THANKS

A PAUSE FOR US ALL

Thanks Be . . . .

amen

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.. We've too much to be thankful for. Passing 14 lustrums and heading for another is the big one. Freedom to fish or not to fish. Friends - family - neighbors - etc. you know it all. It's more poignant as the years pass.
.. About 1,000,000 hits on this little family and friends notepad. And the big one: fishing this afternoon on a stream that is un-named and seldom fished even by the neighbors.
.. Enjoy the day. Trite as is seems counting blessings is soothing at our age.

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Adios Visitors

TIME FOR THE NEIGHBORS

Snow Is Not A 4-Letter Word

very and cold are 4-letter words

View Toward The South Fork Last Night.

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.. Minus 15° F is on the border between cold and very cold in our neighborhood. Happily we are not sleeping outside.
.. The weather mavins missed this one! We're hoping they are correct about the coming warm up and the chance for some continued productive fishing.
.. As the pubs empty of visitors and their chatter about "too-cold-to-fish" and their comments about Siberia, the neighbors are geared-up for some spectacular catching.

The Evil Eye Of The South Fork

.. There are still 19 days of catching to be had among the forgotten haunts and holes of the South Fork of the Madison River. Here the fish are far larger than those that run up the Madison River into Yellowstone National Park.
.. The fish are mostly untutored in the ways of fly fishers and seem to be willing to grab any thing with a hook in it = even nightcrawlers and Mepps.

Easy Access

.. Many of the motels in our village are closed as the staff gets laid off and mom and pop head to Jamaica or Hawaii or Belize, or some such place. Visitors flee from town when there is snow and the temperature reaches single digits.
.. The neighbors feel blessed that they have this glorious time & water all to themselves. With the recent snow, access is easy on a snowmachine and the elk hunters can hear you coming.
.. The old adage about keeping your fly in the water is most appropriate when the air temperatures get below -10° F. Half a chicken worth of feathers becomes a colorful icicle very quickly with more than just a couple of false casts.
.. Most of the neighbors fish close and roll cast, (a forgotten art form among the testosterone laden Spey flingers.)
.. The neighborhood fly box is quite a bit different from the one that the feather merchants sell for the Madison River in Yellowstone National Park.

Hornberg For Now

.. Small and medium sized flies with gobs of "internal action" are the favored offerings of those that have fished the Fall run for decades.
.. As we've mentioned before, the old and dowdy Hornberg is a local favorite. So too, the small wet flies of bygone days. Flies like the Scarlet Ibis, Lead Wing Coachman, and Whitt's White Wing.
.. Mash them up good and separate the feather parts into individual strands. Not too pretty but very effective.

#4 / 2xl Soft Hackle

.. This year we've seen some giant soft hackles and some imitation salmon flies that seem to be working just fine. Most of the sizes are tied on extra long hooks of the 4 and 6 variety. Occasionally there will be a 4 / 2xl thrown into the mix.
.. The Fall run on the South Fork is a bit later, (by weeks,) than that on the main stem of the Madison River. It started just a little early this year, (to the surprise and delight of a few savvy kids in the neighborhood.)
.. Usually the catching heats up to mercurial dimensions about the last week of the season. The biggest fish are in the system by the second week in December and they draw some fish watchers, (the riverine equivalent of bird watchers.)
.. Well, it's up to 1° F on this sunny and balmy Fall morning. We've finished the huckleberry flapjacks and the second pot of coffee. There's a stale dozen "grocery store" donuts on the front seat of the car and the neighbor kids are tugging at our epitome to get there before the other old farts in the neighborhood do.

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The Glorious And Unmolested South Fork Of The Madison River.

SNOW FUN

BREAKFAST BBQ

Have A Huckleburger

it's our own silly tradition

THE BEST BREAKFAST THIS WEEK.

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.. It's not mainstream. It's not fancy, exotic, elitist, or designed to "WOW" our visitors. It is, nevertheless, a damn good hamburger - even if we do eat it at the crack of dawn - in the snow.
.. One of our neighbors owns a little spread just west of town. His annual gift to the neighbors is a bit of freshly butchered choice Angus beef. We always select the hamburger because it's ground together with enough fat to be tasty and produce little fire-popping explosions - you heart healthy folks can cast aspersions as you wish.

LOOK !!!  A wood fire.

.. Juicy, not crispy, is the way we still cook the meat. Pinkish and with lots of carcinogenic wood smoke from the embers that were a fire, not some sort of pressed dung and mastic in little marshmallow shaped turds.
.. In celebration of the Last Week of Fishing in Yellowstone National Park we get up before the dawn cracks. Have some coffee, stomp our feet in the snow, talk about the balmy weather, and start the fire, (we do use gasoline instead of "fire starter" - for shame.)
.. By the time the coals are ready we've become warm and hungry and, have added some "juice" to the coffee - it's another bit of silliness we've concocted.
.. The burgers are served with plebeian accouterments such as salt and pepper and WILD HUCKLEBERRY BARBEQUE SAUCE. This morning we also had some home made french fries and sliced tomatoes. {{Wonder of wonders, there were decent tomatoes at one of the markets in the village.}}
.. Now it's time to load the caravan. We've decided to fish at the same spot this year. That should raise some eyebrows among the traveling hoards that are not visiting the park to fish. We'll monopolize the good water, commandeer the best pull-outs, and become, (for one glorious day,) the absolute asses that we despise and deride for most of the year.
.. Film at eleven.

