upstream with a hopper pattern and move several other big fish that had not showed earlier to the dun. Unfortunately, all my hopper patterns are tied on Mustad 94845 barbless hooks, before I gave up on that hook for good. They are truly fishless, good for only one or two jumps. Day 4 - Back to Silver Creek in a float tube below the bridge, same as yesterday. Again I miss the first 6 or seven takes and finally stay with a 15 incher once I bend out the barb on my #20 hook a little. I finish up with the gulpers in the flat lee again, getting a rise from each without any hookups. I may try tying some of these same flies small on a #18 hook to see of I can stay with more fish. In the afternoon I learn that the Big Wood where I have been fishing is open to bait, but no fish can be kept between 12 - 16 inches. The fishing is much slower today. Friday's great day may have been because of some special circumstance, like a hatch, or simply because it was friday. This time of year there are veryfew tourists, especially down this low on the river, and the locals, most of them with spinners and/or bait, have been hitting most of the holes. I don't think they do much damage to the population, but do scare and otherwise bug the bigger fish out of feeding lies, especially in this thin water. Tomorrow is Monday, I'll try the catch-and-release water above the bridge at Hailey and shouldn't have any competition. Day 5 - I start at my usual spot in a tube below Kilpatrick Bridge. The fish seem more scattered, so I explore further. In the lee behind some bulrushes where there had been gulpers the previous two days, they are at it again. I can literally see their heads nodding as they vacuum the surface from 75 yards away. As I work into position, I break off one fish on the take, and miss another. There still seemed to be fish trying to work, so I stake out there and have one of those Silver Creek moments when four or five big fish are rising regularly within thirty feet of you, and will carefully ignore everything you throw at them. I do miss a couple of really cautious sucks. I'm beginning to think these fish don't really take the fly in their mouths when they aren't sure of it. I finally give up on them, and move out into the channel where there is a riffle on the water. Another fisherman has gotten about ten rises casting to the main channel on #18 Adams, missing 9 of the strikes completely, and breaking off the other. Hearing that, I don't feel so bad. I also begin casting to the channel and immediately have one miss, then finally set up and stay with a 19 inch fish. On 1.8 lb. test leader and a #20 fly I feel quite proud of myself, even if it did take five days. Mine is only the second big fish I have seen actually landed in five days. In the afternoon I go up to the first bridge above Hailey where the catch-and-release water starts on the Big Wood. The river here is twice the volume than it is just eight miles further down in Bellevue, and
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