June 27, 2007 - Steve Hoovler
Sara and I fished the Madison around West Fork this afternoon for a couple of hours, and had some of the best dry fly fishing that I've seen in a while. Fish seem to want nothing more than to eat a dry fly right now, regardless of the time of day. We fished a few different caddis patterns to both likely spots and spotty risers, and found quite a few fish willing to participate. As is usually the case, Sara stuck the biggest fish, an 18" brown.
June 26, 2007 - Steve Hoovler
I ran up to fish the Gallatin in the park for a few hours this afternoon. I fished the stretch around the confluence of Daly Creek, and found a spattering of PMD's, Caddis, Golden Stones, and one or two Salmonflies. Very few fish rose consistently. But it seemed that if a fish rose, and you got a good drift over him, he'd eat regularly.
June 25, 2007 - Steve Hoovler
Back to the Madison today for another guide trip with the infamous Brack Hill Tackle Boys (and ladies). Al Visgar and I floated from Windy (aptly named these days) to Mcatee. Unfortunately yeaterday's wind hasn't completely blown itself out. We dealt with some blow in the afternoon, but nothing like the day before, and the fishing showed. Fish were looking up for salmonflies very well for a couple of hours around mid-day, and for caddis before and after that. Thanks for a great time Al. We'll do it again on Friday.
June 24, 2007 - Steve Hoovler
I had the great pleasure of guiding the Madison today. The wind blew about as hard as it possibly can, but we still managed to have a fun day fishing Salmonflies, PMD's, and caddis. Fishing was obviously a challenge with the big blow, but Mel and Dave persevered and managed to get some nice fish. Thanks for a great day guys. I look forward to doing it again when it doesn't feel like "a nuke went off in Bozeman".
June 18, 2007 - Steve Hoovler
The evening, and anytime for that matter, caddis fishing on the Madison has started in earnest. Evening emergences have started to bring some fish to the surface, but mornings and afternoons have also seen plenty of rising fish. So, I jumped in above the West Fork this afternoon at 5:00pm and began to blind fish with a size 16 X-Caddis. The river remains as low as it's been since 1931, and fish seemed to taking advantage of the low water by eating every piece of surface food available. I rose a good number of fish in several different spots along the way to the Eagle's Nest. Salmonflies are on the way up the float stretch. I'll have to get down ther to check them out - Stay Tuned.
June 15, 2007 - Steve Hoovler
The railroad Ranch section of the H-Fork openned today, and after an entire off-season of speculation and anticipation, I ran down to see how the river survived another winter. This was the fourth winter in a row where flows had remained relatively high, and my hopes have been equally high that those big pods of 12-14" fish from last fall had had a chance to stay healthy and maybe pack on an inch or two. I hit the upper ranch parking lot at 8:00am and hiked well down towards Millionaire's. Unfortunately, the skies were bright and a slight breeze had the water ripped up in places. Despite the sun, Pmd's, caddis, and an occasional Green Drake floated down, and fish could be seen rising to them in a quite a few spots. Now, many of those fish were definitely small guys, and there weren't nearly the numbers of fish that we saw in the glory days, but there were defintely some legitimate opportunities. I found a short section above millionaire's where a small group of what apeared to be good fish rose pretty consistenly, and worked into postion just up and across from them. After trying several different pmd patterns, I rose one fish to a size 16 pmd emerger with a foam bubble back. Several good jumps later I had a plump 17" H-Fork rainbow. Over the course of the morning I found two other groups of fish to work to. One group yielded a fiesty 14" fish, and the other never gave me the time of day. It's tough to say after one morning session on the water, but it seems like the river has made a small step forward from last season, but we still have a long way to go before we see the river old. In the meantime, though I'm excited to see what the rest of the season brings.
