The Tenth Annual “20 Days in September” Contest Starts Today!

The end of summer can be bittersweet for anglers, so to ensure that we make the most of the late season, we launched the “20 Days in September” Photo Contest back in 2015. The contest has grown every year, and participants have sent us countless emails and messages about how much fun they’ve had and how the need to get on the water has often caused them to check out local ponds and streams they’d passed by for years.

Once again, we’re hoping to inspire you to squeeze the most out of the month and to discover new fisheries near you. Check out the prize list below, and I think you’re going to want to give the contest a try this year. So start thinking about how you can carve out a little time each day, or plan a couple big adventures for the month!

Here’s how it works:

1. Make an honest attempt to get on the water 20 times during September. Of course, these don’t have to be full or even half days of angling. Just 10 casts are enough to count on any given day. So steal time whenever you can: before work, at lunchtime, after work, or . . . (cough) during work. On weekends, get in a few casts around family time, kids’ sports, or yard work. The full 20 is an aspirational goal; you don’t have to complete the 20 days to win.

2. This is not just about trout. Any species and kinds of water are eligible–from bass and pike in lakes, to stripers and bonefish in saltwater, to carp in canals. If you can catch it on a fly, it’s game. The only limitation is that the fish must be caught during the month of September 2024.

3. Take pictures of your fish, the water, your fellow anglers, the flies you’re using, or anything else. To promote good fish handling, photos may not show trout held out of the water. With so much low, warm water around the country, we want to ensure that trout are released as quickly as possible, with no extra time out of the water for photos. You’ll note that none of last year’s finalists were of the grip-and-grin variety.

4. Post your photos to the Orvis Fly Fishing Facebook page or on Instagram, tag us at @orvisflyfishing, and include the hashtag #20sepdays. (Only photos that tag us and use hashtag will be eligible!)

At the end of the month, we’ll go through all the photos posted as part of the project and pick 10 finalists. Then we’ll let you vote for the winners! (Check out all of last year’s finalists above, and see all three winners here.)

Here are the prizes:

First Place: A Helios Fly Rod of your choice.

Second Place: A PRO Waterproof Backpack 30L.

Third Place: A Drift Hoodie

We’ll also give 2 Orvis Wader Mudrooms: One to a randomly selected person who posts a photo of them picking up trash while fishing, and one to a randomly selected voter at the end of the contest.

You don’t have to complete your 20 days to be eligible to win, but we will have a Roll of Honor for those who do manage to complete the Project. So start start carving out more time for fishing. Do you think you can hit the 20 mark?

Click here for the full contest rules and conditions.

The contest is open only to legal residents of the USA who are 18 or older. (We apologize to our readers in Canada and overseas; Click here for an explanation of why we have to do this.)