On The Drop.....

Very pleased to catch this fish, and a few others, on the drop yesterday. I love the experience of surveying the water in front of me making my decision on where to put the lure, casting to the spot and before the Softie has had time to hit the bottom its BANG fish on. Also chuffed that the bold colour choice paid off, I went for the loudest colour I had due to slightly dirty water, which didn't seem to put the fish off. Hooked and lost one on my third cast then went for an hour or so trying everything everywhere then it turned on for around twenty minutes part of which I was catching or getting hit by Pollock or Bass quite frequently.

Pretty good for the end of Oct after a week of bad weather. Oh, and on the weakest tides of the cycle....

Halloween Post

root and pike river fly fishing salmon (racine county, wi)

Every week during work me and Neal will spend 10 minutes a day talking. We both work for the same company even though we are in separate buildings. We get together on the phone to talk about previous fishing trips, discuss current conditions, or to strategize our upcoming weekend outing. This week was no different as we made plans for early Saturday morning to hit the local tributaries for whatever salmon were left over. We both woke up later then planned but got out there in time to have a very relaxing morning.

Last weeks rain brought in a decent run of late season fish. That water has disappeared leaving the rivers depleted again. We were prepared for low-water conditions again and spent most of our day trying to sight fish deeper pools on the Root and the Pike rivers.

The Root River was flowing around 40CFS and the Pike River was flowing in the single digits. We spent the morning on the Root combat fishing shoulder to shoulder. We would try to hold down a small section of river real-estate but it was inevitable that somebody would creep up and try to fish the same pools. It took all of two hours before we had enough and decided to hit the road. As we left the only thing I noticed was a completely full parking lot with more people arriving.

We made our way south to the Pike with hopes of receiving some solitude. There were 2 cars parked on the bridge and that look far more inviting then the parking lots we just left that had probably 20. Far less people were fishing the Pike and there were far less fish but I guess that only makes sense! Neal hooked up and landed a nice fish on his first cast. The rest of the morning we walked a good distance and only came across a handful of fish all of which were sitting in the deepest pools.

neal with a low-flow coho

another look at the fish

Global Wetting

Oh the weather. Mother nature has a way of letting us know who is boss. She has been giving us the one, two punch combo for a couple of weeks now. If it is not raining it is blowing and when it stops blowing it starts raining. Ahhhhhhh......... global wetting.

Needless to say I have not been out much. I do not mind a little wind or rain but there comes a point when enough is enough.

Take for instance our last session out with Richard and his brother in-law Perry.

The plan was for us to fish on Thursday. A little heavy tackle a little light tackle, catch a few fish, have a good time.

I am up at 5am and head down to the water to see the conditions. Looks ok, but a little rough in the channel. I call Richard at around 6am and he says we go for it.

We load up the boat and head out.

It does not take long for the weather to head south on us and before we know it, everyone is wet from the rain. Credit must be given to Richard and Perry as they persevered in the wet and continued to fish.

From fishing with Richard

Richard in action with the reef barely visible in the background.

From fishing with Richard

Perry showing the proper way to cast in a tropical down pour. Notice you can not see the reef.

We were soon chased inside the reef as it got too rough and the wind was howling. Once inside we switched to lighter tackle and calmer waters. It was still tough going and in the end only one fish was brought to the boat.

From fishing with Richard

A small Bluefin Trevally.

We gave it our best shoot and stayed out until our underwear were wet. At that point I had to call it quits and Richard and Perry had to head of to the airport.

Our trip home was interesting. Zero visibility, driving rain and rough seas. Thank Garmin for GPS.