June 12, 2007 - Steve Hoovler
Back to the Firehole this morning to milk a few more fish out of the PMD activity. Temperatures are slowly starting to warm. So, I've been focusing my efforts on the upper river near Biscuit Basin. PMD spinners continue fall sporadically in the early mornings and duns emerge by mid to late morning. Rising fish numbers were good at the bottom of the meadow where the river bends into the trees, but the activity didn't last for much more than an hour and a half. The best pattern seemed to be a size 18 olive foam back hackle spinner.
June 8, 2007 - Steve Hoovler
Geoff unger and I snuck down to the Madison for a float today from Pallisades to Story Ditch. We'd both heard reports of dry fly fishing with a variety of attractors starting to produce good fish. So, we thought we'd check out the prospects. The weather remained cool and breezy throughoput the day, and we got nailed by one passing rain squawl. Dry fly fishing was sporadic at best with a # 14 Royal Wulff Cripple and a #16 PMX. With flows continuing at record low rates, we found the best fishing in the deepest runs and pools with nymphs like a Macro Madison and a Crystal Serendipity.
June 6, 2007 - Steve Hoovler
I spent today on a guide trip with long time guide client Chuck Cadman and his son Greg. We had a great day wondering around the Firehole and Madison in the park. Early morning winds made things interesting, but we managed to find some fish on white miller emergers, pmd's, and even a streamer or two. We finished with a few salmonfly fish from the Madison by the Eagle's Nest. Thaks for another great day guys. I'm looking forward to next time.
May 31, 2007 - Steve Hoovler
It's been a crazy week weather-wise around West Yellowstone. A storm rolled in on Memorial Day Monday and dropped 3-4 inches of fresh snow on the Madison Valley. That system passed through, and now we're left with beautiful weather. It was warm and calm this morning. So, I ran up to grasshopper bank on the Madison. I arrived around 8:00am and saw a few small fish rising sporadically to midges, and an occasional baetis spinner. I crossed and worked up the far bank with a size 20 hackle spinner and caught two 10" browns right away. Twenty more yards passed by before I saw another rise. It was a nicer (15") brown tight to a weed bed. He refused me on the first drift. On the seond attempt a was a bit zealous on the front cast and the pile drived spinner spooked him. I worked upstream for another hour and found a handful of rising fish, catching about half of them and sending the other half running for Hebgen.
May 26, 2007 - Steve Hoovler
Today was the Yellowstone National Park openner. I've been driving in to lust over the Firehole for a couple of weeks, and today was finally my chance to hop in and feel a couple of fish pull. I fished the picnic area with what's becoming our openning day crew (Franny Gough, John Juracek, the original Larry and Cecil). We hit the water a bit late as Cecil needed to gorge himself on pancakes at the Running Bear. It was 10:00am before we pulled into the parking lot at the garbage can. Fish were rising when we arrived to emerging caddis, and an iris caddis rose quite a few fish right off the bat. After about forty five minutes, good numbers of pmd's began to emerge, and the fish swithced promptly. For the next hour and a half, a size 16 pmd sparkle dun (or probably any other size 16 dry fly for that matter) caught any fish that you presetned it to. It was awesome! We fished until early afternoon, and called it quits on account of wind and copious amounts of fish caught.
May 19, 2007 - Steve Hoovler
It's openning day in Montana, and I headed down to float the Madison from Lyons to Pallisades for the first time this season. It was a bit of a birthday float for Les Brunton. Despite a stiff wind from the south the river fished well. Nymphing was consitent through the mornign with rubberlegs and small nymph droppers. By afternoon we switched to dries, and rose quite a few fish (mostly smaller) with a size 14 Royal Wulff Cripple.
May 3, 2007: Craig Mathews
Despite the warm weather lately and the optimism we've had about spring, it snowed today, a good several inches. We could use a little more precipitation, and it sure didn't hurt the fishing, so who's complaining?
I headed out to fish the Beartrap this afternoon, just knowing it was going to be good baetis fishing. I started out with a MicroMadison Baetis nymph trailed behind a MacroMadison Beadhead. This is a great technique to use before the hatch. I came up with a couple nice rainbows and a hungry brown.
