Surprise!

What is it with me and autumn bears in the "wrong" places?  First, the busiest place on the Beaverhead right under the I-15 bridge.  Now, on the MO, two miles up river from Craig on one of the most-used islands for shore lunches on the whole place.  (Les, that side-channel you like)  I was casting to a bank feeder, and just happened to turn around to the other bank behind me.  There it was, standing neck deep eating some salad.  Same channel right behind me.

There's bank feeders elsewhere, I dont need to fish here. Walking on the RR tracks on my way out, I pass a fresh pile of scat where I hadn't seen it walking in.  Same side of the tracks I came in on.  Now that I'm looking (and whistling and calling "Hey bear!"), I see an older pile.  It lives here?  More than one?Guess I'm done with this channel for this trip, fishing alone, with no spray.

I Finally . . .

 . . . Made it back to the MO.  Its been a whole year, not counting the quick visit at flood stage in July.  Things appear to be back to normal.  Fish rising all morning to tricos and some little BWO's, a pause in the afternoon when the wind came up, and a bit of an evening rise again until sunset.   I even saw some big PMD's this afternoon, but never saw a fish eat one. Fish were podded up late this morning in some select spots.  Weeds are here, more than the fishing reports would lead on.  Missouri River Slap is in full effect.  Flow @4,680 is just wadeable in a few spots, but too high for some of the better ones, as expected.  Maybe next year we'll see 3,000, or 2,000.  In the meantime, I think I'll take up residence for a few days.  Its warm, and the fish are up and eating.  Disneyland is open.

Wadeable "money" hole.

Eatin' this one good in the pods under the bridge

Nasty Glare

Works in the Light Glare

Fly of the Afternoon for sure.

There was an afternoon pod here

Last Fish

Look who made an appearance.  Never saw one get ate.

'Strong

Fall means I'm supposed to get to the creek around 8:30 am and be the first one there.  RIGHT!  There's 6 cars in the first lot.  Looks like noon in July.  Judy said she was full today, but she didn't tell me they were all here already!  So I take a peek and see 5 fuckers, I mean nice other fellow fishermen, already parked in the main pool.  No problem, I can go up.  I get my shit together and start walking up.  My first view of the little log jam reveals 3 more assholes, I mean brother anglers, hacking up that flat.  OK, I'll just go on up to the big island hole above the pipe and fish there.  I get to the bottom and look over, and there's two mini vans parked, with presumably the rest of the wolf pack fishing that.  Now I'm pissed.  $80 for fucking nothing, and my feet already hurt.  My last option was to walk clear back to the bottom run of the property.  Its not a long walk by, say, Ranch standards, but this ain't the Ranch.  And its kinda cold, and I'm already grumpy. I saw pods of risers all up and down the creek, all being cast to, while trekking to find a spot.  None of the idiots, I mean casters, were even hooked up.  How the hell could that be!

To shorten the story, I fished the mucky deep bottom of the parking lot hole, below the mob. I managed to catch a bunch from the tail-out and the far bank while standing belly-button deep in the muck.  A couple were nice fish and nice takes.  The midges were doin' it, and so were the fish. 

After a couple hours and a bunch of fish from that lower "phd" flat, I moved on downstream to the lower pool above the outlet of the property.  BINGO!  There was nobody down there, and the fish were up.  Guess I should have went that way first?  I spent most of the mid-day down there casting and catching.  Midges were pretty thick from the start.  Early afternoon, some PMD's made an encore appearance.  The big ones too, not those little sulpher thingys.  Not a lot of 'em, but the fish were eating them like the last supper.  Then some baetis joined in on the party as a couple of showers came and went.  So at one point, there were all three on the water, and the fish were eating just about anything reasonable.  User-friendly for sure.

So it ended up being one of the best days I've ever had on Armstrong's, and probably "The" best in September or October.  As good as any.  Mostly cloudy, with three showers that always turned up the hatch a notch.  The fish rose all day, and I had to quit about 4:30, leaving rising fish.  Age sucks.  I could have fished till dark if my back and feet would have wanted to.  I never stopped to eat, or pee, or anything.  I never dreamed it at 8:45.