From fishing with Richard

Tight lines and dry skivvies

Z Fish Report (10/30/10)

Beautiful clean 85° water is only 6 miles off the beach. For most of this last week the fishing has been very slow, with most boats getting only a sailfish or a dorado a day, and several boats getting blanked. With the favorable moon phase coming up, and looking at the improving conditions, we are expecting a major turn around this next week.
            After only getting 1 sailfish on Sunday, and blanked on Monday, on Thursday the super panga Huntress with Mike Bulkley and Captain Francisco went out 30 miles to the 1,000 fathom line. Just beyond the line they picked up a sailfish, and on the way back, at 28 miles, they got lucky and found a floating tree. It was loaded with fish. They picked off 6 nice dorado averaging about 15 pounds, and even a small California yellowtail and amberjack.

Francisco on the Huntress

Since the rains have stopped, the inshore has cleaned up considerably, and this week our season will renew for what we hope is another November for roosterfish like last year. Last year was incredible.

Ed Kunze

Bob's Brown

Today I took Bob and Mike out again for a half day trip. They wanted to stay in pursuit of a big brown with streamer techniques.At about 10 am we had only landed one 15 inch brown and 6 or 7 chunky rainbows. We had new water coming down river and decided to go jump into it head on. We put the boat on the trailer and got after it. Once we reached out new destination, our first pass turned a few big heads and we landed this 21 inch beauty. Mike caught another smaller brown and a rainbow. We had some more great water to cover but they had to catch a flight. I would say the move was well worth it!

Myakka Minnow works well throughout the country



Jonathan Allred said Texas bluegill love the Mighty Myakka Minnow

 I knew I'd come up with a great fly. I had no idea it would work so well across the country.


Jonathan Allred, a client of mine from near Dallas, Texas, emailed me some photos of some hefty bluegill he caught using the Myakka Minnow.

I'd given Allred a couple of Myakka Minnows during his last trip here. I wondered if he'd had the chance to use them?



He did well. And, he said, "with a red tail, they'd be perfect for grayling in Alaska."



Allred isn't the first to tout the Myakka Minnow. I received an email from Steve Piper of San Diego, Calif.



"I saw your FAOL article and tied up a couple on Friday night.



"We were fishing Diamond Valley Lake in SoCal and stripers and largemouth were busting threadfin shad. They were so focused on the shad that they would not take our flies. Sounded very much like the situation you described with fish and minnows.



"Most of the morning, we had to let the flies drop way down in the water column below the boils -- to 20 feet or so -- to catch a few.



"However, during some long lulls, I tried the Myakka Minnow -- shad variation -- white marabou



tail, pearl diamond braid body with felt tip cool gray back, and UV knot sense to seal the body, no weight. It seemed like everytime I cast it, it turned up a fish -- all very small -- including 8-10" largemouth and a plump bluegill.



"We went back to fishing big flies deep, but at the very end of our session, I tried the Myakka again to see if it really was "magic" -- yep, nailed another small bass to end the day.



"We were laughin'..."



"Got a Myakka for the big models? That was amazing."



Glad you had a wonderful experience with this amazing fly. And, yes, I do have a Myakka Minnow for larger fish.



The beauty of the fly is that it can be tied on any size hook to meet your needs. A couple of years ago, Capt. Rick Grassett of the Snook Fin-Addict in Sarasota told me that he has some large tarpon eating glass minnows, but couldn't get them to hit conventional tarpon flies. I tied him up a couple of Myakka Minnows on 3/0 hooks and gave them to him.



Couple of days later, he called to tell me that he'd finally jumped a couple of those tarpon.



"All they wanted was the Myakka Minnow," Grassett said.



Another angler in North Carolina emailed me to order a dozen Myakka Minnows. I tied them and sent them to him.



He said they were heading to the Florida Everglades and had heard the minnow worked well there. But I didn't hear from him for six months.



Finally, I received an email, detailing his trip. He told me they didn't catch a fish at the first stop, so they put the boat on trailer and headed for another spot.



Same story.



"Finally, I remembered I had the Myakka Minnows you tied," he said. "I put one on and started catching fish. It's the only fly they'd hit.

"The Myakka Minnow said the day!"

On another occasion, Capt. Al White of Boca on the Fly and I took famed fly tyer Ward Bean to the Everglades. It was the wrong time of year, but Bean, who resided in Iowa, was in town and wanted to go.