Nymph fishing is also fantastic with Guide Serendipities and RAM caddis due to the remnants of the Mother's Day Caddis hatch we've seen. If it warms up this week we'll have some good caddis in the coming days. The fishing this time of year is so variable due to runoff and weather patterns - it should be good in the upcoming afternoons as it freezes at night and warms up through the days.
Anyway, back to this evening, the baetis starting coming off in earnest between 4:00 and 6:00, and the fishing was great. I cast a Baetis Cripple to several nice-sized fish rising in a couple spots, and after reeling them in sat and watched the activity in the water. The fish I'm seeing are really healthy and good- looking, and I'm looking forward to what's shaping up to be a great spring and summer for fishing.
Hebgen Lake is on fire right now. All the ice is gone, the midges are huge, and the fish are hungry. The #18 Zelon Midge and the #16 Hebgen Stillborn Midge in pearl, red and black are all you need. Again, after catching a few it's nice just to watch the swallows dive, the trout rise, and the pelicans soar. Quake is a wash, and fishing between the lakes is colored up from Cabin and Beaver Creeks, but Hebgen is outstanding.
The Montana opener is just two weeks away, and the Park opens the weekend after. Jackie and I drove in this week to look at the Firehole. We're getting some last-minute things done at the shop so we'll be ready when the time comes. I'll tie up a few flies and fish where and when I can. Stay tuned.
April 22, 2007: Craig Mathews
I intended to go into work this morning, but when I took the dogs out for their morning walk at 6A.M. it was drizzling and 35 degrees. I had to fish one more day before returning to the shop and dying this year’s supply of zelon!
I arrived on the river at noon. It was still raining lightly, calm winds and 42 degrees. A day like this can put the Baetis emergence off until 2 or so. I found a few smaller fish midging in the slow margins along the pockets and pools below the riprap. The hail hit at 1P.M.
By 1:45P.M. the storm moved off, clouds lifted, and the mountains were covered in a new blanket of white, great to see, and it has helped move our snowfall-moisture totals near 85% for the winter.
At 2:30P.M. the water became covered with Baetis. A light rain began and the fish rose all over the river to the duns.
Really, by 4P.M. I had taken more fish than I should have, the last 2 were thebest, a brown and a rainbow. Both came up slowly and took my #20 Improved Baetis Sparkle Dun within a few feet of where I was kneeling in the water. I was literally surrounded by rising trout and had to walk away from them!
This week we will be working out the details of our soon-to-be released “Madison River” fly line, stay tuned. And, I have several bundles of zelon to tend to so my fishing will be limited! But, I did get in 2 great days back to back! It is a great place to be in spring. I hope to see you soon.
April 21, 2007: Craig Mathews
This afternoon, as was yesterday’s, was incredible. Both afternoons were snowy-sunny, calm and windy, typical April in MT! I worked this morning then drove downstream to Varney Bridge. I got there around 1P.M. and fished nymphs, yes nymphs, until 2:30 when a few Baetis mayflies emerged. The fishing was grand. Lots of nice rainbows and browns on Micro-Madison Midges and red #14 $3.00 Bridge Serendipities trailed behind a #8 rust-olive stonefly nymph. The rainbows took the trailer fly and a few big browns came to the stone nymph.
When the Baetis came off and the fish rose in very selected spots to them, I did well using a #20 Baetis Cripple. I saw one March Brown at 3PM, sign of things to come.This past Wednesday the Henry’s Fork fished well below Ashton, Id. Same deal here, around 1P.M. the Baetis came off in fair numbers and there were a few risers, nothing big but some nice rainbows to 16”. On both rivers the March Browns should appear this week and I hope to be there!
I tried Hebgen Lake near The Happy Hour on the way home Thursday. I took a dozen casts and caught 2 nice browns around 16” before a snow squall came in and the wind pushed the ice to shore and shut me down. Both fish took an olive/black soft hackle streamer and I did see one rise to a midge before being forced to the truck.
