They All Count

 

Try as you might but holding your hand out close to the camera won't make this guy look any more impressive...

 

I was going through some emails and found this pic from a month ago. Don't worry, this fish was caught while Marks nymphs were dangling in the water waiting for me to unhook another fish from his partner's rig so there wasn't a lot of trauma and he was back in the water before he knew what happened. He'll probably never eat another Copper John. It's good to see these little guys in the river though. I wonder what the mortality rate of these guys are in the Missouri versus up the Dearborn where there are fewer predators.

 

It's been busy, which is good but it's tough to put anything out on the blog. Here's a quick report. The fishing has been good in the canyon as the tricos are going absolutely nuts. Smoke from the fires in Washington have kept the sun from getting too hot and fish are comfortable eating on top all day when the wind isn't blowing 40 like it did yesterday. In those times don't be afraid to drag the big stuff along the riffles and in the shallows. It's good. We still have some lingering PMD's and caddis in the afternoon and the evening caddis are ridiculous.

 

The one disappointment has been down low. I've done the Cascade stretch a few times in the past week and a half with good results in the morning but even in the clouds, it seems to shut down in the afternoon. Although, the last time I was down there, a storm crept up on us and every fish in the river started coming up. A couple rumbles in the distance scared my guy off the river however, so we rowed out passing up pod after pod after pod. Oh well. I would have fished but if you don't feel comfortable, I'm good with rowing out and taking a nap.

 

Keep 'em where they live...