Redemption on the Fork (660cfs)

They haven't turned the water flow up yet.  Had to try it while its still low.  Rumor has it, there's still some big bugs?  Not really.  The water did have some big PMD spinners, and the occasional Flav spinner on it this morning when I started around 8:15.  Hatch never materialized on the upper ranch.  Just a riser here and there.  And this one particular fish . . .

 

Low Water

 

Snow is Gone

 

Just below that triangle rock, in a near-impossible drift lane, a large fish moved left, right, up, and down several feet eating something.  Several times a minute.  There's a ton of different current speeds between me and the fish.  Not to mention dead water and back eddies.  Go to the beetle, pile up the leader in as big of mess as possible, and hope.  First cast, he eats it!  Big time.  Zing goes the drag, for about 6 feet.  Then he's out of the water, and gone in an instant.  Some dumb-ass had his fly line wrapped around the butt of the rod coming off the reel.  Drag stops, leader snaps.  Now I don't get too upset about losing a fish very often, but If I were writing this right after it happened, there would be a lot of profanity.  There was a lot  said since nobody was around to offend, or embarrass myself throwing a tantrum like a little boy who lost his ice cream off the cone.  A lot of cussing.  I blew the damn fish of the day, after spending a couple hours looking for it, and lost a $3.95 Harrop Beetle.

So I went back up river, hooked and lost a couple more fish in the next hour, and ended up back at the triangle.  And low and behold, there's a large fish feeding in the same manner, this time about 20 feet behind the same rock.  About where it came off an hour ago.  (It IS the same fish, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.)  So it already ate a beetle, now it needs something different.  Harrop Cripple to the rescue.  It took three casts this time, despite the drift lane being much more forgiving 20 feet below the rock.  Eat, zing, and into backing in under 10 seconds.  I chased the fucker this time, and got to net it 150 feet downstream.  I wanted to get my beetle back!  Well, that would have made a nice story, but I didn't see no beetle in its mouth anyway.  It was definitely the same fish though.  Redemption.  A very good day. 

 

All fat 21 inches of it, tail included.

Fly of the Day

 

Something needs to be done about this.  No vacancy.

 

Madison Big Bugs (1200cfs)

Perfect for fishing "the" side channel.  A salmonfly in the air here and there.  Why not, I don't do this very often.  Almost never.  After this morning, maybe I should.  Bigger fish going after the big bug was pretty cool.  3X baby.  Huck it in there, right on the bank.  More fish came up and refused it, and  a bunch just plain missed it or never touched hook.  I updated from the few patterns I had stowed away in an old box from 30 years ago.  Might be going back to try those.

Good water in the side channel

 

Welcome

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old and too orange, but it worked

 

 

Tight to the bank

 

 

Clouds, finally! 

 

Toto, we're not on the spring creeks any more.  This supply should last another . . . oh . . . decade or two.  3X you know.

 

A Little Back Upstream

Last day in Livingston 'till fall.  Drove below the house to find hardly any parking.  Yesterday's run full.  Re-entry run full.  Even cars parked above the pond in the middle.  Now what?  The upper water by the fly shop is certainly a zoo, right?  Nope!  Nobody there!  Guess I found home.  Had Betty's all to myself.  Some came and went, but nobody was in the water around me.  Easy wading on the top half, plenty of casting room from the middle of the wide creek, quieter due to the distance from the highway and the high bank.  Perfect.   Fish rising earlier, from start until early afternoon.  I skipped the midge dance and got some early #18 beetle love.  Then the  same hangers and soft hackles. Light hatch, and it didn't last long past noon, but it was a morning.  Got a couple ambidextrous shots for "gunslinger."

 

 

"

 

 

 

 

Just Downstream

Just downstream from the last couple days.  Depuys.  Same creek, different ranch.  Fewer bugs on the lower stretch I fished today, and they started a little later, but the fish came up on 'em.  Same bugs, but a size smaller. The 16's of Armstrong's got no love.  The 18's did.  I was fishing the long slick at Eva's.  Couldn't leave once it started.  The flat water lends itself to that season goal of the perfect in/out shot though.  Lesson learned.  Clear water, and glassy smooth water.  Then a bunch of luck.  Getting there.  One more creek day until fall.  Only July, but that already has some sobering finality to it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ABC PHD got some love.  Already Been Chewed

 

 

"Brown" trout?  I'll say.

 

Got a lotta love.

 

 

 

The clear FOTD.  Of course.

 

 

 

The log in the middle of this run

 

Day Two-Armstrongs

Pretty much a replay, only fishing a different run, the "baetis riffle" as I call it.  Or, the little log jam.  Good all morning after 10, and there were some nice ones in the flat and tail out below it.  Same stuff.  Better pictures, I think?  The clear spring creek water makes it a lot easier, and I'm trying to get better with the underwater stuff since its warm outside.  Easier on the fish too. 

 

The iconic look from this pool toward the Absarokas

 

Down toward the little log jam, more of a stick jam

 

 

The stick jam from the fishing position

 

 

 

Lighter wing on the Hanger worked great.  Highly visible on both dark and light background.  Its really an old English fly, the Shuttlecock, but I like Hanger better.  Thread and a couple of CDC feathers.  Simpler than a soft hackle?  Close.

 

 

 

 

The take and the fish of the day was right there

 

 

It shined again, especially later in the hatch and in the afternoon on the tail out.  I love simplicity.  Partridge and Yellow.  That's it.  No juju, bead head, rainbow, disco, flash, emergent, holographic bull shit.  Just Partridge and Yellow.

 

I'm getting there with the in and out shot.  Now, for exposure, metering, better framing, and all that.  With a pocket camera and tiny lens.  Hey, its possible.  I'll keep trying.