I know I’ve not been good in reporting in the “tying journal”. I’ve been too busy tying and doing 1% for the Planet presentations to TU and FFF groups around the country. At the Boise, Idaho event last week I’m proud to say we cleared over $32,000.00 in an hour of auctioning…all for the Henry’s Fork Foundation. Thanks to you all you came and stepped up to the plate. And a BIG thanks to Jock and Mark of Boise, ID for signing up their fine companies to 1% for the Planet!
I apologize but will do better next fall. I did turn in my fly order this week, a couple weeks early. I have tied over 300 dozen so far since Jan 1 so I’m on schedule for another busy year.
Our “Mayfly Tours” have been awesome. Stay tuned for our guides reports onthem in the upcoming weeks. The shop is coming in shape, material preparation ahead of schedule, local tiers delivering flies for the season and Jackie frantically cleaning fly bins and getting spring inventory ready.
April 10, 2007: Craig Mathews
Jackie would not let me go to work today. I’ve been all over the place doing 1% for the Planet presentations and fly fishing banquets and not enough fishing!
The day’s weather looked perfect, overcast and cool with forecasted rain and snow. I headed to the river and arrived at noon.
The first pool at the fence line was alive with rising trout. Midges were emerging and the fish were taking emergers. There was no wind, and the water is very low as the folks at the dam captured the first snow melt to fill the reservoir.
As is often the case with fish rising to midge activity, one fish caught puts the whole pool of risers down. I was lucky today; I caught 2 nice browns before the rest went down for the count.
I moved to the next pocket and fooled an 18” male brown on a #22 Zelon Midge. After landing the fish I sat and waited for trout to resume rising. There had been 6 or so risers and even after 30 minutes everything remained calm, even though a few Baetis mayflies came off.
The next pocket was incredible. Fish rose to midges and Baetis and even though I caught several, they were very tough to fool, but continued to rise despite my hooking and fighting trout which ran and jumped in the pool. Here I was able to photo a rising trout or two. It’s not a great shot, but it’s very difficult to sit and focus a camera when trout are rising all around you!
The temperatures never reached 40, a few times I had to break ice from my guides but it was a perfect day for midges and Baetis. The last fish came at 3P.M., a 17” rainbow. I saw it take a Baetis as I was walking up the bank to my truck. It took 6 “just one more casts” but what a way to end a great day on the river.
April 5, 2007: Craig Mathews
I spent the afternoon fishing the Madison below the Beartrap. I was around Varney yesterday. The weather seems to have leveled off, and the fishing has been great.
Midges have been coming off in large numbers, so I’ve been using Zelon Midges mostly and catching some nice rainbows and a few big browns. Last weekend I spent time collecting midge shucks. They weren’t hard to find, and it’s not hard to figure out why these Zelon Midge patterns have been so deadly.
I’ll be in Boise this weekend for a Henry’s Fork Foundation reception. They’ve invited me to speak about 1% for the Planet. I’m looking forward to being there and being part of an event that will raise awareness and funds for an outstanding organization. I’ll keep you posted on the fishing when I get back.
March 31, 2007: Craig Mathews
Despite the warm temperatures and sunny weather, Wednesday brought snow to our neck of the woods. The shop saw a flurry or two, but the snow fell steadily in the Madison Valley and from Big Sky all the way to Bozeman. I was at a meeting most of the day Wednesday, and ended up waiting until Friday afternoon to fish, thinking the cold I’ve been nursing might let up by then. Jackie and I left West Yellowstone a little early; I grabbed my gear when we got home and headed down to the river.
The temps were in the mid 40’s, but the wind was cold when it blew. I drove down to Varney and hiked far enough to find a sheltered spot. I saw a few rainbows rising to emerging midges, but they looked small. I cast into the run with a #20 zelon midge, and was surprised to take a nice-sized brown with my third cast! I took another 3 – 4 rainbows, up to 15”, before I moved.
