Time: 7:30PM – 8:30PM

Location: Across from Hornsilver Campground

After dinner at the campground, I took a short walk to the section of Homestake Creek that is across the highway. The path led me to a very attractive pool that appeared to be the beneficiary of some stream improvement efforts. I stood motionless and observed the water for a bit, and the surface came alive with four or five rise rings. I had an hour or more before darkness, so I walked at a brisk pace back to the campsite and pulled on my wet waders and assembled my Sage four weight and quickly returned.

I began my efforts to attract surface feeding inhabitants of the pool with the same size 16 deer hair caddis that produced on the Eagle River, but the gray fly generated only a couple refusals. During the first thirty minutes I could see some tiny cream colored midges buzzing about, and these may have accounted for the rises. I did not possess a viable imitation, so I stayed with the caddis until 8PM. At this time I moved upstream to a deep run at the head of the pool, and here I began to see pale morning duns. Apparently this mayfly does not strictly adhere to the morning portion of its name.

I switched to a cinnamon size 16 comparadun, and in the remaining thirty minutes I managed to temporarily hook two fish. The first hook up felt a bit larger than what I expected from small Homestake Creek, but I will never have an opportunity to confirm my hunch. At 8:30 the surface activity subsided, and the waning light forced me to give up on Homestake Creek, and I returned to the warmth of my sleeping bag.

Fish Landed: 0