November 15, 2004

Steve Hoovler

We've been working hard on the 2005 catalog for about a week now. Look for some exciting, new stuff coming this winter in your mailbox. By 4:00pm I had had just about enough writing and designing for the day. I grabbed a rod and ran down to the madison between the lakes for a bit of streamer fishing before dark. By the time I got to the end of the dirt road, the sun was already well behind the ridgeline and the temps were pretty chilly. I got down to one of the first holes coming up from Quake Lake and started swinging some dark streamers. The action was awefully slow. I think the fact that my guides froze up after about three casts should have told me something. Nevertheless, I spent about an hour working through several holes without seeing a thing, not even a whitie. By 5:45 it was dark and COLD. So, back to the truck I went. The forecast is for some weather to come in on the next couple of days. That's good news for the elk hunting. I'll be out chasing them around, as well as trying to scratch that fishing itch before it gets too late. Stay Tuned.

 

November 11, 2004

Steve Hoovler

More elk hunting today. Much of the same results. Saw a bunch of cows and calves up at about 9k ft. Tracked two nice bulls for over an hour never getting a look. By 1:00pm I had been climbing for over six hours and was totally spent. I climbed down off of the hill, and headed back through the Madison Valley towards West Yellowstone, stopping at Raynold's Pass to take a look at the river and chug a powerade. I could see three or four fish rising up in Ross's run. The sun was warm and the wind wasn't nearly as bad in this end of the valley as it had been lower. I decided to grab a rod (already strung up with a midge in the back of the truck) and make a couple of casts. Sitting on the bank at the botttom of the run I counted five different fish slowly taking midges and a rare baetis from the surface. I had several refusals with a #22 baetis cripple. So, I switched to a #24 zelon midge. First cast took a scrappy, little 12inch rainbow. After that, I managed to hook two more fish, one 14" brown and one 15" rainbow. By this point I was freezing in my sweat soaked clothes, and headed back to the truck for some coffee from the thermos and some heat from the truck. Stay tuned.

November 7, 2004

Steve Hoovler

I spent this morning elk hunting, as I've done for the last two days. Warm weather seems to have the elk acting a little funky. We're due for some new snow.

Today's the last day to fish in the park for the season, and I had to sneak in for one last shot at a good spawner. I didn't have much time. So, I went straight to the Barn's Pools. I wasn't really surprised when I found three people in pool #1, but I was pretty suprised to see no one in the cable car pool. I had just about enough daylight for one pass, maybe two. I tied on my old stand by, a #6 black and purple anything. This time it was a soft hackle streamer. Half way through the run I had a good pull, but nothing came of it. That was it for the first pass. I was starting to think that I might have to put my spey rod away for the season with the smell of skunk on it. On the first swing of my second pass I had a trophy 10" whitefish hit the soft hackle. This wasn't helping my mood. Though, thankfully, right about the time it was getting to dark to see, I hooked a nice brown. I managed to get it into shore and it went about 18". That seemed like the perfect fish to end the season on, and besides, I couldn't see the end of my rod by this point. So, I called it quits.

I'll be chasing elk around quite a bit for the next coupke of weeks, but it does look like the weather might stay pretty nice. So, midge fishing on the Madison will have to be checked out. Stay tuned, Terry. I'll get you a report.

November 3, 2003

Steve Hoovler

After some truly skuzzy weather this weekend, it's been pretty nice. Temperatures have been in the 40's and it looks like they'll warm up a little more by the end of the week. Elk hunting seems to be getting in the way of my last few trips into the park to chase spawners. The hunting has been very good to this point in the season. Good numbers of animals were on the move last week with the snowy conditions, and I've heard reports of nice elk taken across the area.

I hit the Madison between the lakes this afternoon for a few hours before dark. By 3:00 pm the sun is off the water and the air is cool in the lower canyon towards Quake lake - Perfect conditions for fall run browns and rainbows out of Quake lake. I took my spey rod and some of the usual spawner flies down to the lower runs and shelfs. I've never done as well in here with smaller, lighter soft hackles. So, I stuck on a sinking leader and a big, nasty double bunny. The first two holes I fished seemed devoid of life, though I knew there were plenty of fish. After the second hole, I dropped a # 12 beadhead prince nymph behind the streamer, and on the second swing I had a 15" brown grab the prince. For the next two hours I had good action on the prince and then later on a copper john. I never found any of the truly large fish that are in there, but I saw plenty of nice fish, and my fair share of whities.

October 31, 2004

Steve Hoovler

I dressed up like a spawner fisherman for Holloween today,and spent my evening trick-or-treating around the elbow pool and the junction meadow. Action was hot with small, sparse soft hackles. One resident, 14" brown ate a #12 partridge and orange on my first pass through the upper elbow, and I had two good bumps after that. On my next pass through the salt lick I jumped two nice rainbows on a black and purple bunny leech. From there I headed up to the junction with about an hour and a half of light left. No one was in the little hole. So, I started off with the same bunny leech, and found a good brown about half way through the run. By this time it was almost dark, and the larger meadow hole was open. When I got to the top of the run I noticed a good splashy, shamu-like role on the opposite bank. In fading light, I quickly switched to a bomber and started waking my way down the run. After three or four swings, I had a violent hit, but no hook up. Two casts later another explosive take resulted in a good solid hook up. It turned out to be a nice 19" brown in full fall colors.

One last week of fishing left in the park. I'm off to work on the three bags of trick-or-treat-candy that I got for the one neighbor kid that might swing by. Stay tuned.

October 28, 2004

Steve Hoovler

I snuck into the park this morning for a couple of hours of spawner fishing before coming into the shop for the day. The temperature was much more comfortable (about 30 degrees) than it's been the last few mornings. I got to the junction meadow just about daylight, and made a few passes through the meadow hole with a black and olive Gartside Soft Hackle Streamer. Half way through the first pass I had a nice brown slam my soft hackle. He gave me two or three good head shakes and that was it. On the second pass through, I managed to land two nice rainbows, and the third pass yielded a smaller sized brown. Not bad for a couple of hours before work.

The park is open for another ten days, and we'll be making the most of the extra time this fall. So, stay tuned.

 

October 25, 2004

Steve Hoovler

I froze my @#%& off this afternoon on the Madison waiting for a baetis hatch that never seemed to amount to too much. Or, so I thought as I was walking back to the truck at about 4:30. About half way back, I noticed a few subtle rises right off the bank in a slick below me. I got into position below the slick, and sat on the bank trying to get good and close to the fish. There must have been a dozen fish feeding in this pocket that I just about walked past. I spent about 45 minutes working over the slick, and managed to pick up three nice fish (one rainbow and two browns) with a small #24 sparkle dun.

It's turned very wintery around here in the last week. I don't think it got above freezing this afternoon, and there's a good bit of snow around. It's looking like this snow might be here to stay. Elk season openned this weekend. So, we'll be chasing those brutes around in between trips to the river. Stay tuned for a report.

October 17, 2004

Sara Randle

I needed to grab a little fresh air and hear the river.  So Bucky kicked me out of the shop, and after a series of errands, I found myself at Raynold's Pass at 3 pm.  There was one other car there, the sky was overcast, and I had Baetis on the brain.  I wandered downstream and quickly passed the other car's occupants.  I felt as though the river was mine.  Picking a favorite slick and crawling along on my knees, I got to within 20 feet of rising fish.  It was hard to tell what they were taking.  Some were gently sipping Baetis duns, others wagged their tails after emergers, and incredibly tiny midges kept landing on my glasses.  I had a #22 Baetis cripple dropped off a #16 Royal PMX.  After a few casts, I found the right line and a large rainbow moved for the cripple.  The stars aligned and I waited for the take before setting.  This was a hot rainbow about 17 inches.  Several slicks later, the light changed on the water and it was hard to see the fly.  I missed several trout.  Finally, I just sat and watched.  Is there any prettier place than the Madison Valley?  About 4:30pm the rises stopped and I headed home, smiling all the way.

October 17, 2004

Steve Hoovler

I spent yesterday on the Firehole with a group of folks from the Yellowstone Park Foundation. We had a fun day chasing baetis around and trying to fool some wary little fish. Good bugs came off around Mid-Way Geyser Basin , and the fish fed on top for most of the afternoon.

