I just returned from Manchester Vermont. Home of The Orvis Company and the famous Battenkill River. The Battenkill and many of the other beautiful rivers that surround the Manchester area have one thing in common. The fish are tricky to catch. Many of the rivers and streams hold wild trout so they are extremely picky and spookish. If you show up to a river and crash through the water, you will surely drive all of the fish down. If a fish is feeding and you throw sloppy casts, that fish will disappear. It took me a while to dial into fishing the Vermont fisheries (Battenkill, Metowee, etc…). Of course, I could have gone to some of the other heavily stocked streams, but I wanted to catch wild fish. So, I did what the locals do. I went fishing with Trule and Annette one evening and they tied on a Tungsten Prince Nymphs. No weight and 6X tippet. I watched Annette fish for a bit and then just copied her style. So, I started casting cross stream, let the Prince sink a little and then swung the nymph much like at wet fly. I did this a bit and then added my own signature. I tied on a wet fly to the back of the prince. We worked our way down stream, carefully fishing every little seem. We micromanaged the river and it worked. I had several takes and lost a nice sized fish. The evening came to an end quickly and we went out to dinner and then back to the fish house. We stayed up until 2:30 am playing guitar and working on some music theory. All the while, I could not stop thinking about that nice sized wild fish I had on my line. So, I was up early and on the river at 8am. I had to do some work at 10 am, so I only had a small window. I showed up to the river and met a local fly fisherman. He fancied himself a purist (who isn’t these days) and gave me the usual line of jargon that purists give. “I only fish with dry flies.” Well, too bad for you, “I thought to myself.” But to him, I said, “Oh Wow, that’s great.” He lightened up a bit on our walk to the river and we ended up laughing and joking and proceeded to fish together. I think, he was just kind of marking his territory. Just like a dog pees on a tree. Once the hair on his back settled down a bit he was just another fly fisherman. I did learn something from him. He only fished caddis flies and he dabbed them and skimmed them across the surface. He told me that the Vermont wild trout love to see the caddis bouncing up and down and skimming across the water. I guess he was right. he landed a 16 inch wild brown trout. A very nice fish. I tied on a caddis and caught a bunch of wild rainbows, but they were all fairly small. I love nymphing and wet fly fishing, so I went back to that. I had a large fish take one of the flies in the quick water, but he got off. Then I caught the fish in the picture in a beautiful run. He took the Tungsten Prince Nymph at the very end of my drift. He was not a record breaker but he had wonderful colors, was extremely healthy and he was a wild fish. There is something rewarding for me with catching the wild fish, because they are difficult to trick. I used to fish for them in West Virginia when I lived in the DC area and it is surely a different mind set. Sometimes you catch alot of fish, other times none, sometimes all you get is small fish, other times you get some bigger fish. Somedays they like caddis and other days they won’t touch a dry fly. Usually, when fishing for wild fish we have to play by their rules not ours. They are unpredictable and tough to figure out. That’s what makes fishing for them fun. If you ever get the chance to visit Manchester, Vermont – I recommend the trip. Rolling mountains, crystal clear water and wild fish. The experience is unique unto itself. Bring a Prince Nymph.