Bean ties some elaborate hair bugs. They're so beautiful that I consider them works of art.



If was last June, the water was up and it was hot. I was no time to be in the 'Glades. I usually fish there late November through April (the dry season).



Fish was slow as expected. Bean caught a couple of fish on his hair bugs and other flies. I totaled 40 assorted fish (oscar, Mayan cichlid, bass, bluegill, stumpknocker and peacock bass) on the Myakka Minnow. I offered Bean a couple of minnows, but he wanted to stick with his flies.

Although I'm not a commercial fly tyer, I do take orders for the Myakka Minnow. Because of the epoxy work involved, I sell them only by the dozen. Cost is $45 per dozen (plus shipping).



If you want to try this amazing fly, you can email me at steve@kayakfishingsarasota.com or call me at (941) 284-3406.























It's Fall In the Ozarks!

So its officially fall in my book. Lots of guiding. Great weather and Brown trout! Today I took Mike and Bob out for a taste of the Little Red River. We started out throwing streamers and turned a few heads. Bob caught this 18 inch'er early then it died off. We went to nymphing and beat on them for a while. After lunch We did some wading and Bob got into some nice fish on streamers again. Landed a 24 inch'er. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture and lost a few other that were maybe bigger. We continued to bang on fish on streamers and right at the end of the day Mike landed this nice two footer!

Damn; The Sun !

GETTING GONE

Firehole Bound

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.. There's a chance that winter will be on hold for a few days. We're headed to the Firehole River to see what the trout think.
.. There's still scads of Fall Runners in the Madison River - far more fish than fishers this year. The rumor is that the water is now too cold. Hmmmmm, I guess fish don't eat for six months in some places. They are eating here now.
.. More tomorrow or the next day. Right now is too good to pass up.

-------

.

Monster Fulton County Buck Bowkill

Very few hunters get lucky enough to kill a Boone and Crockett caliber deer in their lifetime. Some hunters get lucky enough to kill a Boone and Crockett caliber deer more than once in their lifetime. Some very skilled hunters get lucky enough to kill a Booner every few years or so. Then there is Ryan Pudik. He doesn't just kill one monster buck of a lifetime every year, but he usually gets two with his bow.

Here is the behemoth he shot last night. It worked out conveniently that I was headed to do some work out at Otter Creek and was able to snap these pics:

Here are the stories and pics of the two giants he shot last year:
Otter Creek Monster Deer

Another Otter Creek Monster Deer

Ryan isn't just an average hunter though. He is a land specialist who not only knows the ins and outs of hunting, but he also knows deer and land. Kind of like many people know how to fish, but not many people know fish. That actually is the key to being able to catch fish consistently, kind of like how Ryan kills big deer consistently.

Anyhow I have been working on many of the same projects over the last few years that Ryan has also been working on, and just this year we have teamed up to together to provide complete turnkey land and lake management services. Also in order to offer a full line of hunting and land improvement products along with our services we joined up with Jared Plattner of huntplots.com. Our goal is to eventually become the best full service lake and land management company in the nation. I am a dreamer I know, but it takes a determined dreamer to accomplish great things! One by one we are putting together the pieces of the puzzle.

Utilizing Wetlands for Stocking Fish

Today we headed out to Otter Creek to drain the wetland and relocate the fish to the lakes on the property. We have a variety of lake management uses for wetlands. We use them as growout ponds to grow gamefish to big enough sizes to stock into existing lakes. We also use them as forage ponds to grow forage all summer long and then flush them into the main lake to feed the gamefish. We sometimes use them to plant waterfowl food and then flood them. Occasionally we use them just to naturally enhance the crawdads, bullfrogs, toads, and other beneficial wildlife on a property.

