All Messed Up

EYES WATERING

Nose Running, Neck Swollen

tongue hanging out

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.. Runner fever is competing with the elk rut. Interestingly, the elk have just barely started to mill around while the fisher folks are all pretending that there are runners to be had. Such a sorry state of affairs. Patience, in this case, is more than a virtue: it's a necessity.

.. The giant elk are still in the high country. The giant runners are still podded-up in the estuary arms of Hebgen Reservoir. We've not even had a spit of snow, nor a really hard freeze, (31° F is not a hard one at all !!)
.. For the time being there is great fishing to be had - both inside Yellowstone National Park & around the periphery. There are still gulpers on the lake, and the monster Trico hatches seem to just be starting.
.. The Firehole River is beginning to behave like a Fall river. There is fog and mist in the cool mornings and surface fishers are competing with streamer fishers for the once again active fish. Many fishers are still wearing out the drag on big fish in the tribs. The concentration of fish moving out of Iron Spring Creek and the Little Firehole River is drawing a symphony of elbows in and around Biscuit Basin.

.. Hoppers persist in the meadows of the Madison River. They are also all along the park line from The Barns Holes to Baker's Hole - and a bit beyond at the edge of the trees on The Flats.
.. The muck and mire of the Grayling Creek estuary and the Duck Creek estuary show the post holes of knowledgeable fishers as they cast to the staging fish waiting to sniff their way home to a sexual frenzy.

.. We've been on the Gallatin River of late. The purple San Juan Worm, little Purple Beetles, and Elk Hair Caddis with a Feather Duster Dropper are all excellent choices for catching.
.. Some of the die-hard surface-fishing neighbors swear by a Royal Wulff or a Royal Coachman. Others fish a Humpy and call it a Goofus Bug, (oldsters they are, some even tie the Goofus Bug.)
.. The bears seem to be everywhere. A sow grizzly and cub are around Specimen Creek - still! There is a giant cinnamon colored black bear near and around the confluence meadows of Fan Creek. Remember to fish with a friend, sing very loud ribald songs, and have your bear spray in your shooting hand.
.. Finally, (for now,) Nez Perce Creek, above the thermal features has been producing some outsized fish to rather large soft hackles in hues of yellow and orange. The local fishers prefer to call the colors "Dark Mustard," and "Burnt Umber." We've seen them. They are yellow and orange. Certainly not available at any self-respecting feather merchant in this neck of the woods.

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