"O"? Oh!

This place wreaks of huge browns.  Riffles full of them spawning or getting damn ready too.  20-25 inchers, no exaggeration.  Like logs.  There were a couple/three rising in the slow water too.  No bugs as I drove up, and it wasn't until well into the afternoon that they started.  First BWO's. then PMD's.  Yes, PMD's!  Fish eating the duns, and I got caught with my pants down and my vest pockets empty of any PMD boxes.  Luckily I had a couple on the patch and a few more misplaced ones in the boxes I did carry.  I didn't want to leave the fish to go back to the trailer for the PMD box.  I did get four of the giants to eat, or four eats from the same couple of fish.  At any rate, I got one to hand.  The best brown trout river in America says some literature.  Hard to argue otherwise.  I forgot just how pig-infested it is. 

Super low.  A mere 32 cfs.

And "Owyhee clear"

None here on the way up

Bridge hole had some fish starting

Below had some too

Wait, is that . . . ?

A Larry sighting, doing what he does.  We chatted

When I got in, the riffle was full of huge browns

All paired up

I didn't have it in me to cast something in front of 'em.  But shit, there were a bunch of huge ones.

A dink here, a nice one on Silver.

PMD's IN THE HOUSE!

This got some eats

As the sun went behind the cliffs

And the shadows grew

I finally got some bigs

This got ate too

Took this kind of casts

My biggest brown of the season!  Fat and way over the 20 inch mark on 6X.

Decent bow too

Bright Days

The light changes everything.  Still mostly calm Friday, but there weren't many BWO's at all except for a brief window mid-afternoon.  The mahoganies, however, started right around noon and were the predominant bug.  Every one of them was getting eaten, and the bigger #14 was working.  A few fish literally chased it down.  It was mainly spot a fish, and give it the mahogany "attractor."  They were looking for it.  I got a few eats from bigger fish, but never got any to me.  Lots of those little guys eating whatever floated by though.

Saturday was similar, but with increasing clouds at a distance and more wind with the approaching "dry" cold front from the north.  Lots of wind by early afternoon.  It messed things up, and I only rose a couple good fish and a bunch of 12 inchers.  Then it really blew.  Time to head northwest.

There's always fish rising here on the way in and out of the campground

No glassy smooth mirrors today

Visibility cut way down.  Fishable windy.

Did get some fish and eats on this big guy

Mid-day clouds trying to blow in

Big Bugs!

Sorta.  Yes.  Really.  Mahoganies still in the house!  16's baby.  Not a lot, but every one of 'em was getting eaten if they floated by a few fish.  Sunshine, wind at zero gusting to zero, and toe warmers made for warmer fishing too. Oh, and there's hardly anyone here too, at least the last two days.  Nobody Wednesday, 4 cars yesterday.  Only saw two other fishermen at the end of the afternoon.  Hatch starts right around noon, but fish on midges earlier.

I had forgotten how much these fish seem to prefer duns.  Everywhere else, I opt for cripples, emergers, spinners, or anything but an upright dun.  Not here, they look for the wings and slim profile.  I never got an eat on a mahogany cripple or down wing.  Maybe tomorrow.  There were some baetis on the water too, and I could have fished those, but I'm not passing up any chance to fish a fly I can see every cast, every time.  They usually eat it on the first good drift too.  Or, perfect drift I should say.  I did catch some nice fish casting upstream right over their heads, with the furled leader, and a greased tippet.  Yep, that works best, despite all the lore otherwise.  Easy pick-ups too.  Should have been doing this decades ago.

Big bugs, lots of risers, enough good ones if you hunt and choose, no snow, little to no wind, tough casts, tricky lanes, gin clear water, free camping, breakfast at Picabo Angler . . . Fuck, I'm home for a while! 

Partly cloudy today

I spotted this one just as I arrived on "the point."

Took a while and a couple of rests

The only fly, and FOD.

Visibility helped target the nicer fish

Brown trout love

Trout lanes.  The weeds here are anchored, no floating shit!

The requisite Nature Preserve moose.

Oh, THAT A-Game!

I always forget just how slow you gotta move, and careful you have to be with your casts, and how many fish are going to spook anyway.  You can sure see a ton of wakes.  I had cloud cover and early afternoon showers that helped hide me, but they still knew I was there.  No wind made casting pretty easy, and I was mainly fishing bank feeders behind and between the weeds.  At least there weren't any weeds floating downstream!   Aahhh, Silver Creek!  Makes the Livingston creeks seem easy.

The Beaverhead was sort of a bust.  I cast to a couple of big ones yesterday in the horizontal snow, and hooked one of them, but it was a struggle.  Fun meter barely registering.  This morning I woke up to more falling snow.  It was time to head west to lower elevations.  It was a welcome change to floating grass mats and snow. 

The hatch was sparse to non-existent, but fish were taking every BWO dun that floated by.  And even the occasional mahogany!  They acted like they were really hungry, and some weren't too selective.  Well, at least by SC standards.  They were picky, but I got ate on a number of #20's including a LC Cripple, Harrops CDC emerging midge (that one), cdc parachute BWO's, and hangers.  Just had to get the right drift at the right time.  Carefully.  Precisely.   With numb fingers and feet.  I forgot just how damn cold this water is.

In from HQ

Right to one of my all time favorite runs

Ate the Harrop Emerging Midge

Multiple good fish working the far grass bank

They took a while, each and every one.

All chewed up Harrop Emerging Midge.

Pretty glass calm

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My favorite tree.  No fish rising under the limbs today

Beaverhead @196 full of weeds

And the snow coming down.  Water was "Beaverhead clear."