300th Post!!

Greeting !! & Celebration!! This post makes THE 300th post of this blog of mine. It originally started just as a mumble of my fly-fishing and to reduce time for emails + pictures to my friends. But now it's being seen WORLDWIDE. Thank you all readers!! There may be several posts that I could think of deleting or re-editing but I guess they are still part of my experience & history. I will keep working to post up-to-date fishing report and hot flies from Paradise Valley, Montana!!
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So, would have been nice if BWO had popped in the air and I had enjoyed fine dry-fly fishing all afternoon at lower flats of DePuy's............Too sweet a dream. It was calm in the morning but from 10:30am or so, winds grew stronger and stronger. But I didn't want to switch into streamers simply just to salvage the day. I know lots of midges and baetis are active in the water. Instead of struggling against SW winds = down-stream winds, I started to swing baetis soft-hackle trailed with midge one. BTW, for the same reason, down-&-cross streamers can be only one way to fish.

I knew this tactics works! It can be a killer at pretty much every riffle and even at flat waters on windy days, as winds cause wave and current on the surface of flats.

This nice little brown was enough as celebration of the 300th post. However, I observed & noted another secret spot that nobody really cares to fish. My 5wt is the dry-rig and I don't want to mess with leader and tippet so I went back to my truck and grabbed my 6wt for streamer and potentially with, well, egg. With some patience and observation, suddenly I felt WHAM!!!!

Except for Triploids that I caught in WA State (click for my old post), this is the best rainbow that I can remember!! Wild & strong with large fins, it ran hard and tried to leap out from my net too.

He must be a "river-fish" coming up to spawn. Again look at these large fins!! I believe he would be a pre-spawner.

Nice rainbow made this post very colorful! Thank you, buddy!!
Hopefully, I can report some hatches and dry-fly actions tomorrow and toward the weekend!