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Today's Lovely Fall Colors - (as seen at breakfast.)

WEE PAWS FOR DIGESTION

Word Of Mouth

BIG FISH BEING CAUGHT

Madison & Firehole Hot

follow the cars to fish heaven

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.. The jungle telegraph is a wonderful thing. Whispers in the aisles of feather merchants are amplified by the retelling in the grocery store, post office, hardware store, and bank. They become open conversation in a matter of minutes. Texting is double-thumbed through the village and soon it's common knowledge that everyone should head to the river.
.. Within an hour excuses are made and an exodus of fisher folk are streaming to the appointed place. It's a social event and - fish be damned - everyone gets to the hot spot.
.. Usually the fish are gone, or the hatch is over, or visitors from elsewhere are there first. It matters not. The word has spread and the hot spots stay that way in current mythology for days or even weeks.
.. We appreciate this wonderful social mechanism. It sends people away from the waters that we like to fish. It's a boon to iconoclastic anglers, hermits, grumpy old farts, and our self.
.. Right now, as the hoards are flocking to the famous rivers we are leisurely fishing on the Gallatin River and a couple of it's tributaries. These waters have been abandoned and ignored by the most sage of jungle telegraphers.
.. The Gallatin River waters are forgotten and touted as "too cold," "done for the season," "not worth the effort," and other, wise insights. So we catch some fish, talk to the trees, sing to the bears, scare the elk, and leave the cell phone at home. We're pleased.

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.. It's range is just a neighborhood thing, (most of the town,) but we like the novelty of it all. At 3 AM it's good company to the first cup of coffee.
.. The fish are jumping into the neighbors' waders on the Gallatin River. More tonight.

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THE PINHOLE GALLATIN

.

Gone Wanting

CULVERTS & BRIDGES

Unloved & Ignored

we'll take 'em

FOOD & AERATED WATER
CONCENTRATED INTO 3 STREAMS - YUM !!

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.. We've been told, (and we believe it,) that trout love water with a high oxygen content. We've also been told that trout like to wait in slow water adjacent to fast food-laden water, (we believe that too.)
.. Culverts and bridges provide places for trout that like to wait in slow, oxygenated water, and nip some morsels from a smorgasbord sailing by their position. We believe that as well. So, we fish them.
.. There are many culverts and several bridges in Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding neighborhood that we visit on a regular basis. Seldom do we not catch a fish or two, (or more.) It's almost too easy.
.. The dark water is easily seen. The fast water is well defined. Sun and shadow changes throughout the day so we need to note that. Fish 'hides' are present in abundance.
.. Because of the concentrated streams of water, channels from the high-water periods are persistent and regular. Talk about fish in a barrel. It's just too easy for the purist seeking to match wits with a pea-brained fish.

ONLY THE SHADOW KNOWS

.. Stream and river banks on both the upstream and downstream areas are usually stabilized with concrete or rip-rap.  This makes the hides and cover persistent. This is convenient for both the fish and the angler.
.. The water columns present a variety of foodstuffs and the trout will gobble many different things in a feeding session. Beetles, ants, neotenous aquatic forms, adult aquatic forms, terrestrials of all sorts, sticks, twigs, clumps of sand grains, etc.
.. Infrequently the trout will even rise to the surface and pluck lovely floating stuff from the surface. Sometimes it's digestible.
.. Because of the diversity of waters and the concentration of food, there are fish of all sizes to be found. The bruisers are where you'd expect them to be. The dinkers are there too. Frequently there are monsters in 3" to 8" of water. Bless their little pea brains, they give us a fright when they take our errant casts.
.. Cars, trucks, buses, motorpickles, bicycles, skateboards, and other sundry vehicles pass by these glorious catching places without a second thought. Probably without a first thought.
.. This is not the "postcard fishing experience" touted by advocates of our region and the feather merchants. It's a real-life, loud noisy, occasionally stinky, catching extravaganza. It appeals to us because we can walk to the fish with little or no effort, and they reward us with dances.
.. We mention these structures a couple of times each year. They are still abandoned when we visit them. The fish are lonely and forlorn because no one wants to play with them. We happily comply with their wishes: there's nothing so frustrating as a sulking fish!

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POCKETS, POOLS, UNDERCUTS, BENDS, RIP-RAP, SHALLOW, DEEP:
WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE ??

(THE IMAGES ARE GIANT AND MAY BE USED FOR WALLPAPER.)

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.

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