tinkering around with flies and our drifts it turned out the fish wanted a mop.  Totally unexpected, considering they were eating nymphs earlier on.  We did catch far more fish than the day before and the sizes ranged from 5" to 14" so the smaller fish were becoming more active. We hooked fish throughout the river in all water types.  We did see a couple of fish rise and threw dry dropper for a while later in the day, getting a few fish to look at the dry and one to eat it. 

From here on out expect to find fish actively eating nymphs, emergers and dries depending on the time and conditions.  Remember to swing your flies at the end of each drift.  Typically I will enter the river and cast across and down stream to see if there are any fish looking to take a swung fly before I start fishing up stream and potentially scare the fish below.  If you are tight line or euro nymphing the same applies.  I even swing dry flies to great success.  There are times when that is what the fish are looking for and there are times when you can pick an extra fish or two that didn't want a dead drift.  Often people are told when tight line nymphing that you have to set to start your next cast.  I feel people miss a great opportunity if they don't finish the drift.  I employed this tactic to win a session in a big fly comp a few years back.  The first thing I did before stepping in the water was to swing a couple nymphs below me. I caught two fish in two casts to start the session and ended up winning by around 10 fish.  It works, and your flies do not need to be soft hackles, though they certainly find the end of my tippet when fish are eating on the swing.  The other mistake people make is the hook set when swinging flies.  The natural reaction is to set the hook up stream, effectively pulling the fly out of the fishes mouth.  What you should do instead is set low and to the side if a fish eats when the fly is swinging.  If it eats directly below you as you dangle the fly motionless in the current then it's better to just wait until you feel the weight of the fish and simply lift your rod.  You'll probably double your catch rate by doing so.  

Looking forward, we have two warm days and then it looks like low to mid 70's and wet again.  A perfect June forecast.  Get out there and have fun.  

We have some availability to guide going forward. Please shoot me a message if you'd like to get out.

It's been a great start to the fly fishing season here in VT. April and early May are always a quality vs quantity and you can see above that is the case.  Many good fish have been landed by clients and guides.  You'll see only 1 rainbow trout in the pictures, as they are finishing up spawning and don't eat as well early on compared to the big browns.  That will change soon and I expect we will get some nice rainbows in the mix  going forward as they settle into their spring and summer habitats.  

Right now the big rivers are blown out from the heavy rains this past weekend, but mid sized and small streams are prime. Big rivers should clear up this week.  We had to cancel 2 guided trips this past Saturday.  It is rare we have to fully cancel a trip because rain that blows out rivers generally tends to be more spotty in intensity, and come down shorter and harder meaning we can move watersheds or go up or down in elevation and stream size to find fishable water, but this weekend was an area wide soaking that lasted for two days making everything go up and stay up.  I guided Friday and my clients stuck it out for a full day despite non stop rain and swollen off colored rivers.  We fished until the river was completely unfishable and managed a few nice trout.  The Leff crew proved to be a hearty bunch.  Thanks guys.   

Mayflies, caddis and stoneflies are all hatching.  This week we will see fish feeding in the drift eating nymphs and emergers.  There will be some chances at rising trout for sure.  Hendricksons have been on for a few weeks now in the lower elevation streams and are just getting going in others.  The cool weather last week slowed things down.

This week is gong to be a spectacular week to fish.  Depending on your preferences, many rivers will have been stocked.  This can be good for newer clients,  but a pain if you are looking for wild fish on rivers that get stocked.  Sometimes the wild fish can be hard to find with all the new faces in the rivers.  There are lots of small and mid sized streams that do not get stocked however.  

I expect nymphing to be the most productive method for a bit.  Larger junk flies and streamers will work, and will often hook the bigger fish in the river.  Look for spinner falls at dusk and have a spent wing hendrickson imitation ready to go.  We have some availability both weekdays and weekends. We are also offering some evening trips 4-darkish.  Let me know if you want to get out!

The 2025 Fly Fishing season is fast approaching, so please do not forget to purchase your fishing licenses before heading out.  

