My final day of fishing with two good friends on the Arkansas River was humbling. We have a combined 100+ years of experience, but it didn’t matter. On a beautiful sunny, windless day with the river in great condition, we managed fewer than ten trout between us. The fish would bump a hopper once in a while, but I don’t think they meant to eat it. Dry/nymph droppers, double nymphs, streamers, attracter dries, nothing worked. There were no insects in the air and nothing rising. Still, no one fell in, and we thoroughly enjoyed being in good company on a gorgeous river with cottonwoods just beginning to turn. It sure beat what most folks were doing that day.