Truly Paradise in Paradise Valley

What a gorgeous spring weekend!! We didn't have strong winds two days in a row. Today, air temp reached almost 70s. Also today marked 41st Day at DePuy's with the Winter Pass. Let's get "count-down" started till I make over 50 till April 14th.....I will make it as my assignment.

OK, how was fishing? Midge hatches & rising trout have not been consistent yet. It was slower today than last Friday. However, I knew another tactics that should work in that situation. It's a soft-hackle swing!! My favorite ways & flies!! (just typing this, I'm excited!!). I have tried a lot at riffle sections of Armstrong's (www.armstrongspringcreek.com) and it's always successful. At DePuy's I haven't really tried until today as I've been focusing on my dry-fly presentation at flat waters. This little DUDE is the killer.

This one tapped and ran hard for its size.

What captured my eyes was its vivid adipose fin (sorry, I cast shadow with my arm......).

Spawning run is full swing now!! Two closed area are filled with lots of large trout, as I saw last fall when browns came in. That's a good sign for the future of creeks and Yellowstone River. I sat down without fishing and observed. One big BULL was chasing away other bachelors from his girlfriend, who was working on a bed.

Patience and observation pay the reward. "Yellowstone Chrome!!" I call!! Of course this is not from closed areas........

 Day ended with a nice brown.

Black was the hit of the day.

It's truly a good thing that two spawning areas are closed for fishing. It's really fun to observe fish, like Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone Park. With both air & water temps going up, we should be seeing consistent hatches and rising trout!!