While there's only a couple of months until the season really starts, it surely doesn't feel that way.  We have had a good old fashioned VT winter thus far.  This is the longest in 3-4 years that I can remember having snow continually on the ground down low in the Champlain River Valleys.  Most rivers are locked up in ice and perhaps Lake Champlain will completely freeze over this season.  What used to be common for the lake years ago now is a rarity.  The snow depth on top of Mt. Mansfield is about 25" over average for the date.  The ground is not frozen under the snow and has been slowly melting snow all winter allowing water to percolate into our aquifers all winter.  

What will this mean for fish coming into the spring? For lakes it is certainly a good thing.  These ecosystems here in the north have adapted over many thousands of years for ice coverage.  As far as the rivers, our wild trout are capable, and certainly our wild and native brook trout are adapted to long and cold winters.  I feel that stocked trout will have a hard time surviving.  Often, the stocked trout that make it through the summer are taken out by the winter weather and ice, and very few are alive come spring time.  It is really rare for me to find hold over rainbows and somewhat rare to find holdover browns in this areas rivers.  I did find some hold over rainbows last fall on a big river that had been stocked two springs before.  Thanks to the high water of both summers and the mild winter last year they were able to make it.  I think it's a good thing that the stocked trout do not hold over well in our rivers. That leads to less competition for food during the winter months when food is not as readily available. More importantly, there is less interference with the wild trout spawning seasons and less chance to "water down" the gene pool of the wild trout with inferior stocked trout genetics, though some strains of stocked trout are incapable of breeding. 

If you are getting the itch to fly fish in the Northeast this winter, there are a few tailwaters that should stay open within 1-2 hour drive for everyone in the state.  If you are looking to take a long weekend and fish, there are great options in western NY and PA that provide good spring creek fishing throughout the winter months, and there are some good tailwaters in Southern New England. The freestone rivers here in Northern VT are open to fishing, but they certainly are not fishable for the most part. 

I'm trying to get back into tying for the upcoming season, but it hasn't happened yet!  When I do start it will be a few basic nymphs like Pheasant tails, stoneflies, mops, worms, eggs, and jig streamers. 

I'd like to keep producing a few youtube videos, but the time just has not been there for me lately.  If there is anyone out there that would like to help me with this please reach out.  I know a lot of you have initially contacted me because of the videos.

Sorry for the long delay in reports. I was gone for most of August and then didn't do any guiding or fishing the first few weeks of September aside from a few night fishing missions, more on that later.  We are back in the swing of things now.  I've started doing a few trips and have been able to get out on the water.  I'll hopefully be guiding my first salmon trip of the year tomorrow.  

We just went through the driest period this area of Vermont has seen in about 16 months.  Montpelier went 17 days without precipitation.  The weather was as good as it gets during that stretch, with cool over night temps and nice sunny afternoons.  The fishing was decent, but the small streams were getting low.  There are plenty of fish around, both wild and stocked.   More stocked fish made it through the summer than normal.  The small wild trout streams I was on had good numbers of fish but stealth was key in the very low clear water.  We got a dose of rain yesterday and today it's pouring.  Just what we need to get migratory fish moving, both salmon and steelhead from the lakes, and browns and brookies moving toward spawning grounds.

Fly selection has not mattered much the times I've been out.  A size 16 nymph and size 14-16 caddis dry, is about all I have needed. You can then fish back through with a worm, mop or streamer to get any fish looking for something else.  I actually got down to a new section of small stream after guiding a client in the morning on the bigger river and forgot my pack entirely.  I had a single size 16 nymph with a 2.8 mm silver bead tied on a section of 7x tippet, and not a thing else.  In a hurry I decided I'd just fish that fly and when I broke it off or the hour that I had to fish was up I'd head out.  I found it quite a nice challenge, and felt like I really fished on point knowing I couldn't lose the fly in a tree, or break it off. I ended up running out of time, with my single fly still tied on.  Wild Brookies and Browns were happy to eat the nymph in super low clear water.  I always find it amazing how well those fish hide.  Staring into 12" deep flat run only 12' wide at most and not seeing a single fish until there was one on the line was cool.  Fish on small streams have been in very shallow riffles as well.  Stuff you probably would walk through.  On the bigger river I haven't seen that yet, but usually in the fall they push into the skinny stuff in the fall.  When fish get more picky, downsize to a size 20 baetis nymph and you'll have success.    

