If You Want To Catch Fish, It's Best To Have Your Fly On The Water.

 It has finally become evident to me, (I'm a slow learner), that I'm just not going to catch many fish waiting for the bugs to hatch in the last hour of daylight, so I decided to start earlier and see if I couldn't do better. Shot the bow in the morning, (it was easy to see that I hadn't shot since last Thursday). Left the fishing camp about one, took a short mushroom walk, (it apparently didn't rain hard enough here for another burst of mushrooms), and was in the water by 1:45. 

The fishing - Saw less than a handful of iso's on the first two stops. Caught two rainbows on blind casts, (these were the pools where I caught 7 nice fish one week ago). Third stop was worse. Had two small fish refuse my fly. Walked one hundred yards of shoreline in a pool where isos usually abound and counted just four iso husks, (there's usually more than that on each shoreline rock). Fourth stop was on the EB at a place I haven't been able to fish since last June. From 3:30 until 5:00, I saw one fish rise, (he also ate my fly), saw another few isos and then a good hatch of  Hebes, without seeing another rise. Despite the fact that there were a good many Hebes on the water, the only three rises I saw were to my Hebe. Left the EB at a little after 5:00 with six fish in my "creel" and the best part of the day yet to come. Picked a spot on the WB and waited for the bugs. Didn't have to wait long as the little olives, their spinners and the occasional Hebe all appeared, so did a few fish. Had no choice but to keep casting to fish that knew I was there, (one refused three flies), finally hooked one and lost it, then turned around to head for the car only to see two more fish rising upstream of me. The first refused my fly, the second was a 17 inch brown that became fish of the day.

During my stay on the EB, I happened to look up in time to see the last 30 feet of an eagle's power dive into the water, which sent splashes of water up several feet in the air, apparently he was using the wrong fly 'cause he came out of the water empty taloned.  

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