Spinners are winners

You'd think that after yesterdays heavier hatch there would be a morning spinner fall.  Nooooo!  But the sunny day light hatch started on schedule around 10 am and continued through 2 to 3-ish. The plan was to fish the lower part of Betty's and then down into the narrows, but there wasn't anybody at the top under the power line.  Leave me that, and I'll take it.  It was there I fished both before and after "lunch."  When it came time for the evening, I figured those bugs had to lay eggs sometime.  A couple hours before sunset, they did just that.  There is this place in the middle, above the pond and below the middle hut.  Faster water, some depth, and there were some fish in there pushin' water and doin' it.  I have fished just below this run a few times, and looked at this 100 foot long section a couple times, but never really knew!  I do now.  I only hooked a couple of the bigger ones, and didn't get 'em to hand.  But I'll likely go back on the last night tomorrow.  LAST NIGHT?  Fuck, I just got here.

Early and late, it got ate.

FOD  Craven's Mole, PMD style

Jim's ostrich hanger-ma-thingy, PMD style

After the hatch in a #16

Left bank doin' it.

Back up toward the big riffle

First evening with apparent smoke in the air.

Rain!!!

It started last evening, fell on and off overnight, and continued for most of the day today.  Wasn't quite in the forecast like this, but I'll take it.  Cloudy and 71 for a high!  After a highly anticipated morning walk from Eva's to the bottom end, and back, I was starting to wonder if I shouldn't be careful what I wish for.  Nothing doing.  Back up to Betty's, at least I can talk with Buzz and buy some badly needed flies.😂  I thought they'd come, eventually.  It would have been that dream day on the Fork, or the MO.  No wind and no sun.  It finally happened early afternoon.  The best PMD hatch I've seen all week here.  The fish got on the duns.  It was cool and wet, but a welcome relief from sunny and 95.  When the sun popped back out late in the afternoon, it abruptly ended.

On a more tragic note, the snap-on polarizing filter was knocked off my little WG-II camera by a fish I was holding this afternoon. (Guess he showed me) After lots of Google searches, I can't seem to find a replacement for it.  've had it so long, I can't even remember where I got it.  (Checked Amazon purchase history.  Nope.)  The camera is not made anymore, and I have two of them.  So my still photos will mostly suck from this point forward.  You wouldn't fish without polarized glasses, so why would you take in-water and on-water photos without polarized filters?  The glare is murder without a polarizing filter unless its cloudy or low-light.  Even then there is glare.  I've searched for other compact cameras that have good macro qualities, filter capabilities, and fit in a vest pocket.  Haven't found one.  I guess the search will begin again sometime.

Promising start

No Bugs

Just a few one-time junk eaters

FOD Hands down.  

Exploration

 After an exhausting day yesterday, I just couldn't get myself up at 6 this morning.  So I decided on a little more sleep, breakfast, and a later start.  I fished it different today.  There is some middle water I haven't really given a fair (morning) chance in a few years.  Today was the day to fish from middle hut up through the narrows.  This is why I have the "extra" days booked.  The bugs were thin.  Very sparse.  The fish density seemed less than at the big three of Betty's, Eva's, and the lower section.  Or so it seemed.  But I did find a big fish or two lurking here and there.  I spooked some too.  I'm certain there were others I never saw due to the nearly non-hatch.  I never saw another angler until I walked up on the culvert and peered up at Betty's.  It was a good day to enjoy the isolation from highway 89 traffic, mid-morning shade provided by the big trees on river right, intermittent cloudiness that preceded an early evening thunderstorm, and slightly less-hot temperatures.  Eva's was good again towards evening before the thunderstorm.

Too big for a cabin, but might be able to pitch a tent on that island.

So I fucked up the cast to the big brown feeding on this edge this morning.  He went runnin'. This afternoon, he was back and I got a shot.  First cast he ate the loop wing, one jump, and headed into the weeds.  That was that.  

Big browns rose on each sides of this log against the bank. I got the first, and the second one took off downstream never to be seen again.

Down the narrows

Glad I passed on that this morning

This place is full of big risers, but you can't wade in the muck.

Full of pigs

Can't even approach the water here without spooking everything.

Spinner of choice the past 24 hours

Look who made an appearance today!  I was holding off, but no more.

Still liking it a lot.

Downstream

Hatch didn't start near as early at Betty's this morning.  Its just a few hundred yards downstream!  I still don't get the differences up and down the short stretches of this creek.  After a slow start, and what seemed like whatever a miracle might look like with a 15 minute rain shower this morning, the PMD's finally got going a little around 10.  There were duns and spinners for 3-4 hours before it got breezy.  The evening bite down at Eva's was pretty good.  I had it to myself.  Hardly any wind.  Some passing clouds.  Pretty easy fishin' for a bit with spinners.

Early light

It DOES rain in Montana in July!  

The cloud photos.  They've been so rare.

Early evening.  Fish rising when the clouds blocked the sun

Not so much when it was bright

Lotsa love on this one last night and this morning.

For the Duns

For the spinners

It floats!  Powdered and high.  FOD

This must look blurry like this to the fish in the low light, 'cause they sure ate it!

These little Depuy's cutts sure take a pretty picture