Don't Do It!

The damn Missouri.  I knew there would be bugs, so I had to see.  9,750 or some shit.  Today they dropped it to 8,000 and I couldn't tell unless I looked at the flooded vegetation and saw it was wet a few inches higher up.  Its still raging.  Sort of "Beaverhead clear" water too.  Floated Wolf Cr to Craig with an early launch at 7:30 and a 3:00 take out.  I hunted, stopped, waited, went down every side channel, and parked at every slow spot and known dry fly spot.  There wasn't shit, despite caddis and PMD's on the water all day.  I saw maybe 12 rises, and only one fish that was working.  The rest were one-timers.  I hooked it, but I didn't touch him.  There was one pod of fish rising in the scum hole on the inside of California Island about 3:15 on my way back to camp, but that was all I saw, and I didn't want to fish them from the boat.  You could only access the bank they were near from the road parking lot, and there was no place to wade out.  I didn't need a fish that bad.    No place to wade and the fish aren't rising.  And don't ever believe Headhunters' fishing reports.  "Dry fly time."  Sure.  Right.  What planet are they on?  There's an hour or so of an evening rise at dusk.  Face to face in the shop, its more like "The PMD's are fading, and the tricos aren't really going goo good yet, so its mainly caddis real early in the mornings or at dusk."  The truth.  That ain't what the blog and Facebook posts say!  Saw some evening risers last night when I got here.  Supposed to drop to 7,000 tomorrow,  but I don't see any difference that will make.

So here's a trip down the flooded Missouri at 8,000 cfs.  Don't do it!

Just below Prickly Pear Creek

Looking up at Ma and Pa's riffle

Ma and Pa's channel

The killer little island west of California Island, all covered up.

The killer side channel river left below CA Island.  It was movin'

There was one steady riser here.  Hooked and lost.

Don't Do It!  See you in September or October.

Warning:  Rant Ahead.

In the several decades I've been fishing the Rockies now, I've seen high water years, and years of continuous drought.  The best fly fishing is during drought years.  That's right, several years of drought, or so-called drought.  Dry years are perfectly normal, and so are these crazy wet ones.  I'm all for drought years.  Several in a row.  Lets see high flows of 3,200, dropping to 1500 by fall, like the good old days.  We are all still here, the fish are still here, the farms and ranches are still here, farming and ranching away.  Everybody still had running water, and stupid green lawns.  And the fish didn't die.  There ain't nothin' wrong with 4 or 5 years of drought.  I'm going to get a tee shirt made, "All About Drought, Say No To Snowpack."  Everybody will be fine, its been happening for centuries.  Longer than that.  It's time for some low water for the good hatches of June and early July.  Fuck tricos, baetis, and midges.  You can do that anytime, like February.