So you get the point that there are many different uses for a wetland. I would like to say that in order to be the most productive, it is best to define and design your wetland to fulfill your exact goal. Anyhow, this particular wetland is an ongoing experiment and has been used for pretty much all of the above uses at one stage or another and what was left was a mixed bag of interesting craziness.

It has been drained and planted and filled and stocked and foraged and drained and filled and stocked and then not harvested last year and stocked and now we were very interested to see what in the world was in there. Here is a pic of the draining wetland.

We relocated tens of thousands of bluegill, shiners, crappie, and gizzard shad to the big lake. We also flushed tens of thousands of those fish down the tube and straight into the Canadian lake as well. Also we relocated about 100 of the biggest smallmouth and all of the largemouth into Big Lake, and flushed the rest of the smallmouth down into the canadian lake.

Here are the pics of the largemouth and smallmouth. The largemouth were in the wetland for 2 years, and the smallmouth were in for just one year.

A big thank you...

A big thank you to everyone who was at the opening day . It amazed me the amount of people who turned up to the official opening and I would just like to thank everyone for making the effort and taking the time to come along . It has been hard work setting up a tackle shop but seeing the crowd that turned up on Sunday made it all worth while. So again thank you all very much.

Cian.

Nick Hart and Henry Gilbey arrived over last thursday for a marathon week of bass fishing and to help out with the opening day. The weather was mixed while they were here but we still managed to get some good fishing in between what at times were difficult conditions with the lads having a very enjoyable week with the bass making an appearance at times, Nick managed to get his first bass on lures and now has the bass bug bad!! For some great pictures from there week here take a look at Henrys blog here

James.

Fair Chase

LESS THAN 40 MILES
FROM HOME

On Horses

no fences

(click to appreciate)

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.. Just a note about the neighbors. Get up early. Pick your spot. Ride quietly. Stalk correctly. Aim well. Shoot. 85 yards.
.. Not a fence in sight. Not a fence for 10 miles. Just 35 miles from home. Should score near 400.
.. Back to fishing tomorrow.

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.

Largest Tuna So Far of the Year, Caught in San Jose

These impressive photos show a HUGE tuna caught yesterday by a group of Candians, at Gordo Banks. Cabo John, Mike Nelson & Ken Bond took four hours & 35 minutes to reel in this cow on  80 lb test, using a Penn International 30 SW, standing up and taking turns at the fish.  The hook up occurrred at 8.20 am.  First picture shows the thrilled but exhausted group from left to right  Ken Bond from Calgary, John Penny from Toronto & part time Cabo Resident  &  Mike Nelson from Texas,...John told us "It was the most exciting fight ever". The second photo shows the girth of the fish on the fillet table and the third picture is perhaps the most unusual, of a close up of the monster tuna's throat. It is interesting to note that the fish was caught from a super panga, showing that you don't need a big boat to catch a big fish. This is very encouraging for participants of the WON Tuna Tournament coming up next week......they are out there.

Gulf Shores Trip Day Six- Our Last Day

This was our last day at the beach down in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The rains and storms cleared out and left us with some hot sunny weather and some big waves. I figured the kids would be scared of the ocean waves, but after they watched Justin and I do some boogie boarding they were ready to jump right in!

Here are some pics of just playing on the beach and at the pool for our last day of vacation. We did do some fishing, but didnt do any catching in the short amount of time we devoted to God's favorite pasttime. (it's fishing for those of you who arent religious).

We finished off the evening with some pizza delivery from Cricco's and the movie How to Train Your Dragon from the local Red Box. Noah was so exhausted from the day, he actually fell asleep and tumbled over onto the couch while still chewing on a bite of pizza in the middle of a sentence explaining how tired he was. I havent seen that before, it was like someone hit him with one of those animal stun darts.

Anyhow that was our first time using red box movie rental and it worked out pretty slick for just $1. We actually returned it to the red box in Morton on our way home after watching it during the car ride home.

