The way it is.

 Decided to follow my own advice and turn my attention to the cold water in the WB and UEB. Had hopes of finding a good hatch of summer sulfurs mid afternoon.  Arrived in Deposit a little before two and knew right away by the absence of fishermen that the sulfurs hadn't started.  Tried two places one above the no kill and one in the no kill.  There were a very few sulfurs hatching.  The only fish up were yearlings and hatchery fish.

At 3:30 I left the WB and headed to the UEB.  By the time I got to Corbett I knew the sulfurs weren't going there either.  Saw one car at long flat and one at Thayer Hollow. Fifteen miles of stream and two fishermen!  The falloff in the number of anglers in the last two weeks is amazing.  I know a lot of fishermen head west about this time but Hancock is a ghost town.  Last Friday there were anglers everywhere I wanted to fish. Today I could fish where ever I wanted. I know that the crowded conditions during the big bug season made fishing less enjoyable and that the fish were harder to catch but was it that bad?

The fishing -  There were almost no rising fish on the WB.  The UEB in the afternoon had almost no sulfurs yet there were a few fish up.  In the evening I found a modest sulfur hatch/ spinner fall.  The fish were reluctant to take anything on the surface until the spinners came long after sunset.  The fish that are feeding on top are a mix of yearlings (now about 7 inches long), two year olds and hatchery fish who, because their formative years were spent waiting for the pellet machine to spew pellets, are always looking up for their next meal.

If you are reading this on your phone out west, you're not missing much.  If you are home contemplating a trip down (or up)  I'd wait a week.  When the summer sulfurs get going, more and bigger fish will be up feeding.  On the other hand, if you like solitude and don't mind that two 17 inch holdover hatchery fish shared fish of the day, come on down, there's plenty of room.

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