One Fly

Crazy is what it was.  Started in calm sunny conditions in the center of the main pool.  Jackie Nelson and her two clients plugged into the riffle well above me, and we were all happy and had it to ourselves all day.  Hatch started promptly at 10, and the wind started promptly about 11:30.  But that first hour and a half was really somethin'.  I fished until about 2-ish, and then just had enough of fighting it, despite a few fish still rising.  I enjoy casting and that wasn't going to happen.

Now it's no doubt I've become a soft-hackle addict more and more in recent years.  But it's not like I've never fished the one I fished today, or have I?  An 18, pheasant body, pmd thorax, soft hackle with a shuck.  Have I?  I've fished about every variation of it, but maybe not each one of those elements together.  I have some larger ones without the thorax for a rough caddis imitation, in larger sizes.  I remember tying the one's in the box today last month before I left, so maybe I hadn't.  I don't shuck most of my soft hackles.  The yellow one was/is always my go-to for PMD's.  And it would have worked, it always does.  But this one . . .  they ate the shit out of it.  Not every fish of course, but there were eats on consucutive casts more than once.  I tied one on just after 10, broke it off and had another get chewed up (no ribbing on phesant), and had a third tied on when I quit.  Who needs thousands of flies?  I tied 6 more fresh ones for downstream tomorrow.  Of course, they'll want something else, depending on which pool I end up on, so I'm keeping the 7 boxes in my vest, just in case you know.  Not that I need to.  I can fish from one box anytime I want.

FOD

Perfect

Sight fishing at its best