After years of seeing those big spent shucks on the rocks I finally managed to arrive at the river during the salmon fly hatch.

I expected to have a great time fishing, but the trout just didn't seem to care. There were huge bugs all over the place, in the trees, flying over the river and plopping in the water, but not a rise in sight. I was fishing a dry/dropper rig with a nice big #4 McSalmon fly dry and a weighted #4 Rogue Stone nymph as the dropper, both looked like a good match for color and size. I had enough snags to believe the dropper was getting to the bottom, I left a half dozen of them down there.

The stream was crowded with fellow anglers, no one was catching much. I finally hooked a mountain whitefish on the nymph, but that was all for the day.

So what was going on? The weather was variable, bright sun for a while then overcast and small rain showers. There was a light to moderate breeze, but no huge gusts of wind. The water was high running right up to the banks, but not too murky and there were still lots of pools, eddies and seams along the edges. Locals told me the hatch had been going on for about a week, could the fish have simply been full?

I would appreciate any comments from those who have had more experience fishing the salmon fly hatch. It's the first time my vacation schedule coincided with the adult salmon fly activity, I would like to try again next season but need to know a little more about tactics and timing.