The trout streams here compare very favorably to the top areas in the rest of the West. "It is not like Montana, like we are fishing big rivers," said Stephenson, "but for small-stream fishing, it is good. When we have higher water conditions we are still extremely lucky. We have great fishing right in the middle of Rapid City -- when you get off work you have good fishing in five minutes. Varietywise, the Black Hills are outstanding. As we go into another wet cycle, it gets better and better. It is not as good as in the late '90s, but we get used to such a high level of fishing that when it declines a little bit, we get nervous. But even when it is down, the numbers we have are better than the Western average for blue ribbon trout streams."