I had some errands in Ketchum today so I fished the Big Wood River for
about three hours. I'd heard the midging was good.

I arrived at the first run, virtually in downtown Hailey, at about 2pm:

http://www.ruralnetwork.net/~troutbum/web/bwr1.JPG

This is a proven spot for me. While I was standing high up on the far
bank I could see several good fish holding in the far seam. I couldn't
get a single take, even though there was a good midge hatch in progress.
Frustrating.

So I moved upriver to another run I'd never fished. It's in the far
distance in this photo:

http://www.ruralnetwork.net/~troutbum/web/bwr2.JPG

I had my dogs along:

http://www.ruralnetwork.net/~troutbum/web/bwr3.JPG

They had a good time and didn't bother anyone, Larry. :-) Both of the
other fishermen I saw also had their dogs. That trophy home behind the
dogs is typical of the Big Wood. The owners are probably there for about
two weeks a year. (I don't know what caused that strange fuzziness in
the photo.)

The fish were concentrated by the cut bank to the right of the dogs. For
about an hour it was more-or-less continuous action. All the fish were
rainbows, in rather dark colors just before spawning. My best was this
16-inch fish:

http://www.ruralnetwork.net/~troutbum/web/bwr4.JPG
http://www.ruralnetwork.net/~troutbum/web/bwr5.JPG

They were taking both a #18 pheasant tail I tied and a midge pupa
dropper of Bruiser's.

When I got back to town just before sunset I saw this herd of about 50
elk that have been hanging around:

http://www.ruralnetwork.net/~troutbum/web/bwr6.JPG

I had a funny flyshop experience. The main reason I drove to Ketchum was
to get backing and flylines on the Old Florida reel and extra spool I
bought over the Internet. When I walked into Silver Creek Outfitters my
friend Dave was out to lunch, and some new guy I'd never met waited on
me. I told him what I wanted and handed him the reel, the extra spool
and two flylines. He gave me this "Who the **** do you think you are?"
look, and asked somewhat sarcastically if I also had the backing. (I
didn't.)

This is the kind of flyshop where the typical customer will buy a Sage
rod, and Abel reel, a flyline, a couple of hundred bucks worth of flies,
and maybe a new inlaid shotgun without a second thought.

Then I asked him how the fishing was. He said the midging was good, and
did I need any? No, I replied, but could he suggest some patterns? Then
I pulled out Bruiser's midge box, which I had accidently taken at the
last San Juan Clave. His jaw dropped to the floor. He took his glasses
off and peered at the flies from about 3 inches away. "They're so
small!" And there were so MANY of them! It was hilarious. Then Dave
walked in.

They only charged me for the backing. It's a good flyshop.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.