Or is it June? I'll take November and a size 10 dry fly with 60+ degree afternoons. The crowds are gone for the season. The flow is as low as it gets. I see only two other wade anglers both days and just a half-dozen boats float by late in the afternoon. The place is abandoned by any standard, and just 45 minutes from home. Trout are eating, hook-jawed browns waiting for a meal along the shallow banks, and cookie cutter rainbows rising in the winter runs.
The baetis and midge eaters are picky at this point in the season, but some are eager for one last steak dinner. Some do that push, where they come up closed mouthed, pushing water underneath the fly in a sarcastic refusal. The fish here are notorious for that, and turning around to follow big bugs downstream for a bit. Both the big winged beetle and tiny baetis take fish, but the beetle is the sure winner. Some even eat it skittering. Must be some sense of urgency, like winter.
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| The approach |
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| Tons of these cookie cutter rainbows. |
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| Splashdown channel is nearly dry at this flow. |
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| A light sunny day baetis hatch both days, all afternoon. |
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| Sunny and 64 baby! |
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| The shadows creep in fast mid afternoon |
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| An occasional big rainbow |
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| The end of the half-mile walk back out |
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| I don't know if they take it for a cicada, a beetle, a horse fly or house fly, or maybe just a big mouth full of calories. Whatever it is, they sure take it! |
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| In a #20 |
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| The higher double peak flows ended October 1st |
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| The fish and this fisherman love a graph like this. |
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