On my way out of the park last night, I couldn’t help but to stop and fish a couple of my favorite spawner holes along the Madison . When I got to the Elbow Pool, it was empty. So, I rigged up the Spey Rod, and made two passes through the upper hole with a size 6 black and purple soft hackle. Each pass was rewarded with a couple of bumps, and one nice fish. A 16” rainbow on the first run, that could have easily passed for a mini-steelhead, and a big-bodied 19” brown on the second pass. Reports from the Madison in the park have been considerably better this year than the last two. We’ll be harassing them for about another three weeks (until the park closes). So, stay tuned.

I’m headed out to eastern Montana to chase some birds around with Goose this week, but rumor has it that the infamous Craig Mathews might be making a couple of entries in my absence. So, stay tuned!

October 15, 2004

Steve Hoovler

I snuck out of the shop this afternoon, and headed down to the Madison below Raynold’s Pass. I got to the river around 12:30 and the conditions were perfect. Not much wind, and plenty of clouds. I cruised down to a few of my favorite slicks, and looked around for some baetis. Around 1:30 I started to see a couple of bugs, and the fish followed suite shortly after. I spent about two hours fishing two slicks. Each had a handful of fish rising sporadically to the few baetis that emerged. I managed to trick a few nice fish, one brown that went about 17 ˝’’. I wrapped it up around 4:00 when the action slowed to a screeching halt. All in all, not a bad afternoon.

 

October 9, 2004

Steve Hoovler

I’ve spent the last two days guiding the Madison with a great group of guys. The fishing and conditions were a little challenging, but everyone toughed it out and had a great time. We floated both days in the Lyons to Ruby and Pallisades stretch. Nymphing was the name of the game, and small baetis imitations like the Micro-Madison and a Pheasant tail were the ticket. We didn’t get a ton of fish to the boat, but Mike, Bill, and Neal all managed to get a few nice, quality fish. Thanks for a great time guys. I look forward to floating with you again.

 

October 7, 2004

Steve Hoovler

I've been doing a lot of bird hunting with Goose and spawner fishing with Bucky this week. Both have been pretty good considering the conditions. Bright, sunny Indian Summer has made the fishing in the Madison a morning or evening affair. Buck and I have snuck out several evenings this week, and we've done OK. Still not a ton of fish, but some real nice ones. I've heard reports from the Mathews camp down on the lower river that dry fly action with midges and sparse baetis has been good, though challenging. I'll be guiding that water the next few days. So, stay tuned for a report.

 

October 6, 2004

Bucky McCormick

Fished the Gallatin river this past Tuesday afternoon. I had a wonderful day. First fish caught was on a royal wullf cripple along a grassy bank. One of those perfect 15inch rainbows, that are as hot as a steelhead. She rose so slowly it almost broke my heart. A few more on top and that was it for the dry fly fishing. I switched over to a size 6 black wooly bugger and hooked two of the hottest rainbows I’ve managed all year. Both trout were in the air more than the water it seemed. A few more trout and I had my fill. There was no sense in ruining a perfect day.

September 29, 2004

Steve Hoovler

I've spent the last few evenings spawner fishing on the Madison in the Park. The conditions aren't ideal, but the fishing has been pretty decent inthe evenings. I've seen the best results with either an orange Shakey Beeley Soft Hackle, or a black and purple Bunny Leach. It seems like this bright weather has the fish laying low. So, th ebest bet has been with a deep and slow presentation. The action hasn't been fast and furious, but I've managed to catch a fish or two each evening with the spey rod. So, I'm pleased. I'll be on the Madison as much as I can. So, stay tuned.

September 24, 2004

Steve Hoovler

I had the chance to guide a couple of great guys today. David Cook, Jerry Cooper, and I spent the day looking for spawners. The guys were looking for something a little bit different. So, we took a swing for the fence, and headed into the Lewis-Shoshone Channel to see if some of the resident brown trout had begun to stack up in preparation to spawn. The 4.7 mi walk into the bottom of Shoshone Lake went smoothly. A big, bugling elk entertained us for part of the walk. When we reached the lake, we ate a quick lunch, and headed down to see if any Lake trout were cruising the flat at the start of the channel. Unfortunately, our calm, cloudless morning (perfect for spotting cruising fish in the lake) turned into a windy, cloudy afternoon. So, we made a few fruitless blind casts, and walked down into the channel. As we hit the mouth, I noticed a group of three canoers resting on the bank after their ascent up the channel. While they paddled away, I commented that you may see one or two boaters in the channel, but it's never a big deal. Well, that comment must have cursed us, because it was one group after another marching their way upstream for the first hour that we were there. After watching the sixth group walk right through the water that we had hoped to fish, I asked one of the boaters if there were any other groups coming up the channel. He replied that he wasn't sure if there was anyone behind the three groups that followed him, and we quickly decided that our swing for the fence was turning into a swing and a miss. With the better part of the day still ahead of us, we decided to pull the plug, and find some fishing on the way back towards West. After a quick drive down to the Firehole, we found some good numbers of fish rising to caddis. However, the boys had a jones for some big spawners. So, we continued down to the Madison, and ended up at the Cable Car run above the Barns Pools. David worked the run from one side of river while Jerry hit the other. About half way through the run, David hooked up with a fiesty, little rainbow on an orange shakey beeley soft hackle. Before Dave had too much time to brag, Jerry's swing ended abruptly with a jerk, and a big red stripe rolled at the surface. We knew it was a good fish imediately, and after a few tense moments we had a beautiful 21" rainbow in the net.  Thanks guys, I'll look forward to another death march next year.

September 22, 2004
Steve Hoovler
The snow contest was officially decided today. That’s right, we had our first coating of snow for the season here in West Yellowstone. There have been several close calls over the last couple of weeks, but today there was no question. It’s been snowing up high now for several days, and it finally started to accumulate here in town around noontime.
This weather has certainly brought out the best in the fall fishing. I’ve spent the last two nights spawner fishing on the Madison in the Park. Yesterday, I got to the river around 2:00pm. It was raining slightly, and there were a bunch of baeits emerging. I fished a few of my favorite holes just below Madison Junction with good results until about 4:30. Nice numbers of fish rose to a #22 sparkle dun. I caught a handful of what seem to be resident fish (12-14”), and two nice spawners (16”&18”). As the dry fly fishing slowed down, I felt inspired to switch tactics. So, I ran back to the truck and traded my 9’ 5wt. BIIX for a two-handed 11’ 7wt. BIIX. Armed with a handful of “Top-Secret Spawner Flies” (#6 Prince Nymphs) and a few Black Bunny Leaches, I made passes through the same holes I had fished earlier. Around 7:30 pm I realized that “A”, it was starting to get pretty dark, and “B”, I seemed to have used up all of my luck earlier in the day.
So, after striking out last night, I headed back out this evening with Mike “The Bulldog” Thomas. We started off at Nine-Mile Hole as big, heavy snow flakes fell straight down to the river. Each of us made a pass through the hole with nothing more than a couple of bumps. From here we headed up to the Upper Elbow Pool, where after making a 90-day wonder, park ranger tromp through 100 feet of wet, swampy turf to check my license, I hooked into a big brown on a black and purple bunny leach. This weather seems to have really bolstered some awesome fall fishing.

September 15, 2004

Doug Pope

Sept 15 found Judy and Richard Buhrman of Hixson , TN facing up to a 20 knot wind, trudging through snow towards the Firehole River banks. Shaking off the chilly air and confounding wind, Judy managed to land the first couple rainbows, as one found Richard busily breaking several off. In the end, Richard, (with some coaching from Judy) found his groove, holding up his end of the party and almost catching as many fish as Judy. A very cold day ended with warm smiles and Richard's 16 inch brown.

September 14, 2004

Bucky McCormick

Today I fished the Firehole near Biscuit Basin.  Perfect weather for baetis, cool with a light rain.  The baetis began hatching around 10:30am and about 12:30pm the rain turned to snow.  Now the baetis really started to pour off.  I hooked a good number of browns and rainbows on a #22 Baetis Sparkle Dun as well as a new pattern I have been trying out.  With the cool spring and wet year we have had, the fish in the Firehole are fairing very well.  Looks like it should be a great fall!

