rain, snapping turtles, and wild trout

Hi folks, spent the last part of the week fishing and guiding on the Lamoille.  Had over an inch of rain at my house in Stowe on Thursday and it brought up the river levels.  Water temperatures have been dropping and this morning on my trip it was a pleasant 60 degrees.  Level is slightly above the average for the season and that is a good thing.  Seen a lot of hatching #14/#16 caddis with green bodies.  Tons of casings on top of rocks in riffles indicating more are ready to hatch.  Found a few rising fish in the rain on Thursday and they were fussy.  Finally got the wild rainbows to eat a #16 foam bodied flying ant pattern I tie.  The drift had to be right in their feeding lane. This morning I had spin anglers for guests and we had success with crawfish imitation lures and small trout patterns.  Every trout landed was a scrapy wild rainbow that took to the air.  We found all of the fish holding in larger stable pools with some cover.  We encountered two snapping turtles today.  Pretty prehistoric looking creatures. One was big enough to take off a finger and the other was no bigger than the cap on a gatorade bottle.  Leaves are slowly but surely turning and foliage should be perfect in a couple of weeks.  Great time of the year to fish.  Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy