Fished the Elwah Sat afternoon/evening a little Sunday morning Hiked in just below Humes Ranch. My wife and I fished the top while the couple we were with started with nymphs. The daytime was really quiet as in nothing for any of us, one FF we met said he took about 3 on a scud that morning from a deep pool.(He also watched a bear lumber around the opposite bank, not 1/4 mile from the campsites.) Pretty much just scenery until between sundown and dark, with the exception of the 6" rainbow my wife hooked on a coachman (We tried all types of dry flies) while dragging her gear to the next hole. Should have taken the hint then.. After sundown, my friend tied on a black wooly and stripped it across a pool, immediately he hooked and short released a very nice fish. (prob 16") Brought to hand a 12" and hooked and long released a hog. (~20) All three fish took to the air, it was worth a no-fish day to see it. The remarkable thing was the ferocity with which these fish hit. (All this happened in about 10 minutes) I quickly rigged up a brown wooly (only one I had), and worked the lower end of the same run, with nothing. We made our way back to camp and just before dark I was treated to see a nice (~18") not only "rise" but take completly to the air, twice! I tossed an orange stimi(#10) to him and he hit it on the second pass. A nice stong, but short lived, fight and he was off. There was no other action that we could see on the river. I was surprised at the number of other fisherman on that part of the river. We ran into probably 5 that day. Looks like Ill have to put some more miles behind the trailhead next time. There was word of some nice fish at Marys Falls. Saw some sparse PMDs but no other bugs, which I thought odd.