September 12, 2004
Steve Hoovler

I finished the Lamar Pack Trip last night, and I’m sitting here at my desk dealing with a slight case of culture shock. This time yesterday, I was huddled over a campfire in the middle of the back-country watching a small group of wolves move along the hillside across the river. Now, I’m sitting comfortably in my house, with forced central heat, watching cars drive up and down Canyon St. I’m lucky to live so close to such wild places.
We had another fantastic trip into the headwaters of the Lamar this year. I joked with everyone on the trip that we should all buy powerball tickets as soon as we get out, as this was the luckiest stretch of weather that I’ve ever seen. After the kind of wet summer that we’ve had, two back to back weeks of beautiful weather is amazing. The river muddied and swelled to over five times its normal flow just a week before we headed out. Though, luckily, by the time we reached our base camp at Mist Creek Junction the water clarity was fine.
Fishing on the upper Lamar was as good as ever. Although, cooler temperatures than we’ve seen on prior trips limited most of the fishing to the afternoon hours. Most mornings were spent standing around the campfire drinking cowboy coffee, and waiting for the sun to rise over the ridgeline. Once the sun had some time to warm things up a bit, we found good fishing with terrestrials like Grand Hoppers and Foam Flying Ants. Sunny skies prohibited much of the mayfly activity. However, a size 12 Drake Mackeral Sparkle Dun fished blind through likely spots produced well. As usual, a variety of nymphs like Pheasant Tails and Crystal Serendipities worked well as droppers. We even managed to find some nice fish with a conehead JJ Special.
I would like to thank Lew and Diane, Gene and Peter, David and Ruth, Melinda, Ken, Michelle, and Shea for a fantastic trip. I’ll look forward to heading out into the backcountry with you all again soon.

September 4th, 2004

Craig Mathews

I apologize for failing to keep my promise to you. I have not kept up on my entries to this journal. I have dozens of good excuses. We've been short handed at the shop all summer, we've run out of several flies that I've had to tie, sick dogs, new house, etc. All kinds of excuses none that really tell the true tale of my fishing too much, and not writing here enough!

The past few days have been great. Fish rising to Baetis hatches on the Madison below Raynold's and down to the West Fork of the Madison. Big trout working the tiny mayflies on rainy days. Then too, on bright days the flying ant activity has been superb. Bees and hoppers and beetles have brought up trout too, but not like the Baetis emergences. In the eves there have been some D. Coloradensis mayflies I think. These large olive mayflies look like Flavs, a full size 14 and the trout love them. On Thursday at 4P.M.they came off very sporadically but the trout ate every one. I took large browns and rainbows until the big mayflies quit coming off the Baetis started hatching again. I had been on the river since 2P.M. and had taken several nice trout and at 6p.m. I walked away from rising trout to take Jackie to dinner. Late night fishing has been great too. On some eves you can still have Baetis emerging at 8P.M. along with midges and a stray caddis. At Raynold's and downstream to $3.00 expect to see big heads as trout rise to any and all of the above insects.

The fall run of fish from Hebgen is yet NOT in full swing. Give it a week or two. There are some fish in and can be taken on streamers, hoppers, etc but it still is too early to get the pre-spawners in the mood to feed well. Slough and the Lamar have been great as has the lower Yellowstone outside the park.

We've got 9 weeks yet of fishing in Yellowstone Park. With all the great water we've had all spring and summer this should be an outstanding fall of fishing. I won't promise to be any better at my entries here. There are too many places to try now and way to little time! I hope to see you all here soon.

September 2, 2004

Steve Hoovler

Well, another Slough Creek pack trip is in the books, and we all had a fantastic time. The weather was perfect, the fishing was great, and the group was terrific. We spent three nights camping in the third meadow of Slough Creek, and three days fishing its beautiful, upper stretches. No real surprises with the fishing. The mornings were calm, and fish fed on small baetis and midges. As the afternoon winds picked up, we switched to bigger foam and rubber leg patterns like Chaos Hoppers, BLT's, and Grand Hoppers. The venerable Slough Creek Frog made its annual appearance in a few of the meadow's deepest holes. There's just something gratifying about watching a fish that refused a perfectly presented size 22 baetis sparkle dun in glass flat water move ten feet to engulph a size 4 frog pattern when the wind picks up. Another notable fly was a size 16 black Fur Ant. Nothing new about the pattern, but we sunk it and sight nymphed with great success. Spence Vanderhoof and I spent the last morning stalking the banks, and picking out individual fish in the shallows to cast to. These fish were cruising the soft muddy flats, in no more than a foot of water, chasing nymphs. Unlike some of the other fish in deeper water, these skinny water fish were on the feed. If you got the fly anywhere near them with out spooking, they would move several feet to eat. It was awesome. We saw one grizzly bear in the distance, a black bear with cubs, and wolf prints in every muddy bank.  The third meadow is greener at this time of year than I have seen it in the last four years.  I would like to thank Dave and Patty, Dave and Ruth, Steve S., Steve L., Jay, Spencer, Michelle, and Shay for making this another unforgettable trip to Slough Creek!

August 30, 2004

Sara Randle

Complete Side Note...My girlfriend, Melanie Hanlon, and I decided to treat ourselves to a nice meal tonight.  We headed to the Henry's Fork Lodge for incredible views, a relaxing atmosphere, and a delicious dinner.  I would highly recommend it the next time you are in the Yellowstone area.

August 27, 2004

Sara Randle

Tom Cornell, Steve, and I had the day off today.  We decided to head to the Madison for a short float.  Reports from the guides mentioned flying ants, baetis, and a few hoppers having action on the surface.  I started off with a two-tone parachute ant and a baetis cripple dropper.  Tom had on a hopper and a flying ant.  For the first hour or so we caught a handful of fish but only on the ant.  So I decided to lose the baetis and put on another ant.  Tom (and we have kidded him about this since) decided to completely rerig with a trude and a caddis.  I am not sure what his logic was but he soon went back to the faithful ant.  Anyway, once we stopped tying knots and started fishing, things really picked up after the Ruby campground.  Big fish came out of not so obvious water.  I caught a beautiful 17 inch rainbow just off a gravel bar in the middle of the river.  The weather has turned for the better, we saw a huge golden eagle, and were home in time to catch some Olympic action and get ready for the Slough Creek trip tomorrow.  I hope this nice weather holds out for them. 

August 25, 2004

Steve Hoovler

It's felt more like October around here than August for more than a week now.  Cold temperatures, lots of rain, and a little snow have everyone talking about an early fall. The Madison has been great in the afternoons for the last few days. I've snuck out of the shop for the last two afternoons, and I'm heading that way again today. With cold temps, we've started to see some good numbers of baetis in the afternoons, and the fish haven't wasted any time in adjusting to their fall habits.

I'm headed off for another round of back country horse trips this weekend. So, a little reprieve from these temperatures would certainly be welcomed. It looks like the forecast is for warmer weather by this weekend. So, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

August 20, 2004

Sara Randle

It is the FFF Conclave and Crazy Days this week.  Steve and I had plenty to do this morning but needed to get outside for a little fresh air and hopefully fish.  It rained a few days this week and we saw great cloud cover this morning so we headed to the Gallatin.  We stayed inside the park (the Taylor's Fork is slightly off color) and surprisingly had plenty of water to ourselves.  We didn't get to the river until 3.  I started off with a Longhorn, missed a fish on the first cast, and could not get even another look with that or a cricket.  In the slick above me I started to see noses poking out, sipping a small mayfly.  I sucked up my summer attitude of big, foam flies and put on a #20 Black Winged Baetis Cripple.  I caught two great cuttbows from this hole, one was about 16 inches.  Steve and I picked up a couple more on Baetis flies, but the naturals were smaller than anything I had in my box.  Nonetheless, we had awesome fishing in the two hours we spent on the water.  Fall fishing is trying to creep in early, be sure to have Baetis and nymphs in your box before hitting the water.

