It's still a lock!

I've been hearing all the doom and gloom reports about the best dry fly river in the U.S. for a week or two now. There's no bugs.  It's too hot.  Too low. No caddis this year.  Didn't see any PMD's.  That's what you said!  You too!😃  Ok, it's not that I didn't believe ya.  But, it's the MO in June. Flows are low and steady. I mean . . . 

I get here on a very warm late afternoon, way ahead of any cold front or cool down.  Into the water a few hours before dark (Does it ever get dark here in late June?).  It's not boiling or anything, but there's caddis flying.  Pmd's float on the water, both dead and alive. I find some heads, though I do have to walk around, look closely, and be patient.  I send some rising fish to the dentist.  It's anything but dead.

The next morning, there's no wind and guess what's in the house?  Early too, 7:00.  Fish are up on the hatching tricos, way before the 9 am spinner fall.  Those are done by 10 am, and up comes the wind.

Morning shadows

A few clouds

These bastards are at the tip of every island I fish.  I hook up, and here they come.  I lose two fish to them.  Should have broke them off, just like we do with tarpon when the sharks come after them.  

A good evening follows.  More caddis and pmd's.  Not too crowded.  Weather's getting ready to turn cooler and "torrential rains" in the forecast.

Next morning I briefly engage with two or three steady risers for about 45 minutes. They aren't eating the caddis this trip. I lift on a couple of eats that are close to my fly, but don't think they ate it. The trico hatch never really happens for some reason.  Last night, there weren't any on the truck.  That should have been a sign I guess, but how did this morning's bugs know there were no mates?

The rain comes, though not quite torrential here.  Constant at times, but I get another window at Build-a-Cabin Island this evening.  It's good, with constant targets and eats on the Galloup spinner until dark. That fly has been the evening winner for a week now.  I have the place to myself.

If I rolled up its pant legs, I could almost drive the truck out on it.

I usually catch a fish out of that little puddle when there's water flowing over it.

It rains all night, and is still raining at 7am.  I walk outside the trailer about 8:30 and the rain has stopped.  A walk to the bottom of the ramp at Stickney, and the back eddy is full of dead tricos.  Shit!  What the hell?  I zip upstream a short mile to the money bridge and quickly get in the water to little pods of fish goin' to town.  Guess I missed part of this too.  It lasts later this morning, up until about 11am, when it blows again and things go quiet. There's baetis in the mix this morning too, which is what prolonged the rises.

The two lower islands are covered now.  They were high and dry a day ago.

Look what they did to me, all over a couple days of rain in a drought year!  3200 to 4650.  You can't tell me the lakes were too full!  The fish didn't like this either.

The water is noticeably rising this morning.  This can't be good.  I do fish the evening at PHD Island and get a few.  Once I ran off all the damn pelicans of course.

From a dry botanical garden to underwater.

It's a wonder there's a damn trout left in this river.  And no, they haven't always been like this.  One here, a couple there, not flocks of 25 at the tip of every single island between the dam and Craig.

Another afternoon and evening of rain clear out overnight.  The following clear morning looks and feels like the reports I had been getting last week.  Hardly a bug or a riser in sight.  Rising water?  I do manage to cast and catch one fish just before giving up, so technically, I've still not had a day here in recent memory without catching something.  It was a decent one too.