This flat can be murder.  Slow, soft, wide. Hell to wade.  Make sure your shoes are on tight.

The magic midge from Harrop worked wonders again. #20.

First fish not long into it.

Later down to the bottom run

All mine!

Sweet

Different bug!  #18 PHD, but pretty damn similar to the midge.  They loved it.  FOD.

That spring creek "slam" thing again.  

On September 20!  Where were you on a few of those July days???

And, I just happened to still have that box in the vest.  Imagine that!  Hung a few.

A little frosting on the peaks.  Cool rain on the creek

My favorite cast on my favorite flat in Paradise Valley.  Always big fish cruising here, and you can see every move they make.  (There's 4 in this photo)

Late in the hatch, on said flat, they got tough.  I went to the #22 Griffiths and . . . wait for it . . . 7X!  I never do that.

It worked for this last fish of the afternoon that I watched and tried to catch for nearly 30 minutes.  What a day.

Fall?

I always jump the gun.  Some years it comes early.  Not this year.  But it was time to go, and I'm here.  The drive up in September always gets me.  Gone are the spring to life greens, the beginnings, and the anticipation of all that is to come in early summer.  In are the browns (no, not the trout), with some yellow beginning to show.  It's so final. But hey, there's no floods!  If I can just keep my mind in the moment and not thinking ahead to the fact that it will be 8 more months before I see caddis, drakes, and PMD's with any significance, then I can soak up the last warm rays and enjoy some smaller bugs for another 4-5 weeks.  At least this year I have a therapeutic trip to catch the greatest sport fish on the planet in tropical paradise exactly 40 days from now.  It really helps to have that locked-in bail-out program awaiting.

Meanwhile, back at the Ranch, I've invited some mahogany duns to breakfast the last two mornings, but only a few showed up, hardly enough to matter.  Same with the fish.  I found a couple but its not too good yet.  Oh ya, its still summer, but now I'm running the little furnace at night, sleeping later, and eating breakfast while the fog burns off.  I'm fishing #16's and 5X too!  There's probably better fishing just about anywhere else, but, well, you know.  (I'll get there)  Cloudy in a couple days?  Maybe.  Will it change?  It always does.  It'll be better in a week or three.  Probably.

The triangle, two wet and one dry at this flow (380-ish).  Less weedy than past couple years.

This happens when somebody forgets to retract the zoom from the shot before.

I didn't see many Mahoganies, but the fish know . . . 

If you really hunt . . . 

No hesitation

Fires in Wyoming in upper Hoback/Greys River area.  Three of them making clouds.

Home Water Dilemna

Tell me again, why do I go to Idaho and Montana?  Oh ya, because its seasonal, and I can't do it just anytime.  Its a vacation.  A trip.  The experience.  And . . . possibly the number one reason I go to Idaho and Montana . . . so I appreciate the great close-to-home waters I have.  If I fished all the gems within a couple-three hours of home all the time, they'd get old.  In fact, I fish the far-away waters more days in a season than I do the close ones, even though the fishing on the closer ones is "better" than the distant ones most of the time.  Go figure. So when I do go to the ones in my backyard, it almost seems like a trip.  Today I had one of the best days of the season just 100 minutes from my front door.  Got up, showered, packed a little lunch cooler, tossed the stuff in the truck, and had big fish on the hook in a matter of two hours.  Home for supper.  10 gallons of gas, round trip.

Cloudy and cooler for a change.  No sweat!  Not much for bugs, but some morning midges, a bwo here and there, some callibaetis-looking things, and some small mahogany-looking things.  Maybe they were all the same, but they looked different.  The fish here don't care.  When they're rising, they'll take anything reasonable.  Then they go like hell.  MO-style 'bows, only in a little crick.  Four flies.

The Glory Hole

Beetle Bend

Perfect spot.  Grassy bank to sit on.  Up and across riffle/pool.  Easy drift.  A place to land fish.  Clear back cast.  Away from the parking area.  Always a riser or three.