Clouds-Sun-Rain

That two day forecast?  I'm under the 20 percent part on day one, as the sun pokes through the scattered clouds more often than not.  No rain after the early morning shower.  There are some mahoganies mid-day followed by the bwo's through mid-afternoon.  Both hatches are lighter than in days past.  The next morning also begins with showers, but there's a break and I'm in the creek by 11:00 a.m.  There's no mahoganies to speak of, and only some random rises to baetis.  The clouds roll back overhead and showers begin around 1:00 p.m.  By 1:45, the place is boiling.  It finally gets so rainy that the rises become less numerous, and it gets impossible to see a fly or keep one floating dry.  It remains a soggy afternoon and evening.

Support for the local fly shop.  I can't help myself. They have a good breakfast at their grill too.

Looking up from a favorite corner.  Clear and bright.  The tips and edges of those little islands make fun places to get a take.

I caught this monster on a mahogany only because I could see it first.  There is not a lot of these in this stretch. My Silver Creek Fish of the year right at 20 inches.

Just a sweatshirt, no down jacket and no rain gear.

This little number, a 22, is just a hook shank covered with two layers of 8/0 uni thread, and a single CDC feather tied in parachute style without any hackle.  They ate it as good as any dun I've tried.

That favored spot of mine for decades. (Though, I have several favorites on the preserve!)

Rainy day

She boiled from 1:30-3:00.

Drying it all out overnight in front of the furnace. 

Rain, Not Snow

Back to the southern, lower elevation place while winter takes over Montana.  Its cold here too, so I get one daily shift from late morning through mid-afternoon.  The bugs are sporadic. One day of a very short window. Another that is bugless. Finally  another with a pretty good hatch of mahoganies followed by some baetis that had the place looking like it's "supposed to" on these mythical cloudy days of October.  Ya, it's a myth all right.  The good day has filtered sunshine. Worst one with no bugs is a dark cloudy day with light drizzle. This morning a light shower tingles the roof of the trailer before sunrise.

She is colored up now.

Popeye goes fishing.  Goose down top and bottom. Winter waders. Towels and hand warmers. Frostbitten feet. Voluntarily!  But hey, no snow and no mosquitoes.

Ya, that perfect day with hardly a bug in sight

A good late morning into afternoon hatch of these shows up under a filtered sunshine day.

This is pretty much the size of what's rising.

A nicer one that doesn't get lost in the weeds. The bigger fish either aren't rising or I spook them on the first cast.

Here is what I've got for today and tomorrow, those perfect fall conditions for epic hatches and a river boiling with fish. 🤷‍♂️🎣. 

This little Harrop captive dun in a size . . . 22 . . . works pretty good for the baetis.

Mostly tiny, really tiny.  Going through a lot of gink and powder.  They don't hold much.

Sure Enough

A little chilly and Henry's Fork country now. 32 and partly cloudy on Silver Creek this morning.  No precip.

Last Chance at LC?

I had just made it to the MO 10 days ago when a family emergency pulled me back home. I drove 10 hours on no sleep.  I had been purposely avoiding the place because it's so good and it's hard to go anywhere else afterwards. The crisis is over and I head north once again with two nice warm days remaining in the weekly forecast.  Last Chance it is, in more ways than one.

The afternoon I arrive its blowing and feels a little cool.  I manage a few smaller fish on baetis, but no takers on the winged beetle that they loved a year ago.  Too windy to present it right?  Probably.  There's baetis on the water, but I struggle to turn over the tippet in the wind, even with it cut in half.

The next morning with the sun shining bright and no wind, I tie on the beetle and proceed to feed.  They eat it all day.  Some really nice ones.  It's the day I came for.

Overnight it clouds up a little, and there's even some very early morning showers that stop around sunrise.  The day remains partly cloudy, but the hatch is lighter and there are fewer targets than yesterday.  I manage a couple good eats at the jam, and a couple more down at millionaires in the evening.

My preference is still for the sunny and calm! Apparently the fish and bugs think so too. These last two days might be the last two really warm ones in this neck of the woods until June.  Snow in the forecast starting tomorrow night, so I'm headed to lower elevation and latitude.  The MO once again alludes me.  Maybe I should have gone earlier when I had the chance.