Our trip out west was amazing.  I'll keep it brief but we fished Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, and Colorado.  My son, 5 years old, really loved fishing from the drift boat and was roll casting a 5 wt with an indicator and nymph like a champ.  He caught on his own, cutthroats, rainbows, and whitefish.  He hooked into one rainbow of about 20-24" that broke him off when I told him not to let it get into a log jam.  He is still talking about that fish daily.  The girls did some fishing but were just as happy to float down the amazing rivers and try rowing.  They also got to see their mom fish a lot and catch some nice trout on dry flies.  I had a great time ditching the euro rod and fishing a 5 wt.  Both on big tailwaters and spring creeks I had a blast throwing dries.  However, by far the most fun I had was mousing.  What started as late night drunken talk with our friends on an overnight camping trip, quickly turned into me landing a giant brown right on the bank on a mouse fly.  I wish the kids would have been awake to see it, but were fast asleep in the tents.  I then repeated this feat on some famous tailwaters, spring creeks and freestone streams across the west.  It was eye opening.  I did discover presentation really matters, as does making sure the mouse stays on top of the water.  Also, hooking up is much harder than getting a fish to blow up on the fly.  Im going to play around with different flies to try to increase the hookup percentage.  I discovered you really shouldn't set the hook until you feel the full weight of the fish, not just hear a sound or feel a tap.  I went out twice in VT and both times was able to get a few fish to blow up on the mouse but no hookups, yet.  

Enjoy the fall fishing. it can be tough as the weather gets colder, but just pick the good weather days when going for trout.  They tend to get lock jaw after a cold front and drop in water temps.  

Here we go again, more devastating flooding a year to the day of last year historic floods.  I wrote a full article on the impacts of flooding on our wild trout.  Check out the articles page for a full run down of the impacts of high water, many of them positive, and the negatives.  Please wade carefully, have a partner with you, and take it slow. 
​
The rivers will surely have changed and you could find yourself stepping into a hole you didn't know was there.  The most common misperception is that the trout have all died, don't be fooled, trout need cool water, and they have plenty of it right now along with food.
The incredible fishing I reported this past spring was a result of last years flooding so look for the fishing to be good when you can find fishable water.  As always, bring a stream thermometer, rivers will still get over 70 on some stretches, but the good news is there is so much cool ground water seeping into the rivers that I don't think they will get overly hot. For the remainder of the summer I'm hoping we don't have major flooding but can keep the rivers topped off.

It has been a bit of a challenge to get clients into the rivers right now, but we will do our best to accommodate river flows and wading skills so that you all can find some willing fish.

On to the Ditch Pickle Classic, another great weekend, lots of beers drank, and lots of bass caught.  Day one was an amazing day of fishing.  We found large smallmouth eating high in the water column.  It was essential to make long casts, subtle movements of the fly, and use light tippet.  These fish are 8-10 years old and have been caught many times but the looks of the scars on their lips. That was certainly the key for me to win the tournament again this year.  Ive been lucky enough to win 3  out of the last 4 years.  Day 2 was torrential rain and howling wind.  We were on the water by 5 and blown off by about 8.  Thankfully I was able to catch one 18" smallie in about 3' waves to seal the win. We are looking forward to next seasons tournament already. 

Finally, my family and I are soon to embark on a 3 week road trip west.  Driving three kids 9,7,5 across the country will be questionable at times, but hopefully worth while. We will be camping mostly, spending a night in the driftless of Wisconsin, a week in Jackson Hole, doing a DIY over night float on the South Fork in Idaho with friends, and spending time time in South West Colorado.  I've got all of the kids waders and will surely be doing lots of fishing .  I hope to bring some beautiful pictures and amazing tales back with me.  Stay tuned.  Guides Andy and John will be available while I'm gone so reach out if you want to get on the rivers.

