The road home

I guess it's only fitting that I finish my summer on the water where my summer started at the end of May.  I use the term "summer" loosely, as it's late October, snow has fallen, and more is in the immediate forecast.  But I think of summer beginning with the first time I hook up the trailer and leave home after winter. It ends when I tow it back home for the last time and put it in the garage until the cycle starts again next May.  There have been years where I towed it some place warm to fish for a few days like Lees Ferry or the San Juan.  One year I went to Silver Creek and the SF Boise in November, but I left the trailer home and stayed in a motel.  This is the last planned trip though.  I'll still cast a trout fly between now and May, a bunch of times, but this is the final stop of the summer.

So I zip down here from Montana.  It's the traditional pit stop on the long road home.  There is one truck in the parking lot, and the sole fisherman is down river. A quick look over the platform reveals a few rising fish around the log jam.  I know how to deal with this.  It goes according to planned and I take three quality fish, as well as a few smaller ones.  I'm working for 'em with lots of casting. My hands don't freeze and my casts go where I intend them to go.  The reservations I had about leaving the Missouri are erased.  The water still flows at a trickle, the wading is easy, and there's no boats.  Hopefully the trout overwinter well.

The last morning starts below freezing, but the overcast sunshine warms things up.  Its calm to start, and there's nobody here.  I wade in late morning for a few-hour session before the last leg home.  I get three more good fish before the wind kicks up pretty strong.  It's time to go.

Low and clear.

Some really nice ones in the slick here.

You should have seen the one I couldn't get my hand around!

The only fly I tied on.

Beautiful conditions

The sunrise view from my favorite campsite.

From the camper window

More clouds this morning

This could be the one I couldn't hold yesterday.  My last Ranch fish of the season.

No brown drakes now.  There should be in June.  See ya then.