Sure Enough

A little chilly and Henry's Fork country now. 32 and partly cloudy on the Silver Creek this morning.  No precip.

Last Chance at LC?

I had just made it to the MO 10 days ago when a family emergency pulled me back home. I drove 10 hours on no sleep.  I had been purposely avoiding the place because it's so good and it's hard to go anywhere else afterwards. The crisis is over and I head north once again with two nice warm days remaining in the weekly forecast.  Last Chance it is, in more ways than one.

The afternoon I arrive its blowing and feels a little cool.  I manage a few smaller fish on baetis, but no takers on the winged beetle that they loved a year ago.  Too windy to present it right?  Probably.  There's baetis on the water, but I struggle to turn over the tippet in the wind, even with it cut in half.

The next morning with the sun shining bright and no wind, I tie on the beetle and proceed to feed.  They eat it all day.  Some really nice ones.  It's the day I came for.

Overnight it clouds up a little, and there's even some very early morning showers that stop around sunrise.  The day remains partly cloudy, but the hatch is lighter and there are fewer targets than yesterday.  I manage a couple good eats at the jam, and a couple more down at millionaires in the evening.

My preference is still for the sunny and calm! Apparently the fish and bugs think so too. These last two days might be the last two really warm ones in this neck of the woods until June.  Snow in the forecast starting tomorrow night, so I'm headed to lower elevation and latitude.  The MO once again alludes me.  Maybe I should have gone earlier when I had the chance.

I can't ever remember the outflow this low. The foundation says that with the buffalo, the flow at LC is around 300, but they also say the outflow is 100, not the 53 that is shown.  This is part of a scheme to "save" water for higher winter flows. They will increase the flow in late November or December to try and keep more fish alive through the coldest part of the winter.  Sounds good on paper, but . . . moving on.

She's low, that's for sure.

Really low, and clear too!

Damn low.

Something about it, in a size 10 on 3x no less!  

That crane in the background is an ominous sign of things to come: A brand new 6-lane Sinclair gas station with a big new Ace Hardware on the east side of highway 20 in beautiful downtown Last Chance.  It's between Brad's old Grubstake store and Henry's Fork Anglers.

Livingston

Here I go, back to 6x, the little 3wt., and the small stuff.  These fish are easier than the ones in that Idaho creek though.  Not gimmes by any means, but more user friendly even with the same little baetis. This creek can be really good right now with favorable cloudy weather, but I can't seem to buy that perfect overcast day yet. It's the right change from hucking that streamer for two and a half days though, and the Fork isn't going to get any better anytime soon.  The calendar shows nearly wide open for two days, so its a no-brainer move.  Temperatures are still running around 80, though a slow drop is in the forecast over the next week.  I'm a week early but I'll gladly soak up the last of these warm days standing in a cold creek.  Day two is cloudy but blows all day, so it's just a donation to the Smith foundation for spring creek access.