Duns?

The rain let up just in time for yesterday morning's fishing.  Back to the fly-shop run, as Eva's was a parking lot, literally.  But I was the only one in the upper part of the pool, with a couple below me where the current slowed. Hatch was so-so.  A little late getting started, short-lived, and not a lot of bugs.  Enough to keep some fish up for a few hours though.  One of the first fish I saw eat, took a dun.  OK, that's not the first time in the world that's happened.  But still.  I figured what the hell, and I tied one on.  

The grizzly hackle one.  The eats came, and so did the misses.  There's something about that bug.  They sure love it, and I sure seem to have those mornings sometimes where I get 20 percent of the takes if I'm lucky.  This was one of those, but I couldn't take it off!  I eventually touched a few, and then I decided to try a change of scenery at the end of my tippet.

I hadn't fished the original Swisher-Richards No Hackle in forever, so I tied one on.  Two hours later, and all chewed up, they just continued to eat it.  Here it is past noon, and all I've fished are the two duns.  This one shined, but I fished it during the peak of activity.  The hatch waned, but there were still some random rises further up in the riffle.  I needed something they hadn't seen, and a single-wing CDC dun seemed the right choice.  I tied one on.

They ate that one until I got out of the water around 2:00 as the wind increased.  They ate it later in the early evening down at the now-empty Eva's until I quit around 8.  I think this is the first time in my life I've ever fished a dun all day long anywhere, especially on the creeks.  I always fish an emerger, cripple, spinner, or some stage of a PMD this time of year.  In fact, most days I never tie on a Dun.

Fast forward to today.  Change of creek scenery again, as Eva's was empty except for Travis and his one client at the bend below the hut.  Nobody else between there and the outlet.  In July?  I'll take it.  But the hatch was weak, very weak.  There were some small fish taking something invisible for a while, and some PMD's finally popped up in the outlet riffle very late morning where I got some fish (On duns!!).  I saw as much activity early to mid-afternoon up toward Eva's walking back to the truck though.  Travis said the hatch up there was "pretty good, light to moderate."  I think I need to stay closer to hatch riffles/gravel.  All sunshine and no wind today.  I missed some doozies.

Five down, two to go.  Man time flies.  I wish winter would pass this quickly.  At least the damn fireworks are over, mostly.  What is it about Montanan's and their week-long firework shit every night?  Grow up.  

Not as many risers as you'd think until noon or so.

Some earlier small spooky ones on this bank.

Just a rock.  But the head on the fish that ate my PMD in front of it looked half the size of the rock.  The wake it made when I lifted and it bolted away went over the top of the rock.

Somebody got a clear water swim at the end of the evening.

Biot single-wing dun

A traditional English spider, "variant," with short biot abdomen and dubbed thorax.  They like it!

A sparse, thread tail single wing with dubbed body and tight thread ribbing.

Did I tie it?  Hell no.  It works new, and when its all apart.  They really ate it.

So, can you have a no-hackle tied with hackle?  Does that make it a yes hackle?  A hackle what?  A grizzly hackle yellow?  Its been working wonders for me for well over a decade

Single wing in the upper lip.