August 13, 2004

Sara Randle

We have been hearing great reports from Hebgen all week, especially from our guides and lake guru Phil Takasuno.  Steve and I managed to talk Phil into showing us his secret water today.  Tricos have been going early in the morning but they did not fit into our schedule.  We hit the Madison Arm around 10.  The lake was glass smooth with tons of #16 Callibaetis spinners on the surface.  However, this calm weather proved to be too good.  We were seeing fish rise once or twice but few of the classic gulpers that we were looking for.  Around 1pm a slight breeze picked up and that really got the fish working.  Now we were seeing consistant rises and could get our flies into position.  A #16 Callibaetis cripple or deer wing spinner worked well.  Phil, Steve, and I all hooked into a few.  We lost some to the weed beds, but landed several rainbows and one brown.  The wind stayed down until almost 4:30pm, allowing us a great long day on Hebgen.  Although the lake is hard fishing it seems you only catch big fish.  The gulpers should continue for the next few weeks.  If you have a boat or kick tube, give it a try in the mornings until the wind blows you off.

August 6, 2004

Sara Randle

Steve and I decided to take a break from the Madison today and went into the park.  I was looking for a hike also, so we headed towards the Northeast corner.  Our options were Cache Creek or Pebble Creek.  There were a few cars at the Lamar Trailhead which made our decision easy.  Unfortunatley we had gotten a late start and didn't reach the northern Pebble Creek Trailhead (marked as Warm Creek) until almost noon.  The map said it was only 2.2 miles to the upper meadows.  It seemed that 2 miles straight up and 0.2 miles straight down got us to the area we were looking to fish.  Just about the time we broke through the treeline, dark rain clouds were starting to form.  We had brisk mile walk to the other side of the open meadow and reached cover there just as the first drops were starting to fall.  Since it was blue sky and warm when we left I just threw a lightweight fleece and a Patagonia Dragonfly jacket into the bottom of my pack.  I was really impressed with the way this uber-lightweight packable jacket held up.  We were under the cover of some pine trees for about 45 minutes through pouring rain, hail, and finally a light shower.  I stayed warm and dry the whole time.  We were finally able to hit the creek and caught some absolutely beautiful cutthroat on a #16 Royal Wulff and #14 Royal PMX.  The average size was 8-10 inches.  We saw a few mayflies around, I think they might have been Heptagenia, but we did not get a close enough look.  If you are headed to Pebble Creek I would recommend walking as far downstream towards the lower half of the meadow as possible.  We saw more fish and had bigger fish (about 12") on the bottom half than were the trails fords the creek.  Of course, since we were so close to Cooke City at dinnertime we went to our favorite restaurant, the Beartooth Cafe for an excellent meal before the drive home. 

P.S. We have just set the dates for our Spring Mayfly Tours.  Give us a call, email, or check out the page April Trips for more information.

August 4, 2004
Steve Hoovler
I’m still hooked on that evening fishing on the Madison. Mainly because it’s been so good. The last three nights have been especially productive. Epeorus have become the main attraction. In fact, I don’t think I’ve fished a caddis imitation in a week or so. Duns and spinners alike have had fish on the surface from as early as 5:00pm to as late as 10:30pm. I’m starting to see some smaller bugs as well. There were quite a few size 18 duns on the water tonight, and without any epeorus that small, I switched to a big baetis cripple, and immediately caught some good fish. Stay Tuned.

July 31, 2004
Steve Hoovler
Gulper fishing again this morning. Geoff Unger and I headed back to the Mud Hole to see if we could repeat yesterday’s action. Unfortunately, I had to get back to the shop by noontime. So, we were a little rushed. Nevertheless, the scum line was gone, and we saw very few fish rising. Just for kicks, we drove down to the lower arm around Blue Tree and the Resort to see if anything was happening, and sure enough, there were a ton of fish rising to Callibaetis Spinners. It seems like the C-baetis spinners are still lower in the arm where all of the good weed growth is.

July 30, 2004

Sara Randle

Steve and I did an evening float today from Pallisades to McAtee.  We have been hearing great reports on hoppers in the lower stretch and just couldn't resist.  It turned out the best hopper fishing was from Ruby to McAtee but we did well nymphing before that.  Since we did not get to the river until this afternoon, we managed to sneak in an hour or so of caddis fishing before we took out.  I had another rowing lesson and am starting to think I should have kept my big mouth shut.  Float trips were so much nicer when I could just say,"Sorry, I don't know how to row" ;)  It was a great day in Big Sky Country.

July 30, 2004
Steve Hoovler
I fished gulpers this morning out on Hebgen, and it was a good morning. I slipped the skiff in at the Mud Hole and motored over towards the Duck Blind around 8:00 am. Good columns of Trico Spinners were hovering above the water, and the wind was dead. The sweet bay to the West of the Duck Blind had a nice scum line running parallel to the North shore, and fish were rising to Trico duns and spinners when I arrived. I worked up and down the scum line for most of the morning with good numbers of fish rising the entire time. I managed to catch three fish on a #20 Trico Sparkle Dun before the wind came up around noon-time. Sara and I are heading down to float the Madison this afternoon. So, stay tuned for a report.

July 27, 2004

Steve Hoovler

I've been on the Madison the last few nights and the fishing has been great. Epeorus duns and spinners have had fish rising from the time I got to the water (5:00pm) until I left at 10:00pm. The wind came up last night just in time to put down the bulk of the spinners, but enough duns remained to keep the fish looking up. I'll be in my rutt on the Madison for the next few weeks. So stay tuned.

 

July 23, 2004
Steve Hoovler
Sara and I had a good day off today. We needed a little out-of-the-way fishing. So, we headed to the West Fork of the Madison. It was a perfect day for some small stream attractor fishing – bright blue skies, warm sun, and a cool breeze. Water levels were great, and cooler temperatures had me thinking that a few of the nicer run up fish from the main river might still be hanging around. We drove up to the upper stretch, and fished a section of deep pools that had undercut the bank. We each had good success with small caddis patterns, and Royal Wulffs. Most of the fish were in the 10-12 inch range. The majority were rainbows, but we both caught a couple of nicer (12-14”) cutthroat, and two nice 15” rainbows. We had the entire river to ourselves, and it fished well for us, but there was one other spot to check out. So, before we left, we hit one of the not so small tributaries of the West Fork, and found some great fishing for plump little rainbows and cutthroat. Each was willing to hit a dry fly, and all of them had perfect, beautiful markings. The fish weren’t huge (8"-14’’), but I’m pretty sure most of them had never seen a fly before. We hiked a long way up this tributary and found good fishing the entire way. I’ll let you examine the map for this little gem. Stay tuned!

July 22, 2004
Steve Hoovler
No fishing for me today. I had to head to Bozeman after work to run some errands. My plan was to come back through Ennis, and hit the river right at prime time, but one thing lead to another, and I never made it. I got through my errands, and made it all the way to Ennis by 8:30. Unfortunately, the draw of the infamous Ennis Dairy Queen Double Cheese Burger was far too much to pass by, and I had to stop. I got my grease pie to go, and after a quick stop a the Town Pump for some road sodas, I was motoring again. Looking South, the bright green valley was light up with the warmth of a golden setting sun. Unfortunately, the sun also illuminated dark, black clouds against the southern horizon. Lightning danced across the Hilgards, and the strong storm sucked cool air down the valley from the North. I welcomed the tail wind, as my noisy, old Suburban became oddly quiet, and the stereo cranked the Flying Burrito Brothers more loudly than it ever had at 75 mph. Though, I knew my caddis fishing wouldn’t amount to much. Sure enough, I reached Three Dollar Bridge just behind a heavy rain squall, and decided to continue riding the tail wind right back to West Yellowstone.

July 16, 2004

Sara Randle

From the reports I’ve heard here in the shop, the evening caddis fishing has been pretty tough the last couple of nights. We seem to be plagued with cool, wet evenings again.   Steve, Fran, and I headed down to float today. We made our weekly stop at the Campfire for breakfast, then cruised from Lyon’s Bridge down to Ruby. We threw dries all day, and the action was pretty spotty. A bunch of fish would rise in one stretch of good water, and then nothing in the next three or four stretches. Fran did very well on a variety of caddis patterns.  Steve and I stuck to large attractors as a lead fly with a small dropper off the back.  It was another rowing lesson day.  I do not know how these guys do it everyday.  I could barely lift my arms by the end of the day.  I guess I'd better start working out!