The cloud cover was just right, although when the sun appeared the temp felt at least 15 degrees warmer. I hiked a little farther and looked for another place to settle in and look for risers. I saw a few midge larvae and a few emergers, but no rising fish. I couldn’t buy a trout on the zelon pattern, so for kicks I switched to the same #20 improved Baetis sparkle dun I fished with last week, still handy from the last time I used it. I caught one nice rainbow of 18”, and a couple browns before my cough came back with a vengeance and forced me home. I’m feeling better and will be on the water during the coming week, so stay tuned for more reports.
March 24, 2007: Craig Mathews
60 degrees and calm with a high cloud cover at noon, I had to fish the river. Jackie and I have been gone chasing bonefish, permit, and tarpon. I’d not yet caught my Madison River trout for the month. I’ve got a string of taking a trout on the river every month of every year, for over 100 months now and wanted to keep it going.
When I got to the river near Ennis there were plenty of midges in the air and an occasional small trout rose. I took a couple very small rainbows, then 2 plump 12” browns, on #20 Zelon Midges. I walked downstream and saw my first blue birds and robins of the spring, and found a nice 4 point whitetail deer shed horn. At a spring favorite spot of mine I sat on the bank and waited for over 20 minutes, watching the surface for risers. The best fish I saw was, at best, 10” and rising in the slack water next to shore. My first cast was taken by a 6” brown, then another. I rested the pool, disappointed that no larger fish were working midges. Several of the large spring midges were in the air, but none emerging. I tied on a #20 Improved Baetis Sparkle Dun and fed some line, making a short roll cast in order to strip more line off the reel for a little longer cast. The fly was taken about 8 feet from where I sat on a rock, by a fine 17” male brown that jumped twice. It really was cheating since I never saw him rise to any naturals, but he was a great fish and I clipped the fly off to paste into my journal at home. I did hook and land a couple more 12” rainbows and called it a day.
On March 22nd I headed to Valley Forge, Pa. to do a show for their great TU group. Yesterday, when driving home from the Bozeman Airport along the river just below the Bear Trap Canyon I stopped to watch for rising trout. I saw one small brown rising near the shoreline, and one lone Baetis sp. Mayfly emerged and fluttered off the surface and landed on my nose! A sure sign of spring, and the good fishing to come in the next several weeks. We will keep you posted!
March 17, 2007 - Craig Mathews
Steve and Sonja Sharkey, and Jackie and I are just back from a week salt water fishing adventure in southern Mexico. The bonefishing was tremendous, so was the tarpon, snook and permit angling. Here’s a mini journal of a few of our fishing days on the Mexican-Belize border.
6 March: overcast and 82 degrees with a northeast wind around 10mph. We headed into the large lagoon behind the village. Many tailing bones that came to our #8-10 amber bitters, as long as we presented the fly and let it sit on the bottom with no movement.
In the afternoon the skies cleared and the fish came to white TDF Shrimp.
8 March: sunny and 84 degrees with an east wind at 12mph. We headed into the small flats southwest of the village and found a large school of pre-spawning bones. The fish were flashing, coming to the surface, and cruising in a daisy chain. The water was at times stained golden yellow with spawn. We tried many patterns and could find no fly the fish would NOT take! Everything we presented was taken, and after an hour we begged our guide, Victor, to move to another spot. His reply, “this is a guide’s day off, we aren’t moving, you keep catching bones!” We obliged him, and finally, after lunch, he moved to another flat and mangrove area where we watched many permit and bonefish feeding and tailing and finally got to close and blew them up. What a day! Jackie and I had a couple doubles on bones too.
