First Five

Back on the water the last five days after a short hiatus.  Its one of those market corrections again.  Fished Silver one day in the rain, hoping for that blanket hatch of blue wings, mahoganies, or something.  Not to be.  There were some bugs, but the bigger fish didn't seem to care.  I'm again reminded that fishing when its sunny and warm beats the hell out of cold wet hands, among other cold parts.  The water was higher than normal too, so wading was a bitch on the water I like.  The following sunny day isn't any better.  It was nice, however, to fish some clear water that wasn't filled with grass and weeds.  The salad was all still anchored to the bottom. With no reason to stay, the 2 1/2 hour migration to the Fork was in order.

First morning was pretty cold here too.  So were the fish.  There's some mahoganies around, and baetis every morning, but I've been just getting some stray shots at moving fish for the most part.  Some of the better chances and eats, I've just blown or missed.

This morning showed a little more promise.  Sunny, warm and glass calm.  I hooked the first pig I cast to (In exactly that spot at 10 am!), but he quickly and knowingly went right upstream into the weeds with my soft hackle on 5x and said see ya.  Four more fantastic eats followed in the next hour, with two to the net, right down memory lane.  Then the south wind came up.  I've actually been waiting for a windy day to see if the hopper hatch I saw a couple weeks ago would happen again.  There are still plenty in the brush and grass.  I didn't see any on the water though, and I went looking for a while this afternoon.  Still puzzling, 'cause it was blowing a lot harder today than that other one.  But from the south instead of North.  ???

So this week reminds me that its not all about the fish.  But ya, they matter, because I don't just go walking along the river, or on a trail, with no rod or flies.  The crowds are down, the pace has slowed a tad, and more patience is required between chances and shots.  There were a few fish up above the ranch houses the other day.  There were fish up below the parking lot yesterday, in that deep water, and tough to get to eat.  There was a bit of action yesterday evening below Osborne, just enough to keep in interesting.  Then that little magic hour this morning.  I'm basking in the very last of the 70's in these parts until June.  (That's low 20's in the north country, eh)

Sometimes I think it would be nice to not even carry rain gear.

Stuff great stories are made from, right?

Very few bugs, not many fish

More my kind of morning

Water is up.  Wader suspenders better be too!

Back home

Starting to get a little bit of color

Not a bad evening backdrop

Another evening backdrop

Frosty mornings at the pits, but not a bad way to start a day.

Here lives that monster fish that likes to rise to the earliest of hatches.  Les knows this fish too.  He ate it, up and across!  I wasn't going to get above it in these conditions.

And here fed my second chance of the morning, the one I made work.  Up and across the moss.

The Organza soft hackle is still working.

This same hopper is getting some teeth marks.

Chop on the water, flags flying, and the last eater, a one-timer on the hopper.  Whoops!