July 15, 2004
Steve Hoovler
The mighty Yellowstone in the Park opened today, and the initial reports have been good. Good numbers of Gray Drake Spinners, Green Drakes, and PMD’s emerged in the late morning, and a fair number of fish came to the top to feed on them. I didn’t make it up to the river until this evening, but I did hit the Cascade Picnic area around 6:30 just in time to see Whitefish Ed, dressed up in his pink mylar jumpsuit, hooked up with a nice cutthroat. There were a few good fish rising to Gray Drake and PMD spinners when we got onto the water, and we were able to get a couple right off the bat. Unfortunately, it cooled down drastically as it got later, and not much happened after 8:30pm. It seems like there still aren’t a ton of fish in the river, but the ones that are here are big, healthy fish.

July 14, 2004
Steve Hoovler
I snuck out of the shop this afternoon, and headed up to the Gallatin with Fran. We got to the Park water around Black Butte a little late (2:30pm), and barely caught the tail end of some PMD’s. By the time I had a Pmd Cripple tied on, the rising fish had finished. But, before I left the shop, I had heard from a few guys that saw good numbers of Green Drakes here earlier in the day. So, I re-rigged with a #12 Royal Wulff Cripple and started to prospect the likely seems and undercuts. We had good action for the rest of the afternoon blind fishing the channels downstream of Black Butte. I managed to catch quite a few 12-14 inch Cutts and Rainbows, and miss one really nice fish.
Tomorrow’s opening day on the Yellowstone in the Park. So, stay tuned for a report.

July 13, 2004

Steve Hoovler

We had another late night on the Madion last night. Our good friend Fran is in for his annual pilgrimage. So, we decided to hit $3 Bridge. We got to the water a little after 8:00pm and fish were rising sporadically to caddis. As the light faded, hordes of mayfly spinners clouded over the water, and the rising activity increased. By 9:30 each slick had handfuls of good noses poking out of the glare to eat size 16 rusty spinners or Iris Caddis. We each found several nice fish, quite a few smaller fish, and a number of misses and "long distance releases". By 11:00pm we had all that we could take, and left rising fish in an attempt to get back to West Yellowstone in enough time to get some rest before oppening the shop up at 7:00am. We'll be back again tonight, maybe for a late float. I'll get you a report.

July 9, 2004

Sara Randle

Steve and his parents floated the Madison today and since the skiff only seats three, I was on my own for the day.  Fortunately, Cam Coffin (secretary of guides) took pity and invited me to float with he and our new guide Scott Clark.  We also headed from Lyons to Pallisades.  I love fishing from a drift boat.  We started out with a large #8-#10 Royal Wulff and a #16 tan X-caddis dropper.  Fish were feeding on both and we caught only rainbows in the morning.  It wasn't until after lunch that we saw PMD's, so we switched to a Golden Stone and PMD combo.  Again it seemed trout hit both equally well.  Just before the take out I landed a beautiful, colorful 17 inch rainbow on a Scott Ross Hopper.  We are just starting to hear hoppers, so I think the fish took it as a golden stone.  Either way, it does not matter to me.  It was an awesome day, lots of sunshine, a little wind, and great fishing. 

 

July 5, 2004

Steve Hoovler

I've been on the Madison just about every night for the last week, and seen far more thunder and lightning than caddis and rising fish. We've had afternoon thunderstorms every day for the last two weeks. Needless to say, the fishing in the evening hasn't been as stellar as it can be. Although, there have been some feeding fish every night, despite the cool, wet weather. I did sneak out earlier in the day this weekend, and the fishing was good with PMD's and caddis from about 8:30 am to noontime. There's a few big, dark clouds starting to build over the south plateau right now, but I'm heading down to $3 bridge tonight regardless. So, stay tuned for a report!

July 5, 2004

Sara Randle

Sorry for the wait on these journal entries.  We were having problems connecting to our server and I know just enough about computers to be dangerous.  I think we have it figured out and you should see more regular entries now.  On Friday, July 2 friends of ours came to visit from Great Falls.  Two of our fantastic guides, Tom Cornell and Dan Rust, had the day off so we headed to the Madison with two boats and I was preparing for my next rowing lesson.  We floated from Pallisades to Story Ditch in hopes of finding the big bugs.  Although we took several fish on a sunken stone and mystery meat salmonfly, the better fish came on caddis and attractor patterns.  A royal wulff cripple was hard to beat.  The weather has been great for moisture content.  We have had a thunderstorm that brought hail or rain with it each day for the last week.  This has put off the caddis fishing in the evenings but has kept the hillsides green. 

June 23, 2004

Steve Hoovler

The Caddis action has started on the Madison. The weather has finally warmed up (a little), and caddis emergences have brought fish to the surface for the last two evenings. Last night Bucky and I headed down for a late float. We slid the skiff in at Lyons bridge about 6:00 pm hoping to float through some rising fish. The salmonflies have also begun in earnest. So, we hung a #16 X-Caddis behind a #6 Sunken Stone, and worked all of the juicy holds down along the hay bails. We had two good groups of steadily rising fish before we hit Squaw Creek.  Bucky had a 17" brown eat an Iris Caddis, and we had several smaller fish on the X-Caddis.

The conditions were perfect when we launched - not much wind and fairly warm. To the south and west, though heavy black clouds and an impressive thunderhead threatened to shut things down. By 8:30 we had anchored the boat under the Sun West Bridge to take shelter from a good old fashioned evening thunderstorm. It came quick, and it came hard. Through the lightning and deluge you could see some clear skies, and by 9:00pm we were under way again. Unfortunately, a cool wind followed the storm and the caddis fishing was finished. We pushed the rest of the way down to Windy Point, and took the boat out just as a second, and considerably larger storm set in. It rained hard for the entire drive back to West. It's great to see this moisture continue through June. I hope July is a soaker too.

Now that the evening fishing is underway, I expect that I'll slide into my usual rutt, fishing the Madison every night. So, Stay Tuned.

June 21, 2004

The Yellowstone Volunteer Fly Fishing Program needs anglers to help catch and tag Grayling.  They will be fishing Wolf Lake tomorrow.  Meet at the Grebe Lake trailhead at 8:30am or contact Bill Voight at 307-242-2441 if you are interested. 

June 15, 2004

Steve Hoovler

I've spent the last couple of days braving hurricane force winds in an attempt to find a few rising fish. We spent Sunday (that's right another sunday off and it was honkin' windy) on the Firehole. It was partly cloudy and cool in Goose Lake Meadows. The PMD's came off fairly well for about an hour and a half just after noontime and good numbers of fish got on them. Nothing especially large, but there were a few that flirted with 15". We slugged it out until late in the evening hoping to see a few caddis, but the wind never laid down and the bugs didn't amount to much.

Yesterday, Tommy and I headed down to the lower H-Fork to try to catch some of the evening flav and caddis action that's been happening below Ashton. The wind was our culprit here too. We slipped the boat in around seven and floated into dark thinking things would calm down as it started to get late. We were wrong. The bugs were around in good numbers, a few nice fish rose despite the wind, and we made it to the A-Bar in Last Chance in just enough time to get some Texas Burgers. So, it was worth the small fortune in gas that it cost to get down there.

Warmer weather is forecasted for this week. If it comes we should start to see evening caddis on the Madison. So, stay tuned!

June 13, 2005

Sara Randle

My friend from college, Kate, and her family were in town today and we all decided to hit the Firehole.  We headed to Fountain Flat Drive, since there was 8 of us we needed room to spread out.  We arrived around 11 and saw a few PMD's in the air but nothing really on the water.  Soft hackles were are game and everyone picked up a few fish.  After lunch we saw a wide variety of caddis.  Luckily we brought Steve who could identify them all for us.  A #17 tan Iris Caddis was my go-to fly. As soon as I figured out that I had a better drift from midstream and casting back into the bank I took a few nice rainbows and browns.  On the way back, we hit the Firehole Canyon.  Kate, her husband, and her dad had some action with a sunken stone and I caught a few rays.  It was a great day!

June 11, 2004

Steve Hoovler

Just an update on yesterday's fishing. Amidst absolutely perfect conditions, not a single bug emerged. Not until 5:00 pm that is. It seems that the weather was a bit nastier than we all thought (capilene and gore-tex can do that). There were still quite a few fish caught. In fact we had another guide client catch a huge fish on the Firehole. This time it was a 22 inch brown trout. That's five 20 plus inch fish in as many days. I'm heading up there this afternoon. So, stay tuned!

