It was more fun than killing mold in the basement.

 Finally a day where one shower was enough. Overcast skies kept the temp in the low 70's which lets you work outside without having to ring out your tee shirt when you're done. Was in no hurry to go fishing as I had work to do and the olives have not been coming until late.  Left camp about four and put more than enough miles on the car trying to find the missing olives and rising fish. By six o'clock I had driven both sides of the WB, chatted with a river friend, and sat in several places looking unsuccessfully for an olive hatch or a rise.

In the process became aware that the seasons are a changing. The herd of deer that lives off the peaches and apples in my back yard have all (except the fawns) entered the "blue phase" where their winter coat starts to show, the unsightly fall bag worm webs now adorn my apple trees, the goldenrod is turning fields bright yellow and yes, fishing is over by 8:00.

Was about ready to head back to the LVE to watch the Travers when I pulled up beside a pool and saw a couple of rises. Parked, put on the gear and walked down to a pool with a good olive hatch and feeding fish. Had almost exactly two hours of nice dry fly fly fishing. Caught an assortment of one and two year old browns and rainbows. The stars of the day, however, were two nice browns. Changed flies three times on the first one before she ate an olive, walked the fish out of the current and into a back eddy where I netted a beautifully colored 18 inch brown. The second fish ignored several different offerings before it took a spinner late in the evening. The fish was big and heavy and fought like that wool hunting sock full of water I talked about a couple months ago. The fish came unstuck before I got it up close but it's lack of anything but low gear left no doubt as to its birth place.

If you are fishing right now, conditions are not ideal. Tricos, ants and small olives are most attractive to trout in low, slow water. Yesterday's rain bumped up water levels making many places either too high to wade or too high for fish to feed on small stuff comfortably.  Best bet is to look for fish sipping in the tailouts and back eddys of slow moving pools late in the day.   

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