It's only just begun.

 For several years my wife has had to remind me that "It's only six weeks, it'll be over soon".  What's only six weeks? The "Big Bug Season", and I couldn't wait for it to end. Why?  With the high water we had the past few years there were boats on every river. There was no where to fish without looking over you shoulder for the next boat.  Thankfully, with lower water levels this year, the B.B.S. was, for me, one of the best ever.  For the majority of the time there were multiple rivers you could fish without being run over by boats or crowded out of pools by other wade anglers.  The river system is full of fish this year and to be able, day after day, to quietly fish to big feeding fish on what is one of the most heavily fished rivers in America, was for me a real treat. 

What comes next?  For sure, fewer fishermen. Out of area guides will soon be on their way out west for their peak bug season. Many fishermen will put away their fishing gear and get out their golf clubs, "The seasons over, time to move on".  For the "full season" anglers, it's time to breath a sigh for the passing, put away the Hendricksons, march browns, gray foxes, green and brown drakes and get out the little stuff.

For the next two or three weeks it will be a challenge.  If we get a cold front there will be unlimited miles of river to spread out in. There will be spinners, caddis and (look for them) cornuta in the morning. Somewhere on either the WB or UEB there will be spring sulfurs in the afternoon.  Late, and by that I mean, have a flashlight and don't leave the river until 9:30, there will be all kinds of bugs. Sulfurs, sulfur spinners, Cahill's, pink ladies, caddis, an occasional iso, and the ubiquitous olives of all sizes.  The problem, and it's a pleasant one, is getting into a rhythm with the bugs and the river so as to once in a while be in the right place at the right time.  For as long as all the rivers stay cool enough to fish there will be lots of room for everyone. When the freestones reach the boiling point (70) for a few days, our world will shrink down to the WB and the UEB, at which time we begin to pray for the summer sulfurs (the most consistent hatch east of the Mississippi) to crank up like it does, almost every year.

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