June 10, 2004

Steve Hoovler

No fishing for me today. I'm sitting here in the shop staring at the best possible conditions for spring fishing on the Firehole. It rained all night last night, and this morning it started to snow. We had a little thunder and lightning with wind earlier, but now it's calm and the snow is falling straight down. PMD's should pour off of the river this afternoon. It's been a great spring on the Firehole this year. The average size of the fish has definitely increased an inch or two since last year - which for a 10 -12 inch fish is a big deal. I've seen lots of fish in the 12-14 inch range and a good number in the 14 -15 inch range. We even had a guide client catch a 21 1/4 inch brown on the Firehole yesterday. I'm headed straight up there after work today. So, stay tuned!

June 9, 2004

Sara Randle

Today my girlfriend, Kristi Coffin, and I played hooky for the afternoon and headed to the Madison in the park.  It was a beautiful morning, and only the second day we have seen the sun in almost a month.  We grabbed a few of the new foam sunken stones and 2X leaders and were almost out the door when Bucky told us to take our raincoats.  With not a cloud to be seen we scoffed at him and went straight to Mt. Haynes.  As soon as we got there I missed 4 fish in the first ten minutes.  Apparently I was having a problem with too much line on the water.  We started to see dark clouds in the distance but kept moving our way upstream.  Thunder started about an hour after we arrived, but Kristi and I picked up a few more fish.  (I had gotten my line issues under control.)  We had just reached mad-dash-to-the-car distance when we saw the first bolt of lightning.  Our afternoon was cut short by the weather, but it should make for great PMD's tomorrow.  By the way, Bucky is now on both of our "lists" even if he had our best interest in mind. 

June 7, 2004

Steve Hoovler

If anyone has ever wondered which day of the week is the worst for fishing in this area, I've figured it out. For the last five years, Sunday has been my big day off. Sure, I sneak out of the shop alot during the rest of the week, and I try to spend most evenings on the water.. But, Sunday is the one day that I don't come into the shop at all (most weeks). And, as luck would have it, Sunday is always the day when the weather turns from good to bad. You can go to the bank on it! This weekend was no exception. All week long, we've had beautiful weather - Sunny, warm, not much wind. Not perfect for the baetis and pmd fishing, but not the worst. From about 10:30 am to 1:30 pm every day, decent numbers of pmd's and caddis brought fish to the surface, and good caddis provided excellent fishing in the evenings. This happened like clockwork everyday, until Sunday. Yep, I woke up Sunday morning to roughly 40 knot winds in town. The wind was blowing so hard out of the southeast that the air was filled with thick dust from the potato and grain fields in Idaho. We're expecting spuds to start growing in the town park here anyday. So, at any rate, if you're planning a trip and you've got to decide on a travel day, Sunday should be a winner.

Prior to yesterday's nuclear wind storm, I fished the Firehole every evening for the last week. Warmer weather's brought out some great hydropsyche and ocetis caddis emergences, and good numbers of rising fish. Iris caddis have been the ticket for me. Both the #17 tan and the #15 amber have produced well. 

The salmonflies are still buzzing around the firehole canyon, and they're starting to make a showing on the Madison in the Park. Stay Tuned!

 

June 2, 3, and 5, 2004.

Craig Mathews

We fished the Firehole on the 2nd and 3rd and had wonderful dry fly fishing during pmd and caddis emergences. The conditions were not perfect for heavy mayfly hatches, partly cloudy and warm, but the insect came off in good numbers and the trout rose to them. The average size of the fish on this river is 1-2" longer than we've seen the past several years, and the fish are heavy and take to the air several times be it a brown or rainbow!

Warm mornings have also brought good spinner falls and some caddis egg-laying periods. Evenings have been great when caddis emerge.

We have been watching the Madison in the park too. Some pmds and Baetis, evening caddis and the salmon flies are beginning to emerge from Madison Jct downstream to the Madison Picnic Area. Yesterday, June 5th, I fished the river above the talus slide and had several nice resident trout and 2 run up browns that were left over from last fall's spawning run. All fish came to the Sunken Stone, #10. Then I headed downstream, out of the park and to the Madison near $3.00 Bridge and rose a few fish to a March Brown Sparkle Dun. I saw no rises but presented the fly in all likely spots and took a few nice rainbows to 17".

It is June 6th, I have to work a few hours and then plan on sneaking out to the Madison and Firehole. The clouds are moving in at 8AM, its windy as a thunderstom is to move in this afternoon. I'll get you my report tomorrow!

June 1, 2004

Steve Hoovler

Bucky and I snuck out of the shop this afternoon. I had an early report this morning of some salmonflies starting to crawl around the Firhole Canyon. For the last two weeks, I've been stopping at the canyon to check on the big stoneflies, and I've seen lots of nymphs staging right on the bank, waiting for the weather to warm. All I needed was one half-way reliable report, and I was on the way after lunch.

When we got to the canyon, sure enough, there were a handful of adults buzzing about twenty feet of the water like Sikorski helicopters. We walked downstream towards the junction of the firehole and the Gibbon into some juicy runs with good structure (for bugs and fish alike). We both tried the venerable Sunken Stone for the first time this season. I tied on one of our new foam versions of the sunken stone. We found good numbers of fish willing to crash these huge dries on the surface. A few nicer sized fish (14-16 inches) came to the surface, but the majority were good, chunky 12 to 14 inch browns and rainbows.

The big bugs should start to roll on the Madison in the park any day now. I'll be sure to bring you a report. So, Stay Tuned!

 

May 31, 2004

Steve Hoovler

Well, here we go again. Openning weekend of the Park has come and gone, and I am finally getting a chance to sit down and write some journal entries. I've had the opportunity to do some fantastic fishing over the last few months, and I'll be sharing some of it with you here and in the travelouge section in the days to come.

For weeks, I've been sneaking into the park to look at the Firehole and the Madison. I've seen fish feeding on Pmd's and baetis on every trip, and the rivers have been in great shape. So, as luck would have it, we had an absolute soaker on Thursday and Friday of last week, just in time for the Park openner this weekend. On Saturday morning the park had about 6-8 inches of heavy, wet snow, and the rivers had all risen and become tea colored. So much for an afternoon of rising fish.

I spent the morning in the shop helping would be dry fly fishermen pick out the perfect pmd imitations, and then headed up to the Firehole in the afternoon to become one of the many who, in the absence of bugs, resorted to swinging soft hackles. Fortunately, the fish were more than willing to grab a peacock and starling or a soft hackle pheasant tail swinging downstream and across. The weather made each landed fish an accomplishment in and of itself. Thirty Four degrees and horizontal snow can test the fortitude of even the most anxious fisherman on openning day.

So we've jumped head first into another fishing season in Yellowstone Country. I'm anxious for those events that are always highlights of the season, like evening caddis on the Madison and cutthroats eating two inch pieces of foam. But, at the same time I don't want to see tham come too quickly. It'll be bird season again before we know it, and I'll be looking back at another season instead of ahead. In any event, I'll try my best to keep you updated along the way. So, Stay Tuned.

May 30, 2004

Sara Randle

Today was my first rowing lesson.  I think Steve was a little nervous letting me at the helm of his new skiff on the Madison, so we headed to Hebgen Lake first.  Actually I was grateful to have time on the oars without worrying about current (and rocks) and just to get a feel for how the boat responded.  After a hour of circles and rowing up and down the shoreline, we headed to the river.  We put in at Lyons Bridge.  Steve rowed first and I was able to pepper him with questions.  Somehow, despite chattering away, I managed to land a few nice rainbows and browns.  I had on a #12 March Brown parachute with a #16 Royal PMX dropped off of it.  The West Fork was adding some color to the water but fortunately just on one side.  Shortly after the Sun West Bridge, it was my turn to row.  I'll admit I was a little nervous. The Madison is an intimidating river.  Our guides make it look so easy, but I think that is why they are so good.  Steve helped point out rocks and other "water hazards" but after a few minutes he had a rod in hand and was catching fish.  I must have been doing well because he stopped worrying about my rowing and started directing me to put him in a better casting position. I had a great time and really got a feel for the water and maneuvering the boat.  I found rowing to be quite relaxing (bigger water may cure that), and if my blisters heal by next week I will be ready to handle the oars again. 

May 21, 2004

Craig Mathews

Its not that I haven't been fishing, for lack of Angling Journal entries herein, its that we've been so busy I haven't had much time to place my entries! I will do better for the rest of 2004, I promise. I have been out nearly 40 times since the new year.