11 March: another perfect day, sunny and 82 with a light east wind. Jackie and I asked Victor to take us to a tarpon spot, and that he did. After jumping several, and landing 6 small tarpon to 18lbs along with 2 nice snook on blue and silver poppers we had an early lunch of homemade tortillas Victor’s wife prepared along with fresh habenero peppers and headed back to the flats. The afternoon was filled with single and double cruising bones that were tough, but we ended with several nice fish to 4 lbs. all on TDF Shrimp and amber Bitters. Met up with Steve and Sonja and Steve had taken a nice permit on the flats in very shallow water, both had scored some beautiful bones too.
The trip was our second to this area. It is, so far, mostly undiscovered with great accommodations, wonderful meals and awesome guides. We will be back next year!
Tomorrow I look forward to getting back to the Madison. Stay tuned!
Click here to see some photos of Craig and Jackie's last trip to Mexico.
February 25, 2007 - Craig Mathews
This afternoon, at 2P.M. Jackie and I decided to check out the river. It was 29 degrees with a stiff south wind but it is the last Sunday of the open fishing season on the Madison. The river will close at dark on Wednesday on the stretch from Earthquake Lake to McAttee Bridge, and not reopen until May19th.
We headed to spot where I’ve never tried winter fishing. I thought the aspens and willows along the shore would shelter us from the wind. Jackie trudged in on snowshoes and I post holed through the knee deep snow in waders. It was overcast and I thought we might have some midges. I smiled as we arrived to the spot as there was no wind, and a few midges scuttling about the rocks near the shoreline. A beaver dam just upstream was my target as I thought the fish might rise in the quiet backwater of the dam. I sat on the bank and tied on tippet and a fresh Zelon Midge and looked for rises.
My thoughts drifted back to many summer evenings on this stretch, and the resident beaver slapping its tail, and scaring me nearly out of my waders just as darkness fell and big trout began to rise to emerging caddis. The beaver did this to me many times over the past few summers and I vowed to get a friend to trap it in winter, but never did. I saw the rodent on several occasions, and twice got within 10 feet of it and even talked to it. I asked it politely not to slap its huge tail and scare me, and the trout off the river at dark. I guessed the critter weighed over 40 pounds, it never listened to me.
I saw no rising trout and Jackie was getting impatient sitting in the snow with the camera waiting for me to take a fish for a photo for this report. I changed flies and put on a #16 Tomahawk. On my 4th cast I hooked a beautiful 16” male brown that jumped 3 times. I landed the fish and when posing with the trout for the camera I noticed my old friend below his dam. The big beaver had been dead for a time. Patches of fur were missing from its hide and the big tail that slapped so hard on the river’s surface in summer, and frightened me off the river, and put rising trout down for the night was silently wedged between rocks. I wished that the beaver was still alive, living in its bank lodge along the river. Now, its small dam and the little pool and backwater created by the dam will be washed away during spring runoff. The good news is we will have a runoff as recent snows have skyrocketed our winter snow and moisture content nearly to “normal”.
I took 5 more trout, all rainbows, from the pool and backwater below the beaver’s dam. The last fish, on my final last cast was a 16” female that came to a #8 coffee and black rubber legged stonefly nymph.
It’s been a tough winter in many respects. Several customers and fishing friends have passed, and the brutal winds and cold temperatures along with ice flows most likely took out my beaver-buddy too. But there is light at the end of winter’s tunnel. This week it turns March, and Jackie and I head to Mexico to chase bonefish and permit. And, I look forward to returning March 12th to fish the early spring season on my river! I look forward to bringing you more frequent reports then.
February 14, 2007 - Craig Mathews
Today was beautifully overcast, dead quiet, no wind. The only problem was the cold, and even that was mild relative to other days, other winters. I drove to Ennis to pick up a rose and a box of chocolates for Jackie, and noticed the ice on the Madison was almost gone. I thought I’d forget about Valentine’s Day, but I didn’t. As I returned along the river, I could see rising trout, their white mouths popping out of the water, catching my eye and making it hard to go straight home. I decided the rose would survive the cold for an hour or so, wrapped in the plastic on my front seat, and if I fished long enough those chocolates might just hit the spot.
