Questions

 'Cause I sure don't have any answers.  Shoulda quit while I was ahead after that first day in the perfect spot at the perfect time with perfect conditions and fishing like I was supposed to.  Pretty much a shit show since then.  Blurred vision.  Back/shoulder.  Trying too hard.  I don't know.

Next day on Armstrong, I couldn't get back in that killer spot all morning. (Nelsons--why don't they stay on their own damn creek you can't hardly get on?)  I fished the flat above, and had a few chances late morning in a sparse hatch, but it was the beginning of some poor execution.

Next day on Depuy, no morning hatch.  Spent time discussing such pressing issues as selectivity (the myth, and lack thereof even admitted by Swisher himself)  To grease or not to grease the leader. (Always grease it!)  Loop knot or clinched knot.  What did the bug say when you asked it why they're all hatching in the late afternoon. (It didn't speak English)  Three different PMD's or simply little yellow mayflies. (Just say no to latin)  Baetis now hatch all season.  The place in Florida that's most like Montana. (Not tellin')  The flood as it happened. (Tom was there, here, then.)  These fish will now eat a SJ worm after the flood. (Blasphemy)  If cripples were really crippled, they'd have a cane and a wheelchair.  (They just haven't immaculately emerged)  Live bugs move, and our flies need to do that too, sometimes, most of the time.  It was good conversation, even if re-hashed.

The light hatch finally came in the afternoon, with the wind.  Fished the upper re-entry run, caught some dinks, and blew a couple nice ones.  All in about two hours. The evening was ok after the storms, but still no picture-worthy fish, and the light sucked.

This morning was about the same.  Some rising fish once the late hatch started, but nothing to get excited about.  Fucked up a nice one around lunch time before taking a break.  I returned early evening,  On approach, still in the grass, I saw the one I wanted. The day maker, goin' to town.  I got the eat, then pulled the hook trying to land it for the killer picture.  (Oh, I mean he "spit it"🤣) After that, I thought of what I tell my clients all the time.  "Shake it off, don't stew over a lost fish or you'll never get another one."  And I really need another fish-in-the-water picture.🙄  Well, I was still kinda pissed. It had the vibrant colors, the crimson gill plate, the size, and the light was perfect.  I never recovered, yet continued to get eaten and eaten.  Couldn't hook a fish or keep one on if my life depended on it.  And it usually does.  

I thought of Chief Brody, "What's the point? . . . hooks and lines."  So, to hell with landing fish or fish pictures.  I'll go with post-flood creek pictures, Norman on the creeks, and lightning that I'm getting every day except today . . . so far.  I haven't stepped on a rattlesnake or surprised a bear yet, but there's still plenty of opportunity.  As I'm typing this, the trailer is shaking and I hear distant thunder again.

This is what I think of when I think western ranch.  This one is special.

The log jam on the left that held so many rising trout is now gone

The left bank is scoured fairly clean now. 

Shocking to see this great dry fly pool now gone.  I have this picture in my den, when it was a big slow pool holding big fish all over it.  

Water no longer flows through the culvert.

So many memorable fish taken here.

The road over the creek to the other side and picnic table is no more.

A new channel, not holding fish until further downstream.

The pool on Depuy's below Eva's.  Very little change, if any.

That log on the right is still there!  Amazing it didn't move.

The flood waters were 10 feet high!  Way up in the willows.

The formerly dense trail to the re-entry pool

The pool itself looks the same.  Its deep now because the Yellowstone River is still high.

Fish rising here in the afternoon

Betty's in the evening, nobody else here but some clown who can't fish.

Storm just north of my camp spot

Hitting Livingston

Coming to a creek near you

Time to go

Even the birds are shitting lightning

Owns the place

Edge of Depuy's

Jumped right up there

Stepping foot on the best little fly shop in the west.

Been eatin' it during the peak of the hatch.  (Pay attention)

Visible and a little effective in low light.

The undisputed fly of the creeks so far.  They're eatin' it morning, afternoon, and evening.

ho hum

All I got

After the Flood

What an opening act.  Two weeks ago, as the Yellowstone River sent a 100-year torrent of muddy water right into the creeks, I never thought I'd see this day this on this trip.  Remnants of the high water are way up the banks beyond imagination, reaching the lunch shack at the parking lot.  Yet, the creek is now a little scoured out, still has bug life, and a bunch of bigger fish I don't remember in these numbers.  The hatch was light, but adequate enough to keep fish up.  The trout numbers seem a little lower, but maybe some Yellowstone River fish have found a new home?  The water level is shallower in the main parking lot pool, but the log jam on river-left is gone and the banks are a little wider and less vegetated.  So the changes are noticeable, but not near as significant as I feared.

I had a banner morning on quality fish that were easy to see and stalk in shallower water with fewer weeds to block my vision.  It's amazing how all the pain goes away during those moments when I have a feeding fish in sight, its larger than those around it, I'm locked into making the right drift with the right fly, and I get the eat.  The combination of warm sun on the shoulders and icy water on my feet helps too.  Imagine what I could have done had I been able to fish more than a few hours, moved around more, and not missed/lost the number I did.  It was still a great morning.

The bank pictured on the right here, above the riffle, is brushed back.

Shallower and slower moving.  Not many fish up here this year.

This is the bank with all the big fish.

Lots of bigger browns

Bob's Ant pre-hatch baby!

Not color enhanced!

Just enough 

What's left of a PHD emerger.

Visibility was great in bright sun and lower water

It's wider here

Two guys above me in the riffle, one at the bottom way below me.  I had a ton of room in the prime run.

Had a sparse spinnerbfall towards evening

Evening Brown

The evening fly

I took three, count 'em three, of these flies from a large rainbow.  One of the parachutes was in another fish.  +4 on flies today, even with 6X all day.