MOctober Pt.2

Today's forecast was for fiercely high winds to 45 miles per hour and maybe some precip.  I hear it blowing overnight and it shakes the trailer a little before dawn.  But as it gets light, I notice it's pretty hot inside. I have my furnace on its lowest setting, but I'm throwing off the blankets.  I open the trailer door to warm, cloudy, and still.  Believing the window is short due to the incoming cold front, I grab a very quick snack and hop in the truck headed down river.  I park where I can fish close to the truck and make a quick retreat when the weather goes to hell.  

Ha!  It blows at times, but never quite unfishable.  When there's a five or 10 minute calm stretch, a few fish rise.  When it gets really gusty, I have the wind blowing off of my casting shoulder just right. Sometimes I just punch it through.  I've been fishing my three-weight, but I rigged up the five this morning.  It launches the leech and still turns over a dry.  What begins as an intended short stint at 9:00 a.m. ends with a late lunch break/nap at 3:00 p.m.  I never leave the water at Lone Tree in that time.  Theres chasers and eaters.

I re-arm with the three weight for the evening bite up river, feeding those subtle rises in and below caddis channel.  It's mostly calm, and the clouds finally give way to bright sunshine warming my back and illuminating my little mole fly for the last 90 minutes.  On a day that was highly improbable, I get in a full one.  A few days ago I told someone there was going to be a weekend party on the MO, and the fish were invited. We partied again today.  I think we'll just keep it going for the week ahead.  Me, the healthiest looking rainbows in the west, and a few little mayflies.  Who else is coming?

Sure looks like it's coming this morning.  

I've been seeing pheasants all over the place. These two were at the tip of the big island with two more right around the corner that flew as I approached.  No wonder the trout like pheasant tails!

The water is barely moving in caddis channel, but there's fish in the thing when can approach them.

It's like a spring creek with pigs.

My god, it's late October and this looks perfect!  Party on!  I'm home!

MOctober Pt.1

The fog is just breaking, and I'm driving past rings of the rise from camp at the bridge all the way to Craig.  The truck thermometer fluctuates between 29 and 33. I carefully climb over the ladder and down the frosty trail to the maze of little islands and side channels below. Wading is easy at this great, remarkable low flow of 2,600 cfs. The fog burns off to a warm bright sunny sky. The sun already feels like a heat lamp. There's not a hint of a breeze.

The first channel is super low, most of the weeds are gone, and it's smooth as glass except for a couple of rings down low. There's fish making wakes at the top where the river comes in. I just know its going to be right.

I don't make it out of that first run until early afternoon.  There's fish all over it, dozens of them, all pigs.  The mouth of this channel has a pod of about 20, near as I can count.  Loaded.

I finally make my way down to the next little side channel.  At the top where the riffle curves into the slick, a pod of 10 or so fish boil and slurp the afternoon baetis. 125 ft. down the slick, another pod of 10 make the slick look like a riffle. It eventually becomes one of those "know when to say when" days.  Classic.  Epic.  October dreamy.

Loaded and ready

I saw this one waking around in ankle deep water

This skinny water holds fish this time of year.

Montana steelhead

From below

The black Adams is a clear winner in the glare.  

A pod at the top, and a pod at the bottom.

The Almost Dun, always a winner here in the fall.  Suprisingly visible as the sun lights up the packing foam wing even in a bright glare.

Heads in a pod.  Shooting fish in a barrel.

My October tree, shot from across the river.

The age-old iconic view I'll never get tired of.  Goose bumps.

So many advantages to the low water.  It could be years before I see it this low again.

Water temp in the 50's, on a steady decline.  This is likely the peak of perfection, not too warm, not too cold.  Active fish all day.  Just right.

Heeeere We Go!

I've been putting this place off because I didn't want to start at the pinnacle.  I've said it before, there's nowhere to go but down from here.  Now, I did try to fish it at the first of the month. I was actually here, but was immediately summoned home for a family emergency.  Now I'm back, and if first impressions mean anything, I might be here a while.  There ain't nowhere else I can do this!