I started casting a dry fly, into the shallow riffle water right at the head of the run. Not a common spot to see fish, but there they were. I was surprised to see so many in such an unusual place, but I caught a pretty brown almost immediately. After several more casts and no response, I tied on a small $3 Serendipity and continued to cast to risers. Still in the riffles, I hooked a nicely-colored rainbow, a pretty nice sized trout for the location.
I moved upstream just a little and watched the water for a few minutes before casting the $3 Dip again. The snow was drifting down and collecting along the banks, and the horizon was hard to see, with the sky and the ground about the same light grey color. The #18 fly was just the right size, and I caught 3 more rainbows, all colored up. They sure stood out against that snowy backdrop. I called it a day after that, a good one, and headed back to the truck and home to my Valentine.
February 7, 2007 - Craig Mathews
Scotty and Carolyn and I hiked into $3.00 Bridge from Highway 287. A reminder here is that the road is closed to wheeled vehicles in winter so you have to walk, ski or snowshoe in. It was 42 degrees, mostly calm and partly cloudy. I worked upstream at first and they headed down river. There were heads coming up in nearly every likely spot when I sat on the bank to tie on tippet and a fly at 11A.M. Midges lined up on my line, leader, tippet and fly and I knew it would be a great day.
I took over 20 trout in 2 hours and then walked downstream to see how the Heppels were fairing. When I walked up on Scotty he was landing a 14” brown and said he and Carolyn were having wonderful action using midges. I visited with them for an hour and watched Scotty take several more trout before leaky waders forced me off the water. Scotty and Carolyn continued to fish until well past 4P.M. and reported catching some very large rainbows on the surface and below when dry fly action waned later on
Best flies for me today were #20-22 zelon midges, (a few larger trout were very tough to fool today with 20’s so I had to drop down to 22’s and it made a difference). Scotty and Carolyn had good fishing with #20 Stillborn Midges. I headed home to tie more of the above flies and hope for warm-wet weather in the days ahead. It looks like winter ’07 is shaping up to be a strong midge winter!
More to follow so stay tuned.
February 6, 2007 - Craig Mathews
Our friends from Big Sky, Scotty and Carolyn Heppel, arrived at our place at noon. It was 36 degrees and a south wind. We had lunch and drove to the Madison above the Grizzly Bar. Scotty and Carolyn stuck with $3.00 Bridge Serendipities and Jackie and tied on #20 Zelon Midges. They began fishing the water while Jackie and I sat on a huge snowdrift along the river and watched for risers.
It didn’t take long before a few fish began rising to good midge activity. My motto for the best dry midging is if you have adult midges lined up along your fly line and tippet, and a few males clinging to your fly, you are in for some good dry fly midge fishing. This was the case this afternoon, for an hour, until 2PM when the sun dropped behind the bench and the fish went down for the day. All-in-all it was a great hour. I hooked and released 7 or 8 good rainbows to 16”. Carolyn took 2 fine rainbows, one at 17” and very fat, and a couple smaller. Scotty had a couple trout and a whitefish.
We headed downstream and had very good nymphing near Standard Creek, again with $3.00 Dips, and Shop Vacs, and #8 Chocolate Brown and Black Rubber leg stone nymphs. Scotty and Carolyn fished the stone nymph and Dips and I tried dries fished blind but had to go to nymphs to take trout. We all took another 6-8 trout, mostly rainbows before calling it a day.
January 25, 2007 - Craig Mathews
After a dentist appointment in Bozeman Jackie and I beat it home as temps rose to above the freezing mark for the first time in 2 weeks. I hit the river near Standard Creek, below Lyon Bridge at 2:30pm. Between dodging icebergs floating down the river I managed to take 2 rainbows and a brown, 13-15” on #14 brown $3.00 Dips in an hour of fishing.
