Prospecting for Trout, on the fourth festival.

The fourth Battenkill Fly Fishing and Arts Festival ran May 1 through May 4, 2025, at Arlington Common, 3938 Route 7A.  Proceeds went to the new Battenkill Fund, for the river, and to the Common itself.  The grounds held the Battenkill Cup, on-the-water workshops, Orvis rod shop tours, guided trips on the river, and a Bamboo Derby.  Fourteen sporting artists showed Mountains, Valleys and Rivers at the Watkins House.  Thursday night opened with a cocktail party and a silent auction.

Our room was the Performing Arts Center.  A screen in black drape, speakers at the stage, two MacBooks, and a switcher at the tech table.  A confidence monitor at the podium showed the same slide the room was seeing.  On Saturday at 11:00, Tom Rosenbauer, Orvis’s chief fly-fishing enthusiast, gave Prospecting for Trout: What to Do When There Is No Hatch.  Around him the day ran Doug Lyons, Jacob Fetterman and Jesse Vadala on the state of the Battenkill, John Shaner, Monte Burke, Tim Flagler on what trout eat, Fred Campbell, and Rob Heal.  At 5:00 the screen ran Scale of Change: Together for Wild Salmon.  Friday, Rob Heal had already screened The New Flyfisher and taken questions.  Mixed Roots played the hall that Saturday night.

Fly tying was in the fitness studio, with a camera on a tripod feeding a flat panel so the vise read from the back row.  Lawson’s tent had a speaker and a microphone for the music and the vendors.  Sunday morning the tree planting met at 10:00, at 3167 VT Route 313.  The next year is 2026.  The year before is 2024.