Today the fat lady sang!

It was a dark, overcast, foggy, misty kind of  day,  that you expect to see olives and isos on.  There were olives but not isos.  Tried a tailout on the big river and found fish eating something sub surface.  A big brown lured me into the tailout by eating my olive and then running and jumping through 75 feet of backing before coming unstuck. The next two hours produced one refusal, three fall fish and too many ignores to count.

Second (and last) stop was on the BE which has been a disappointment this year.  The fish population seems to be way down and as a result the river has received less pressure than any other part of the system.  Found a good olive hatch (including cornutas) and some fish feeding just under the surface. A boat went by and the oarsman said they had seen risers but couldn't get any to take.  I pretty much had the same problem.  My fly patch was covered with flies that didn't work.  To make matters worse I lost half of the fish I did get to take my fly.  Most of the fish I saw were two year olds (about 12 inches long).    

The river system has a good population of fish.  The two year old year class seems to be good sized boding well for the future. The big bug season is over. From now on the flies will be smaller and the big fish will be harder to  find on top.  The number of anglers will also decline as we settle into the summer season. The summer sulfurs will be starting up in the next week or so, providing afternoon fishing in the coldest portions of both branches.  The balance of the river system will become a late day affair starting with the next extended hot spell.

After nine straight days of fishing I'm heading home for a break.  Will return early next week and try to catch a few more fish before I head out west on the 29th.

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