So we headed for home at 3 am on Tuesday morning and made it back to Peoria at 4:45 pm. It was a long day of traveling, but overall the kids did great. About noon my dad texts me over this picture:

They went fishing at the Gulf Shores State Pier and caught 2 sharks, 15 big croakers, 10 ground mullet, a sting ray, that big redfish, and had 6 fish break their lines. We actually barely ever fish the pier, but since they completely renovate the pier after the last hurricane it has been dynamite fishing! We will be more prepared for Pier fishing on our next visit!

So to wrap up this trip, we stayed at Lani Kai Village Condos right on the beach in Gulf Shores. All the condos through Meyer Realty are half price due to the oil spill scaring away all the vacationers. We fished at the little lagoon pass, perdido bridge pass, the gulf shores state pier, and right off the beach in front of the condo. The pier costs $8 to fish from, but everywhere else was free. Just toss shrimp or pinfish out into the water and hold onto your pole! Our favorite place to eat is Bahama Bobs beachside cafe just a short walk down the beach from the condo (you dont need to go anywhere else for the islands best food). The girls made a few visits to the Tanger Outlet Mall and the only other attraction we went to was the Gulf Shores Zoo. The whole 6 day trip for our family of five including condo rental, gas, food, bait, license, zoo, and kayak rental costed about $950.

Fellas, the one thing that does not include was shopping at the outlet mall and souvenir city. I can't really count them as fixed costs into the vacation budget if I dont have a clue how many hours I worked in exchange for those new clothes and fancy smooth souvenir rocks, I would more classify them as a cost of living expense......

Bisbee Prize Money Breakdown

3rd Place :C-Bandit was the top boat in prize money earning $614,613 for third place, due to the different jackpots they enetered.

4th Place Dream Weaver: earned $440,238 due to the different jackpots they entered, across the board.

2nd Day $10,000 Jackpot Winner: Team Tiger Spirit $255,000 after the $10,000 Daily Jackpot rolled over.

1st Place: Team Rehab earned first place tournament honors and $254,905 in prize money.

2nd Place Based on several categories (except the $10,000) , including second place tournament and daily jackpots, team a Reelaxe won $176,530.

Sporty Game took the Day 2 $10,000 jackpot prize. Sporty Game's winnings totaled $127,500.

El Lobo, first place and $37,846 in the release division

Reservoir Jigging for Pike, Perch and Zander

All across the country, trout reservoirs have opened their doors for predator fishing with lures and deadbaits. Although I flyfish reservoirs for Trout, Pike, Perch and Zander year round, once the predator fishing season starts I can't wait to give these vast waters a try with all kinds of lures. Since October 2006 my Dad and I have fished every opening day, and this year with no exception we had a boat booked for that magical time again.

These opening days have been very kind to us, we've had some great times - and some great fish too. One of our most prolific days was catching 27 fish on the opening day - my first 6 casts produced 6 Perch, which were all over 2lb 8oz! We went on to catch 7 more Perch to 3lb 1oz, 11 Zander to 11lb (which was my P.B at the time), and 3 double figure Pike. Last year, I caught a P.B Pike on the opening day at 29lb, which is one of my proudest fishing moments. I also had another of 12lb 8oz, and Dad had a nice Zander and a 3lb 1oz Perch.

Without a doubt, We were back again this year. Since June 16th we'd caught a good string of Zeds to 12lb 7oz and Perch to 3lb 9oz on the fly, plus some good Pike, I felt confident that we’d be in for some more sport. Armed with a jig, I cast out and had a bite within seconds. It felt a good fish but when I got it to the boat, I didn't expect to see a big Bream! It was hooked perfectly in the mouth and had taken my large shad! Not what I was expecting but a nice bonus! Soon after though, we found a shoal of Perch and boated 9 to 3lb exactly, plus 2 other crackers that both went 2lb 14oz and a nice Zander.



Trying a variety of different areas around the lake paid off too - I landed a cracking Brownie of 6lb 4oz, which is my second biggest from the venue.