Yesterday I hit the Madison at noon. It was partly cloudy and in the 50s. I could see thunderheads forming to the southwest and had the feeling a fine mayfly afternoon was forthcoming. I checked for risers at a spot I expected to see Baetis emerging and trout taking them. I was not disappointed as there were a few rising trout. Rigging up with a Baetis Sparkle Dun, #20, I cast for 10 minutes and had but one 15" rainbow come to my fly. Then I did something I promise myself I'll do anytime I can't raise fish to my imitation...I checked the surface, payed closer attention to riseforms and took out my insect net to sample the flow. The aggressive rises should of woke me up in the first place, they are rises we often associate with trout taking emerging caddis. Brachycentrus emerging pupa were evident in my sampling net and their empty shucks were stuck to my waders as I knelt in the slow currents below the risers. Of course I had left my caddis box home.

Then, at 1pm, the rains came and the caddis left the water and March Browns drifted on the surface everywhere! I had a banner afternoon using a new March Brown Sparkle Dun pattern we've been working on, until 3pm when the clouds lifted and caddis started emerging again. I will NOT forget my caddis box when fishing the Madison again, no matter what the weather or time of year! I caught several nice rainbows and a couple browns.

The weather has been very damp for the past week, and the long rainge forecast is for more rain. We will take every drop.

This coming Monday we will begin our weekly fishing report. If you'd like to subscribe give us a call. Of course we also do an abbreviated version on the web free of charge but it is not nearly as full of info on hatches, conditions, off-the-beaten-path places to explore, etc as the subscription one. And, we are also doing the weekly fly fishing report for the West Yellowstone News again this year, beginning next week. Stay tuned and watch this page for more of our angling journals. I hope to see you all soon in Yellowstone!

May 15, 2004

Sara Randle

Opening Day on the Madison.  We had been hearing mixed reports all day from folks while we pined away in the shop.  It was sounding like great nymphing and Baetis from between the lakes to $3 Bridge.  As soon as the "OPEN" signed was turned off Steve and I raced to the river.  We headed just upstream from the West Fork Bridge.  It was overcast and there was a bad glare on the water.  We saw a few caddis on the banks, and Steve handed me a custom tied fly.  It was similar to an olive Mr. T caddis fly.  Every time I use a dark winged fly in low light I still can not believe how well the contrast stands out.  We took turns working our way upstream and caught a bunch of rainbows.  At the last bit of daylight, we switched to a #14 Royal Wulff and ended the day with a rainbow apiece.  The weather forecast for the next few days is for cloud cover and precipation.  This should really bring out the Beatis!!!

May 2, 2004

Sara Randle

Rob McCormick (the awesome shop new guy) and I took our dogs for a walk along the South Fork tonight.  We had done the same route yesterday and found fish rising to midges consistently.  So tonight we decided to take a rod in anticipation of the famous #14 Hebgen Spring Midge.  We got to the river around 4:30 and followed the water until we reached Hebgen Lake.  By the time we got to the lake (and area open to fishing) a breeze had picked up, putting a little chop on the surface.  This pretty much put down any rising fish but never fear... we brought a streamer box.  With the dogs sitting on the bank as our audience, Rob and I each caught a nice rainbow on a #10 weighted black wooly bugger.  We reeled up and were home by 6pm.  By the way, Hebgen Lake is very low.  Boat access is tough and the easiest put in point is the north shore.  Walking the banks or a kick tube will provide you with tons of open water. 

April 27, 2004

Sara Randle

Well it appears our Tuesday fishing luck has run out.  I should have know it wouldn't last the whole month.  I had headed to Livingston last night to have dinner with some friends.  Steve, Tom, and I were set to fish the Yellowstone today.  We have had a few warm days in a row and the Mother's Day caddis hatch had started.  If you have ever been in one of these hatches, you know the massive numbers of caddis to expect.  The last few years we have hit it and the fishing is phenomenal.  I am never early but got to town with an hour to spare so I went to check out the river.  Knowing that I had a dinner date I did not even string up my rod.  I am also prone to the one-more-cast syndrome and did not have a cell phone with me to even try to make up a lame excuse.  In retrospect, they would have understood and I should have stayed there all night.  Brachycentrus caddis carpeted the water, thousands were mating in the stream side bushes, my dogs accidentally flushed 6 huns, and fish were rising across the whole river.  It was EPIC!  I can not believe my willpower held out.  Steve and Tom were among the dinner guests and I could hardly contain myself. 

Today we put in at Pine Creek and intended to float to Carter's Bridge.  At first I was surprised at the lack of cars in the parking lot.  Then the first gust of Livingston's famous 40 mph wind hit.  Needless to say the amount of caddis was significantly down and the fishing was tough.  We did pick up a few cutthroat in protected eddys and river bends, but it was nothing like the scene from last night.  But that's the way it goes with the Mother's Day caddis hatch.  When it hits, word spreads like wild fire and you should drop everything to get to the river.  The weather forecast is for warmer temperatures this weekend and we are predicting another great emergence. 

BRF is now offering Tom Morgan custom built fly rods.  Check out the rods and reels page for more information.

 

April 13, 2004

Sara Randle

What came first? The rainbow or the brown... Today it was the rainbow. Steve, Tom, and I headed to the Madison to test drive the new skiff from RO Drift boats. The skiff is unique in that you fish from a seated position, and it is very low sided allowing the guide to get closer to the target than a standard drift boat. I thought it was great. Anyway, it was a beautiful, warm spring day. Great for morale, bad for baetis. However, we did have excellent nymph fishing the whole float from Varney to 8 mile. Brown trout, Rainbow trout, and whitefish equally had an appetite. I would say it was probably a 50/50 catch rate on a coffee or black rubber legs and a smaller dropper. For the dropper, we threw everything from crystal serendipities and nitro nymphs to shop-vacs and pheasant tails. OK back to my original statement. In one of those this-only-happens-a-few-times that you think did-that-just-happen. Steve had caught a nice rainbow on a #6 coffee rubber legs and had it in the net. He flipped his line out of the way and caught a nice drift, so nice that he looked up and saw the indicator dunk. Fish on! This one turned out to be a great brown after a #16 beadhead crystal serendipity. Tom and I could not believe he had gotten two fish in the same net. We did tease him a little for being greedy, but with huge smiles on all our faces. And yes, we stopped at the Ennis DQ before heading home.

As a reminder Montana General Season is open May 15, Idaho General Season is open May 29, and Yellowstone National Park is open to fishing May 29. Check your regulations or give us a call for exceptions to these.

April 6, 2004

Sara Randle

Tom Cornell and I spent the day on the Ruby River. He had guided it last week and saw a good amount of midges and a few Baetis. It turned out to be an overcast day, and we hoped to find more mayflies. We arrived around noon and headed down to the water. We were able to fool a few smaller trout with midge emergers, but nothing was rising consistently. It wasn't until 2:30pm when we started to see the first Baetis on the water. However, they must have been coming off for a few days now, because the trout were looking for them. We saw quite a few cruise a pool just under the surface and would actually turn for a #20 Baetis Cripple. That turned out to be the fly of the day. A few took a small Parachute Adams, but it seemed with a good drift and a cripple you could not go wrong. Tom and I each caught a good number of fish, mostly browns. Steve finished up his first week of Mayfly Tours and met us on our last hole of the day. We took turns fishing to rising trout and heckling each other. And for the finale of a perfect spring day on the water, we stopped at the Ennis Dairy Queen for the best $2 hamburgers in the state.

April 1, 2004

Sara Randle

Well Steve and I have been home from Belize for almost a month now and we are still not in the swing of things. We apologize for for the delay and would like to say "Thank you!" to all the wonderful people who joined us this year. We spent February 7-14 in Placencia on the southern coast of Belize. We had a wonderful time stalking the elusive permit. We had fantastic local guides, wonderful accomodations, and delicious Belizean food. On top of all that we caught permit on the flats! It was truly an amazing adventure and we will be writing in more detail in the travelogue section. Then we spent Feb 14-21, and 21-28 at the first class Turneffe Flats Lodge. The permit fishing in the lagoon and on the flats at Turneffe was a sight to see. One day we saw a school of at least 200 permit. Many were landed over those two weeks and a few in the twenty-five plus pound range. The bonefish were plentiful but they were on to us, and it took skill to approach and land the gray ghost of the flats. In addition, tarpon, snook, jacks, snapper, and barracuda kept our double haul in prime form. The non-anglers under the guidance of Abel enjoyed snorkeling, sight seeing, and of course rest and relaxation. Steve and I continued to Glover's Atoll from Feb 28-March 4. We spent our time exploring the reef and found a few schools of hungry bonefish. It was beautiful and a lot of fun, but rather far from the mainland.

