Yellowstone Trip - Part 3

On Sep 1st, I hiked into Nez Perce Creek, just to enjoy dry fly fishing for small trout. I always like to catch big fish as anybody else but this kind of day-hike into small and overlooked streams in Yellowstone country is very addictive. I already have some streams I'd like to hike into for the next trip. Also, I quickly dropped by Muleshoe Bend of Firehole River to see what's going on. We all know Firehole warms up during the summer, but I recognized tremendous hatches of caddis and trout were rising all over. I tied on Iris Caddis and dead-drifted. A 12-inch Browny somersaulted as I set the hook for his rise. It was so vivid and such a nice fish that I didn't feel like taking a picture or two. There were too many rises all over, but it was so ovbious that I quit fishing there. I thought let them rest and be fat till I cast to them for Baetis hatches at the end of the season.......

Back to Madison on 2nd, I went to Pine Butte. This is a very good looking streatch but somehow not so many people fish here. And so far for me, I always catch fish. But.....that morning, I ended up only raising 4 trout.........2 on Sparkle Dun and 2 on hopper. Now my Pinocchio's nose was getting shorter and shorter......

I went back to my motel and took some rest. Then I headed back to $3 Bridge in the evening, hoping for very last summer evening hatches (caddis and epeorus). My tactics was to swing soft-hackles to cover lots of water and to fish for emerger/pupa. Soft-hackle for mayfly also imitates drowned spinner, I believe. Here are two of best looking soft-hackles from my box.

A full moon over $3 Bridge. I stayed till 9pm.

Was my effort rewarded? Uhhhh.......7-incher.......

I went to Raynolds Pass and stayed till 10pm. All swinging soft-hackles.....nothing. All I saw was this weird looking whitefish that was swimming in the shallow. I walked in and just scooped with my net to see what's going on...well, it looked like it was damaged mentally and physically.....

Is this all I am getting? I had only one more day left!!