JR wrote:
"How bad could the rain be, anyway?", I thought this morning, and I
packed up Stella the Wonder Truck and drove to the M. Arrived around
10:30. It started raining a few minutes later.

I began by nymphing the far seam he

http://tinyurl.com/3hoyo

Tried all sorts of wet and nymphy things under all sorts of indicator
dries. The fish weren't buying any of them.

Moved downstream around 11:00, expecting a hatch. Fished BWOs, from
#16
to #20 in various shades, for half and hour or so. Then the rain got
heavy. Tailed off to a sprinkle around noon, picked up again around
12:15.... eased up again around 12:40.... no hatches, no rises.
Stood
up on the bank to warm my feet and watched the river.... thought
about
moving again and going back to nymphing.... instead, I watched the
river
some more, wriggling my toes to get the blood moving....

A little after 1:15, the rain stopped altogether, and though the sun
never peeked through, the sky began to lighten a bit, then a bit
more,
then still more.... Close on 1:30 a few fish rose at the tailout of
the
pool.... then a few rose in the shallow run along the far bank. I
put
on a very light olive #20 BWO and hooked and lost a fair-sized fish
almost immediately. Over the next hour I hooked four more fish and
landed three, one of about 15", the other two this size:

http://tinyurl.com/5om8a

After the hatch petered out and the last fish rose, I was ready to be
warm somewhere. On the way back, stopped at the fly shop in Sisters
to
buy a few things I don't need and to chat a bit. The fellow there
said
he'd fished the M yesterday and despite a lot of bugs coming off,
didn't
see a single fish rise. He also said it was beautiful, sunny, and
crowded. Today I didn't see one other person on the river....

Stopped at the espresso drive-through on the south side of town, then
pulled off the road and drank the coffee listening to Lucinda
Williams
and watching the sun set behind the clouds shrouding the Three
Sisters:

http://tinyurl.com/6ks4b

Now I'm home, showered and fed, drinking a Black Butte Porter. My
neck
and shoulders ache a bit, but I don't really care.....

JR

Nice pictures and report....just the ticket on a miserable cold snowy
day in New England. This is about the time that we think spring will
never come.