I can't ever remember the outflow this low. The foundation says that with the buffalo, the flow at LC is around 300, but they also say the outflow is 100, not the 53 that is shown.  This is part of a scheme to "save" water for higher winter flows. They will increase the flow in late November or December to try and keep more fish alive through the coldest part of the winter.  Sounds good on paper, but . . . moving on.

She's low, that's for sure.

Really low, and clear too!

Damn low.

Something about it, in a size 10 on 3x no less!  

That crane in the background is an ominous sign of things to come: A brand new 6-lane Sinclair gas station with a big new Ace Hardware on the east side of highway 20 in beautiful downtown Last Chance.  It's between Brad's old Grubstake store and Henry's Fork Anglers.

Livingston

Here I go, back to 6x, the little 3wt., and the small stuff.  These fish are easier than the ones in that Idaho creek though.  Not gimmes by any means, but more user friendly even with the same little baetis. This creek can be really good right now with favorable cloudy weather, but I can't seem to buy that perfect overcast day yet. It's the right change from hucking that streamer for two and a half days though, and the Fork isn't going to get any better anytime soon.  The calendar shows nearly wide open for two days, so its a no-brainer move.  Temperatures are still running around 80, though a slow drop is in the forecast over the next week.  I'm a week early but I'll gladly soak up the last of these warm days standing in a cold creek.  Day two is cloudy but blows all day, so it's just a donation to the Smith foundation for spring creek access.

Ranch

Despite it's chronic decline, the river still holds some fish.  Not many, but as I told some regulars again, if there's only one or two left on the whole Ranch, I'll go looking.  There's talk that Idaho Fish and Game is going to plant roughly 500 rainbows from the South Fork next month, fish large enough to survive the winter.  Not sure how I feel about that, but they're not hatchery fish and they're born from roughly the same drainage.  Apparently they used to plant here in the 70's, so it's not unprecedented.

For now, the water has cleared from the horrible turbidity of summer.  For the first time all season, I look down from the bluff over Millionaires and can see several nice fish.  There's hope.  One is even rising to little bwo's. I fish through the deeper lower end of the run in the evening and take a couple.  Next morning I start higher up on the shallow flat and finish a hundred yards below the bluff. I never see another angler.  Five toads make the big net. (Hey, I'm an old bass fisherman from way back, and that's what we called 'em😂)

I later manage a decent one up at Last Chance with a short swing through the log jam at sunset.  I don't see alot of fish, but at this point I'll take what she gives me.  There's hardly anyone here, just a couple of pairs/groups in and out of LC.

I haven't thrown at a rising fish. The very light baetis hatch gives reason to hunt, scan, and just keep an eye out. I try to analyze every little ring of the rise.  There's no targets other than some little guys and the one I saw rising on arrival at noon from the bluff.  I've got more mahoganies in my fly box than I've seen on the water.  Rob says the trout changed their feeding habits due to the dirty water this summer. Who really knows?  Fewer fish and none rising refreshes the memory of what the bamboo guy showed me a few years ago on the same bluff in late September. "You're not supposed to do this here, but sometimes ya just gotta do it."

So I go from microscopic bugs, 6x, and mostly small creek fish to 3x and a swimming leech/sculpin over an inch long.  It's a sigh of relief really. Long crisp casts that clear the weeds, and let 'er swing.  Harder on the casting arm, but easier on the eyes and mind.  The steelhead guys have described this in volumes.  It's different, and mesmerizing in its own way.

I fish 6 hours on the last day as the morning starts out with some clouds.  I hunt heads from the bluff, pelican island, and both sides all in between.  No bugs besides some morning baetis, no good risers, two on the leech coming home.  So I end up catching about 10 large fish in 2 1/2 days and turn a few others.  

Adrenaline still races with the wake and the take from a big boy.  We're connected like a bolt of lightning between the cloud and the sky, both feeling the charge on each end. When they head for the weeds, I can pull 'em out.  Long, fat Millionaires rainbows that I'll otherwise not hook in this in-between season under bright sunny skies. The confirmation that they remain soothes the sting of the grim bigger picture. I need this going into winter.  

Still some pigs living here.

Setting a little more south 

Sometimes ya gotta . . . 

Picture doesn't do this one justice.  Biggest Ranch fish I've netted.  My hands didn't come close to holding it.  Tried to balance it on my palm, but it was off to the races.

This bend used to have a pod every fall.  Not this year.

A tank here that cooperated for a few seconds.