The Spring/ summer transition continues.  Hot weather followed by cool wet conditions have kept fishing solid on most days, and river temps down.  Even during last weeks heat I guided higher on some mid sized tribs and found water temps in the 60-62 degree range.  

I have noticed some of the bigger fish have been getting harder to catch midday. This often happens this time of year. They seem more willing to eat early or late.  I did have one trip yesterday, that despite good conditions, was  little tough. Fish were eating but not as strong as I'd have expected. Thus is the variability of fishing I guess. I have seen lots of golden stoneflies lately and even a few of the giant stones that either are, or look just like the western salmon flies.  Big stones have been getting eaten, especially when that water was higher, but at the same time both my clients and guide Andy had more success with size 20 perdigones last week.  Usually we don't need to fish small bugs till later in the year but it just goes to show that you need to be adaptable.  I discovered the small bug pattern when BWO's began hatching while my clients and I waited out a downpour.  The small nymphs didn't just work during the hatch either but for the rest of the week.  Andy discovered it on his own when fishing a new stretch of a bigger river that seemed to have a good amount of pressure.  After struggling to get fish to eat and seeing other anglers on the river who had said they only caught stocked fish, he downsized tippet to 7x and flies to size 20 and was rewarded with wild browns and bows up to 18"  in places that only seemed to be holding stockers.  There are also lots of caddis around in sizes 14-20, and terrestrials should be on your mind as well.  We had good dry fly fishing last week, with caddis and stimulators being the best.  Small dries did not work last week even though small nymphs were on the menu. Evening dry fly fishing has been strong.

I have guided more this spring than I have in the past 3-4 years, and I'm now winding down the number of trips I'm doing in a week, but guides and and john are ramping up now that school is almost out.  Between the three of us, we should be able to get you out there to enjoy our beautiful Vermont waters! 

What an absolutely stellar few weeks we have had since my last report.  It seems every big fish of every species has been feeding hard.  I've been guiding a fair amount and have hit a new river on every trip.  I even explored a new small stream with a client yesterday, where we found chunky Brook Trout, Rainbows, and Browns.  All wild and all in great condition. Can you identify the lone stocked fish above? 

I feel like a broken record but I cannot recall a better spring of trout fishing.  Every stream Ive been on has coughed up quality wild fish.  It's been good enough that I don't even feel I need to know a river or even been on the particular stretch to guide it.  Twice this past week I hit both a new stream and a new section of river with clients and we got into nice fish.  Hatches have been strong.  I've seen lots of yellow and lime sallys, tan and brown caddis, March browns, Bwo's, Hendrickson's, midges.  Dry fly fishing has been solid in the AM and Evenings, according to guides Andy and John.  I've only been on the water from about 7-3 and nymphing has been the only productive method midday. Fish have been eating mid and upper column however and swinging flies has been effective.

I had two fun 1 on 1 trips with clients looking to up their sightline nymphing skills.  I do love these kinds of trips. I have seen in both that there is a huge disconnect from what people see on YouTube and read about online vs the actual effective implementation of such strategies.  I find most entry and mid level tight line nymphers fish too one dimensional.  Generally too heavy, perpendicular to the current and very close.  This method will catch fish, but there is so much more to it than that, and a ton more fish ready to be caught by upping your game.  On yesterday's trip we worked on lightening up the flies, extending the cast, and extending the drift.  After the first 5 fish came to hand quickly I asked how many would have been caught on their own.  My clients answer was 0.  Both anglers will surely have a lot more success going forward. Guides Andy and John are also really exception tight line nymphers, so if I am booked do not hesitate to book them.  I am about at my capacity for the next three weeks.  There is a chance I could fit you in if schedules both worked out perfect, but I can get a few more days with my guides.

Going forward, we are moving towards a summer pattern.  It was 90 today, way too warm.  The big river I temped yesterday was 62 at 9 am.  They may have hit 70 today but we are cooling off tomorrow and got some storms last night.  I am still not too worried about warm water temps.  There is a lot of ground water and springs are pumping cool water into the rivers. That being said, these very warm days and nights are reason to get your stream thermometer out and avoid that heat of the day during mid afternoon.  Next week looks like seasonable weather and good fishing all day.  I have quite a few trips and a few floats.  I'd like to see some rain to top off the big rivers for the drift boat.