The fishing was slow, I thought, due to all the floating ice which was dislodged and broken off the shoreline with the warming temps. None-the-less it was great to take a few nice fish! The rainbows are really coloring up with their spawning time only a month away.
The forecast is for colder temperatures to invade Yellowstone again this weekend. In the meantime, I’ll get back to the vise.
Had a great time in Cleveland last week, at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History doing a presentation on fishing in Yellowstone, and The Yellowstone Park Foundation’s Fisheries Initiative, see our “Articles and Essays” web page for more on this program. I will be doing another presentation March 22nd in Valley Forge, Pa for their TU group.
Stayed tuned for more fishing and conservation news from Yellowstone.
January 14, 2007 - Craig and Jackie Mathews
Check out some shots from Craig's latest outing.
What’s wrong with these pictures?
Answer, Craig isn’t fishing in them!
Being that it reached a whopping high temperature of 2 degrees this afternoon, after a low of minus 20 degrees this morning, and the river is but ice flows we decided to take a few photos and tie some flies and finish an article on the threat of dams in Chile, and stay near the fire. On Thursday morning we have saw the mercury dip to minus 48 degrees in West Yellowstone.
Craig heads to Cleveland, Ohio this week to present a program to The Cleveland Museum of Natural History on “Overlooked and Under-fished Waters of Yellowstone” for The Yellowstone Park Foundation’s Fisheries Initiative Project in the park.
The forecast is for temperatures to moderate into the low 30’s by week’s end so stay tuned for a report as Craig returns on Thursday, Jan 18th and hopes to fish then. Until then, we will be near the fire, hoping for a warm up!
January 10, 2007 - Craig Mathews
Jackie and I had to go to the dentist in Bozeman this morning. On the return trip the car’s thermometer hit 41 degrees in Ennis at noon. I sped home to fish! The forecast was for a cold front, a very cold front, to hit later today.
I gulped down a sandwich and hit the river at 1:45PM. It was still 34 degrees and the wind now switched to the north. By 1:55 I had my first trout, a fat 16” rainbow that jumped twice. I continued upstream another hundred yards and took 2 more rainbows and 3 browns, all good fish, 14-16”. I could feel the weather change coming, and the wind coming up stiff. I decided to move to another spot, behind a wall of willows that would be protected from the wind.
I fished another few minutes after I moved and hit another 3 rainbows, all nice fish and colored up in pre-spawning colors, to 15”. By now my rod’s guides were freezing up every cast and the wind was blowing a gale. It was almost 3PM when I got back into the truck to drive home. The truck’s thermometer read 27 degrees.
This morning, 11 January 2007, we awoke to a foot of new snow and minus 14 degree temps with strong north wind. Jackie and I settled in to tie flies and wait out the storm, no way we were making the 45 mile drive in to West Yellowstone and work!
$3.00 Dips and Shop Vacs were the go-to flies yesterday. I’ll tie some more for my boxes today!
January 1, 2007 - Craig Mathews
Even though the sun’s rays felt warm, my truck’s thermometer registered a measly 12 degrees at 11A.M. None-the-less, I came to fish, but thought I’d first look for a few mallards and give it a chance to warm up.
My waders had been in the bed of the pickup only the 5 minutes it took to drive from our garage to the river but, they were stiff and frigid when I slipped them on. Undaunted I grabbed my shotgun, a couple decoys and started walking the river searching for ducks. The ranch horses pastured along the river decided to walk with me and gave up my position to the ducks and geese I tried to hunt. After slugging through a half mile of snow with nothing to show in my game bag I returned to the truck to pick up my rod. At the truck I gave up my fishing idea as the wind came strong from the north and the temp had dropped to 11 degrees
Later, around 3P.M., Jackie and I had a nice cross country ski and returned home to lamb chops and football bowl games. The weather report calls for a warming trend later this week, I’ll fish then and get you a report, the first one of the year. I know 2007 will be an awesome fly fishing year so stay tuned here for our reports!
