Dry Flies, Rivers, Trout & Tarpon.: Here and There

It's already fall, and I'm about a week later than normal. A cold rain greets me at the Ranch. Should be perfect, right? Some light rain, no wind, low flow, and uncrowded on a mid-September Tuesday morning. There's a couple fish up once or twice here and there, and a light sprinkling of mahoganies for a couple hours. I get a few eats, and even a couple good grabs on the leech while waiting for a rise. Just enough rain to need the rain jacket. The table is set, but hardly anyone comes to breakfast, or lunch. Just a couple walk-ins looking for "table for one." Dinner is closed.

Wednesday is raining harder, and socked-in foggy all morning with only a few hundred feet of visibility. Not inviting. I take a drive down to Ashton where the ceiling is higher, but there's no sign of life and the wind is howling with passing showers. Just not meant to be. I move back up to Last Chance for the evening, and there's some smaller fish rising occasionally down in the rock garden. I have it to myself, and its a beautiful cloudy evening made for blue wings, but hardly an appearance.

Thursday morning dawns partly cloudy and cool, and now the table is really set for a "normal" day. I have the place to myself and wade the shallow flats in the regular spots. Nope. I get a few eats but never hook a fish. No mahoganies all day. I need somethin'. My time will likely be shorter this season. Heading west for the night.

I've had some decent fall fishing to the west, though never anything like the pmd season. It seems like a good idea. Friday morning the wind is howling, but I've been here in that before. The willows are thick and casts inside the corridor aren't as long as the big waters, so its doable. Fishing is dead until noon on just about everything I try, even the wets. Then I start getting some grabs. I start to see a random riser here and there, and the grass on the walk in is still full of hoppers, so I do a little prospecting with that. I get an eat here and there, but few.

I just can't get anything going. I give up. Four days in, and this is not how it's supposed to be going. Maybe I left the Ranch too soon? Maybe I should have went to Silver Creek? Ya, ya, "it's fishing." Perhaps, but I'm way over that lame excuse. So I'm selling out, headed north where the roads lead, where any fool can catch a few big ole fish, and sometimes a shitload of 'em. I need it. Time to get this trip on the road. To Wolf Creek!