Dad also landed another nice Perch. Unfortunately, the day flew by and it was soon time for the boats to head back in. Although 15mph winds had made fishing uncomfortable, it had been another great opening day, boating 14 fish in all - five different species!

After fishing it on the opening day we planned to return the following Sunday and at 8am the door of the pontoon was opened to the awaiting anglers. The boats were soon heading off in all directions in the hope of that special fish.

After a fifteen minute boat ride I cast out my jigged shad and on my very first cast caught a lovely 2lb 13oz perch. Unfortunately, every year the venue gets a lot of pressure on the first week and the fishing had become a lot tougher since the previous weekend, so we decided to move. Drifting and casting in search of fish, it wasn’t long before my Dad landed his first Pike of the day - a jack of around 6lb. Another half an hour later, as he held his big shad under the boat, whilst straightening up his cap, a fish took the lure and a quick jolt of the rod saw him in to a good fish, which we netted at 17lb 2oz.

Not long after, his rod was bent again, but when we came to net it, expecting a jack Pike or big Perch, a 5lb Roach Bream Hybrid had somehow eaten a 7 inch shad! It seemed so strange as I had boated a Bream on our last trip on a lure - now Dad had done the same, only this was a Hybrid!


Five minutes later, Dad was in again! This fish felt much bigger than the previous one, and after a good fight, a beautifully marked 21lb 8oz Pike was in front of the camera. By midday Dad was giving me a thrashing and I was in need of a little bit of a comeback!


After a couple of hours of Pike fishing, we began to focus our attention on the Zander - the main reason why we’d returned that day. Moving on to another part of the reservoir, we quickly boated two Zander, one of 7lb 6oz, and a baby of 2lb. As the breeze began to pick up slightly, we decided to start fishing our jigs vertically from the boat instead of casting. Within 5 minutes of lowering my jig in to the depths, I felt a sudden tug through the braid, and hooked up. The fish gave me a bullish, head-thrashing fight on it's way up to the boat. It felt heavy and I began to worry it would throw the hook. Dad soon came to the rescue and scooped up my Zander, an immaculate 11lb 4oz fish.

Trying a variety of shads and split tails in various colours, two hours of vertical jigging quickly passed with no bites, so after a slight relocation, we began casting our jigs instead. Dad accidentally cast over my braid, and we both got tangled up. Both frustrated, he tried to untangle the mess whilst the jig was still dragging along the bottom. Still untangling his braid, he felt a heavy weight on the end of my braid. It was certainly heavier than a jig head. It then began to thump! He quickly passed the braid to me, and after giving a short pull to set the hook, I carefully played the fish by hand from 40ft of water up to the boat.

Sliding the fish in to the back of the net we weighed it to be 12lb 8oz - a new P.B by an ounce! I can’t imagine many 12lb Zander that have been handlined from 40ft of water!


After another move I cast out again, but before the jig hit the bottom... BANG! I had another solid take. After getting ourselves out of a huge mess and releasing a great Zed back to it’s underwater home, I found myself in another fish battle. It was safely netted and in the boat within minutes. The scales read 10lb - my third double of the day! It had been a great comeback from the morning, and I had evened up the scores between us both. Another great day on the water!

Less than a week later, this time flyfishing for Trout, I fished in the England Youth Flyfishers Association's Captain's Match. Unfotunately, I had a bit of a stinker as I lost both of the fish I hooked. It was a tough match and the heavy rain and strong winds didn't help either. Well done to the anglers that did manage to catch fish! Despite the weather, it had been a great day meeting the other team members, which I'll be fishing with in the International matches next year.

