Winter stones, skwala nymphs and the Big Hole

Got back to the Big Hole, my favorite river du jour. The fish were hungry - unfortunately the whitefish were hungrier than the trout. For the first time, I actually got sick of catching them (I'm usually happy just to catch a fish). It was all about the size 10 yellowish variegated-chenille girdle bug (which I fish as a skwala nymph, and I assume they take as one), and the occasional Copper John. I only fished a small chunk of water downstream of the Maiden Rock Fish & Game access, but there are several holes there, all with fish. Clay, Brady and Josh Duchateau fished upstream and I'm sure hammered fish.
There were a few midges, but more winter stoneflies. I saw three fish rise so I threw on a size 14 Royal Wulff at the end of the day, but got no respect.
There were tall ice shelves, but they had mostly receded. I heard that the river is actually ice-free (for the most part) down- stream of Jerry Creek, which is kind of crazy this early in the season. I've seen several harbingers of a low-water year (fishing closures) and I will add this to the list.
And I have to mention the huge fish Josh D. and Brady got at the Upper Clark Fork on Thursday. I'd love to post pics, but they're not my intellectual property so you'll just have to imagine the long beautiful browns and obese, ornery rainbows. Several 20-plus-inchers.
I took last Friday off as I had the opportunity to work, and that night we celebrated my 30th birthday with homemade sushi and Salmonfly Honey Rye. They tell me it was a good time - I have reason to believe it was.
On a side note, Brady's work schedule will prevent him from fishing on Fridays for the foreseeable future. That puts the onus of producing impressive fish squarely on Clay and me. We can do it. We can do it...