We are currently in the middle of setting our dates for 2005. We had a great time this year and are looking forward to the next trip down south. If anyone is interested, has any questions, or would just like to talk saltwater...please give us a call or drop us a line.

February 29th, 2004

Craig Mathews

We tried to fish yesterday but at noon the Madison Valley had the worst blizzard to the winter. The conditions were life threatening below $3.00 Bridge and to Ennis. Since Sunday was the last day of the fishing season on the river from Earthquake to McAtte Bridge we were excited when the plows and grader came and opened our road at noon so we could get out and fish. The temp hovered around 30 degrees and we had a good time from 2-3pm when sporadic midge activity brought up several nice browns and a few small rainbows. I think the larger rainbows were thinking of spawning and not of taking #22 midges today. The river reopens May 15th. The Bear Trap section has been great with huge emergences of midges lately. The Gallatin good to, mostly with nymphs but there are places the trout will rise to midges here too. The Henry's Fork is picking up below Ashton also. There are still plenty of places to fish so stay tuned here for our reports. And, this area is well over the 30 year average in snow pack. Rivers like the Madison and H Fork are running anywhere from 115 to 133% of "normal snow", we look forward to a great fishing season. And, I did fish 6 more times than I reported on in Feb and overall had a good midge season this winter although not in the same "good old spots" of years past. The weather was much harsher this Feb which may have had something to do with it too!

February 7 th , 2004

Craig Mathews

Jackie and I sent Steve and Sara to Belize for the month so we have to fish midges in the snow all by ourselves! On this day I drove to Madison near Pallisades. I did not expect to see much going on as to surface feeding but to my surprise the river was alive with rising trout feeding on the first of the winters huge black midges. I took 18 trout from 12:50pm to 3pm and headed home a happy fly fisher. The fish took zelon midges and G Gnat Emergers. It was 30 degrees, overcast and calm.

On Feb 8 th Jackie and I X Country skied until noon them came home and loaded the fishing gear up and headed to The Swallows on the Madison . 28 degrees, not a breath of wind and overcast. The trout were not rising as consistently as yesterday but we managed a couple dozen trout between us, again mostly rainbows although we both had a couple male browns that looked like they were just heading into spawning season with large kypes, vivid colors, and very colorful flanks. The large black late winter midges were crawling all over the snowy banks. I think we made a good move, by sending Steve and Sara to warmer climes while we defend the Madison during winter midge times! The Gallatin has been great too, along with the Bear trap section of the Madison downstream of Ennis Lake . Stay tuned for more winter midge reports. The upper river, above the west Fork has been slow except with nymphs, lower river much better with dries and no one around.

January 17, 2004

Craig Mathews

I'm determined to fish all January, even though the temps fail to clear the freezing mark. I tried the Madison near Sundance today. Arrived at the river aroound 1pm and sat on the bank tying on tippet and a fresh zelon midge. I nearly froze before I got the fly on. I saw 3 rainbows rising to sporadic midges and took two before the rising ended at 1:45pm. I moved upstream and checked out a couple more midge spots that have always had risers in the past but the wind came up and I saw no rising trout so slugged through the snow back to the truck. I drove to Lyons Bridge and watched several trout nymphing below the bridge but none came to the surface. There were no adult midges to bring the trout to the top so headed downstream to Wolf Creek and found a pod of small brown trout rising to midges in a pool sheltered from the wind. I took an 11" brown and called it a day. Not enough midges on the water to bring a steady rise.

Janury 18th, 2004

Craig Mathews

Jackie and I checked out several spots near the west Fork and Raynold's Bridge but no rising trout found. The temps never broke the lower 20's. At 2PM we headed up Standard Creek on our X-C skis and had a nice time skiing. Ran into the big wolf track we've seen on our place 2 miles below Standard Creek. The track measures over 7"x5" and his lopes are 60" at a casual gate. The weather people tell of a warm up this week and if so we'll be fishing.

January 12, 2004

Craig Mathews

Yesterday I fished the Madison, same with the day before. The weather report said high in the upper 30's but my guides froze up after 3-4 casts both afternoons.

I intended to drive to the $3.00 Bridge turnoff from Highway 287 and hike the 1/2 mile to the river, the road is closed to wheeled vehicles Dec-April. Cruising by Babbling Brook I say more than a few fish rising---NEVER leave rising trout. I parked and fished from noon to 1:30PM to a dozen or more risers and only hooked one. I tried every midge pattern in my boxes...more on this later. I drove upstream and tried another spot and succeeded in landing 4 good rainbows all on a #22 black zelon midge. I got so cold I went back to my truck and headed home. On the return trip home I stopped again and the impossible risers were still going for it, taking midges. I decided to head home and try some new patterns for the next day, Sunday.

Armed with several new midge flies I headed to Babbling Brook section at 11AM on Sunday. The fish were rising like the day before. I tried 8 different flies and rose only one small brown. Then I got out the seine which I should of done the day before. It told me there were a lot of adult midges on the water, no emergers, and only a few mating clumps. Then I layed down on the bank and watched 3 trout midging not over a rod's length away. It was very apparent then what these trout were rising to. The adult midges were skittering on the surface film but remaining almost stationary, moving upstream very slowly, maybe a foot every few seconds. The rising trout waited for a single midge to appear and tipped up and sipped it off the surface. I could not believe these trout were selective to the midges behaving in a way that I could not duplicate. I took two very nice rainbows in an hour of hard fishing, both on #24 zelon midges in dun. I then got above some rising trout and attempted to imitate the slow moving/skittering midges the trout were feeding on and managed one hook up before I put the hole pool of risers down. The wind came up and I promised Jackie I'd be home early for a X country ski so I packed it in for the day. I will be back to try another tactic on these fish this week, and will get you the report!

January 2nd, 2004

Craig Mathews

Yesterday being New Year's Day, I fished the river as I have over the years on the first day of the new year. Arriving in a near white out with snow falling at about an inch an hour I parked and walked to the bridge. Looking down and under the bridge I usually spot a few trout finning in the currents. It was not trout I'd see today though, a huge cow moose stared back at me from under the bridge. She moved downstream and munched on willows and I toppled over the guard rail in snow over 3 feet deep . The snow was so deep along the river that I had to follow in her footprints she made heading from the slide area. I tied on a new piece of 5x tippet, knotted a new Zelon Midge I'd tied at home this morning and watched and waited to see if any fish rose. It wasn't a minute when I'd located 2 good fish rising to emerging midges along the shoreline. Walking on my knees and getting to within 10 feet of the risers was easy, the heavy snow masked my approach. I cast and was greeted with a refusal from a fine rainbow. I knew it detected drag . I rested this fish and tried one out few feet further and on my second presentation it took, a beautiful 17" rainbow. I cut off the midge to take home and put in my new 2004 Fly Fishing Journal. A minute later another fish rose and I took it on my first cast, a nice 14" rainbow with lovely crimson and gold and olive sides. I walked upstream another 100 yards and located another pocket with 2 risers. I caught one rainbow and pricked another. It was now 1:20pm and the wind had picked up and it was snowing so hard when I looked across the river I couldn't see the other side. I was leaving.

I began the 10 mile drive home and when I got to the West Fork I was screaming along at 10 mph, in 4wd. Visability was under 50 feet. 2 times between the west fork and Squaw Creek I had to stop the truck, I could not see the roadway. When I got to our road I still have 2 miles off the highway to make it to our house. I had to stop twice, once because I planted the truck in a snowbank, before arriving home. It had taken me nearly an hour to make the 10 mile drive.

We have snow in Yellowstone Country. 2004 will be a wonderful fly fishing year. Stay tuned here and we will keep you posted. And by the way, no one else has been fishing the Madison just us here at BRF!