Just two days later, we were back for more predators as we couldn't resist giving it another go. There had been a hard frost the night before and it was very cold, but at least it was sunny and the wind was fairly calm. Despite the weather, the fishing got off to a slow start, and it wasn't until around 10.30am that I got my first bite of the day. I hooked it whilst drifting and casting jigs. The bite was from a cracking 3lb 5oz Perch - a fish that would make any angler's day, certainly mine. Trying here and there we began to find the odd Zander. I landed a nice fish of 9lb 1oz and my Dad followed with two 8lb+ fish. Time was running out so we made a last minute dash to another spot where we'd caught fish in the past, and in a hectic last 15 minutes, we landed four Zander of 9lb 12oz, 8lb 10oz, 8lb 2oz and 2lb - awesome fishing! - what a shame we'd run out of time and had to go back to the lodge. - I'm sure we could have caught a couple more!

I can't wait for our next trip - not quite sure where though, maybe to the Thames for some big Perch?!

Pick Your Poison

BIG FISH or MANY FISH

EASY FISH or BIG FLIES

LITTLE FLIES or . . . etc.

-------

.. It's that time of year. The bug and fish tango has many beats; pick yours and enjoy the dances.
.. Just about all rivers on the west side of Yellowstone National Park are seeing eager fishers and hearing exclamatory whoops of joy and exultation.

.. You may not catch what you are fishing for - but you will catch fish. On the surface, in the film, high column, mid column, or down deep: the fish are eating up a storm.
.. A stupid-silly way to pass a whole day on any of the the rivers would begin with a surface double of a midge cluster and a spent mayfly, (or dredge streamers for the submarines.)
.. By mid morning nymphs, soft hackles, and streamers would bring action. A blooming of bugs will grace the waters shortly after noon, (did you eat lunch?)
.. Midges by the billions and Baetis by the millions will keep the trout rising like popcorn. As the shadows turn to dark, fish some spent mayflies again and deep streamers, (with a Prince Nymph on point.)
.. With just a little luck and perseverance you'll die exhausted and happily fished out. Your arms will ache, your eyes won't focus, (spectacles or not,) and your under things will be wet from the eager sweat and other bodily fluids.
.. About the time you finally drag yourself away from the river, hunger will have turned to starvation that can't be stayed by a simple meal.
.. If you didn't die from exhausted joy on the stream you will order the giant prime rib dinner, baked potato, and Caesar salad; preceded by a shrimp cocktail appetizer with a cold one, and followed by a double helping of cherry cheesecake and two snifters of Kahlua. Coffee and Ice Cream should put the finishing touches on the perfect day.

-------

.. For day number two, (if you live through day number one,) pick a different spot on the river. The results will be the same.
.. From Baker's Hole to the junction pools on the Madison River there are rises going wanting.
.. For some unknown reason the late Autumn fishers are fewer this year than in recent memory, (just an observation - not a complaint.)
.. The persistent rain (and bits of sleet and snow,) on Sunday was truly a blessing for the trees that are dying of thirst - fishers rejoiced too because the sacred Baetis clouds should continue to allow those that must see their fly fish on the top.

.. The willows below Baker's Hole still hold bears, elk, moose, hunters and very large fish. Only the neighbors dare fish here.
.. Even with the campground gate closed and locked Baker's Hole is a big magnet for fishers this year.
.. The catching has been consistent and the fish are not just long but plump as well. Purple and/or Black Woolly Buggers along with giant soft hackles are the choice here - it's working well.

.. The Madison River inside Yellowstone National Park is yielding good fish. The low, cold water has concentrated the fish in many of the unusual places.
.. Holes and hides are a bit different this year and it's going to take some 'water savvy' to dredge up the runners.
.. Resident fish are thick as . . . well you know!
.. One suggestion: please don't stand in the foam lines or the deep holes. It confuses the poor hungry fish and they have a hard time picking the chow from your mud plume and waders.
.. Whether you know it or not - fish know that those rumpled pajamas that you're wearing are not tree trunks. Standing crotch deep in the Madison River means that you've found where the fish were - just before you got there.

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Saw these dimples. Spent 5 minutes taking pictures of the ones that were readily apparent. Baetis hatching everywhere. Fish moving from hide under the bank to the slick, and taking the bugs right at the shadow line. Was so fascinated that catching was put out of mind. (Click for big image of dimples & such.)