Have a wonderful memorial day weekend.    

The Amazing spring trout season continues.  Hendricksons arrived over a week ago. Though I haven't seen any risers, I am sure there are some to be found, especially during an evening spinner fall.  Hendrickson spinners are easy to identify because the females will have a big yellowish orange egg ball on the back of their abdomen where the tails meet.  Trout have surely been looking for the nymphs and pheasant tails have been very good nymphed on a dead drift.  We had our first trip of the season out a few weeks back.  I begin my guiding season tomorrow. We still have weekend openings as well as a few weekdays for the next few weeks of prime time fishing.

With mixed emotions, many area rivers have been stocked.  the remainder should be within the next week or so.  With so many nice wild fish around, it will be a bummer when some of the good wild fish holding areas are flooded with stockers.  Ive found that it can be hard to get to the wildfish at times like these.  If you are fishing a river with rainbows and catching only stocked fish in the deeper holes, then try some fast water or riffles dumping into the deeper water. You'll often find a wild rainbow or two there.  I say mixed emotions because there are some stretches the Fish and Wildlife stocks that do not have many wild trout and areas with stocked fish are great to target with many clients  as well as my children.  But there are some stretches that are stocked that have very good populations of wild fish and really don't need supplemental stocking, maybe just tighter creel limits.  I cannot think of a single river or stretch that gets stocked fish that does not have at least a small population of wild fish in it, so you never know what you may catch.  Lakes are also fun places to fish for stocked fish and many of those lakes cannot support a wild trout population.

Maple Country Anglers Guides fished the Otter Creek Classic this past weekend.  The Weather was great on Saturday and cool with rain Sunday.  Historically, the tournament was held during the trout opening weekend on the second Saturday in April.  This timing usually meant few fish caught and often whom ever could catch the most fish would win, which was key to me winning last year.  This year having the comp in early May meant many more fish would be caught and knowing multiple locations where large browns lived was important to win.  There were also a few rivers stocked for those looking to fill there cards, but we didn't fish in stocked areas. Our guides focused mostly on the Northern most tribs because of the driving distances from home.  Saturday was a good day for us all and lots of fish were caught.  I'd guess I hooked around 25 wild fish on the day which is outstanding for early may and cold water.  Unfortunately, I could not find any big fish during the comp.  The 24" brown I caught above was not in the comp. Bummer. The biggest fish I caught or hooked was 14".  There was a lot of fishing pressure on the rivers I was on and fishing got tougher as the weekend wore on.  I had started out catching fish on big stoneflies and mops and finished the weekend catching pretty unhappy and nippy fish on size 20 nymphs.  That was a pretty good case study on how those wild fish responded to fishing pressure.  I had around 25 on the line on Saturday and 9 on Sunday, having to really work for them both days.  In the end, not finding any big fish cost me and I was only able to manage third place, Andy took 4th and John took 8th in the pro division.  Overall a strong showing and a very fun weekend of fishing.  Now that I am  not competing on the USA Fly Fishing Team and having beat specific tournaments, I have been enjoying the format of being able to fish where ever you'd like, but local knowledge really does help when it comes to knowing where to consistently find bigger un pressured fish.  

Good luck out there.  Take advantage of the wonderful fishing.  Be prepared for any scenario, from dries, to streamers and nymphs.  The weather looks un settled everyday of the 10 day and river levels have been up and down.  There is a very good base flow because of the amount of ground water thanks to almost a year straight of ample to at times excessive rain.  The spring running into my sugarhouse has been running the fastest I've seen in 16 years. This means that while the rivers will drop with no rain it will take a fair amount of really dry weather for things to get low.  The ground water also obviously keeps rivers running cool.  I personally hope the wet weather continues, you just need to be able to make adjustments if the day you intend to fish sees too high of river flows on your first choice river.