It's relatively warm, probably warmer than any other great fishery in the Rockies right now. I stopped off at the Ranch yesterday afternoon on my way up and fished a couple hours before frozen hands pulled me back to the warm truck. No such problem here today, with a lot of sunshine and a temperature that probably reaches 60.  The wind is howling just as forecast, gusting 20 to 30.

Wind is common here year-round due to its spot east of the highline, northern Montana's continental divide.  Its just like Livingston; or Casper, Wyoming; or Boulder, Colorado; or most of southwest Wyoming.  Most anyplace just east of a mountain range in the Rockies. Downslope, or "Chinook" winds accellerate and warm the air as it descends. On this river though, one can often find a reasonable spot to cast due to the topography and vegetation along the river.  It's not as wide open as most of the notorious wind corridors. 

So today I take advantage while it blows first from the southeast and then from the southwest.  Finding fishable pools requires a couple of moves, but I fish effectively most of the day.  I drift a leech early with the wind at my back, blowing away from my casting arm.  Safety first ya know. When the change in direction pushes me up river this afternoon, all I need is the Mole.  Does this river even have any fish under 18 inches?   They all look healthy today, and the count is more than just a few. 

I'm on the storm track with a cold front blowing through tonight. Slightly less windy tomorrow they say, with crazy winds to 45 forecast for Sunday.  There may be no escape that day. Its October, and the future is uncertain, but I'm hoping to stay the course and fish the windows. 

She's lit up here too.

My iconic fall color that I usually shoot from across the river at the ladders.  Just seeing this brings back memories decades old.  It has meaning for me.  A sign.

A size 18 mole is the only dry fly I tie on, they're even eating it when they shouldn't.

This seam at the bottom of the barely-flowing caddis side channel is afternoon magic.

Sometimes a gust triggers a brief leaf hatch, but they flow on down and the fish come right back up.  There is no leaf hatch upstream from me here.

I stand here in a 40 or 50 foot zone for several hours casting to fish.

Even as I walk out, there's one or two still doing it.  I don't know for sure what the fish are eating this afternoon. I caught more fish than the number of bugs I see.  I have to be standing in the water to see the rise forms.  They are eating something in the film.

At first glance from a distance, I think this truck/trailer might be someone I know, but the truck isn't dark enough, and he doesn't fish anymore anyway.

Cooler air blowing in. Still not a bad view from camp. I'll go fish that little island some evening too.

The cold Henry's Fork yesterday.

I did get a couple of good eats on the winged beetle after working a couple of good fish eating baetis for quite a while.  The cold beat me, and I had greener pastures to get to.

Clouds-Sun-Rain

That two day forecast?  I'm under the 20 percent part on day one, as the sun pokes through the scattered clouds more often than not.  No rain after the early morning shower.  There are some mahoganies mid-day followed by the bwo's through mid-afternoon.  Both hatches are lighter than in days past.  The next morning also begins with showers, but there's a break and I'm in the creek by 11:00 a.m.  There's no mahoganies to speak of, and only some random rises to baetis.  The clouds roll back overhead and showers begin around 1:00 p.m.  By 1:45, the place is boiling.  It finally gets so rainy that the rises become less numerous, and it gets impossible to see a fly or keep one floating dry.  It remains a soggy afternoon and evening.

Support for the local fly shop.  I can't help myself. They have a good breakfast at their grill too.

Looking up from a favorite corner.  Clear and bright.  The tips and edges of those little islands make fun places to get a take.

I caught this monster on a mahogany only because I could see it first.  There is not a lot of these in this stretch. My Silver Creek Fish of the year right at 20 inches.

Just a sweatshirt, no down jacket and no rain gear.

This little number, a 22, is just a hook shank covered with two layers of 8/0 uni thread, and a single CDC feather tied in parachute style without any hackle.  They ate it as good as any dun I've tried.

That favored spot of mine for decades. (Though, I have several favorites on the preserve!)

Rainy day

She boiled from 1:30-3:00.

Drying it all out overnight in front of the furnace.