Short - n - Sweet

WEATHER COOLING

Snow A Possibility

fish on a rampage

A combined 50 years experience guiding on the Madison River - and still a discussion about the correct fly.

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.. As the temperatures return to the "SLEEPING WEATHER" range the fish are cavorting in all the usual, (and a few unusual,) places.
.. Go to the Northeast Corner of Yellowstone National Park for challenging fishing and rewarding catching. Slough Creek is low, aquatic bugs are intermittent, ants and beetles will prick a fish - BUT - there is no sloppiness tolerated. Soda Butte Creek is even lower and slower. The Lamar River, when clear, is providing some excellent catching in the still, & dark waters of the canyon and below the confluence with Cache Creek. Lucky fishers will bump into BWO's and Drakes, otherwise keep digging in your terrestrial and attractor boxes. Big nymphs and soft hackles should be available too.

Here; fishy, fishy, fishy.

.. The glorious colors of wild Brook Trout can be found on the willing fish of Obsidian Creek, the upper Firehole River, and the small waters of the Gibbon River above Norris Campground. Your favorite attractor should match the colors of the fish - catch as catch can!
.. Up on the park section of the Gallatin River there are still fish to dance with. The water is low and slow but the recent rains have finally added some substance to the flows.
.. This means additional terrestrial bits of chow as well as the occasional BWO hatch.

Bite Me.

.. The Madison River is providing a lot of exercise for fishers right now. The runners have dispersed themselves throughout the system and may be encountered just about anywhere. The further upstream you go the less dense the population, (with a couple of notable exceptions.)
.. Displaced resident fish are eagerly eating Prince Nymphs, Soft Hackles, and Shop Vacs. Stiff hackles and drowned and mashed caddis flies will also gather in the residents.
.. It's hardly fashionable to fish with patterns from the distant past. We do it because we're a bit of a slow learner.

Well Aged Meat

.. Several of the neighbors, (ourselves included,) have recently taken some good sized Brown trout on giant nymphs of the obsolete variety, and some wet flies. Shame on us!
.. The Casual Dress, Lead Wing - WET, and Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear - WET, are producing nicely for the retarded geriatric set.
.. It's a strange feeling to discuss these flies with visitors of the seasonal sort. They have read the books and bought the flies from the finest feather merchants across the land.

Silly Looking Fly

..They are here to participate in the Fall Frenzy. They never heard of the dumpy flies we use. Catalogs and seasonal counter clerks will out!
.. The Queen Of The West Side rivers is doing her finest right now.
.. The fall fishing and catching on the Firehole River has been,  (not to put too fine of a point on it,) SPECTACULAR.
.. Autumn weather has graced us with cooler days, intermittent rain showers, clouds to moderate the bright sun, and predictable bugs. White Miller Caddis are the staple with a smattering of BWO's, (or something similar.) The fish are perky. They are alert. They are plentiful.
.. Recruitment over the past few gentle winters has produced a pretty dense population of fish in the 10" - 14" range. A few monsters still live under the grass-draped banks just north of the parking lot in Biscuit Basin. Your footfalls will be heard if you go galumphing through these meadows.
.. By all means get here yesterday. There is a forecasted possibility of snow and blustery weather in the upcoming days and weeks. The cold and wet weather brings out the best in our west side rivers. Miss it at your peril. Have you reserved your room? The town has been full the last 5 days.

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Fish Here Only If You Know The Bears On A First Name Basis

Interlude

THREE HOT DAYS

It Don't Mean A Thing

it's just a capricious mom

Empty Bridge Over The Firehole River

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.. The colors are Autumn: the temperature is Summer. Grasshoppers are loving the brief pause in the steady temperature decline into Fall.

Funny How They Look Gray From A Distance

.. They get to warm up earlier in the day. They get to display their surprising colors for all to see. They get to fly in squadrons around the amber meadows. They get to feed more birds and fish. They just know how to  live. The hot interlude is just mom being a sad comedian.
.. Fishing is still good in Yellowstone National Park. Terrestrials are claiming most of the attention from feather merchants and experts alike. Hoppers, ants, beetles, spiders, and sundry attractors are doing their thing as they entice fish to the hand.

Closed Means Closed

.. We headed to Nez Perce Creek in an effort to enjoy some solitude and cool water.
.. Surprise! The bear is being persistent and the trails along the river have been closed. The crowds are gathering along the road and over the bridge. The bear is nonchalantly providing entertainment as it enjoys the cool water, abundant ants, hoppers, berries and beetles.
.. For us, it's not a photo-op but rather a grave disappointment. We had to walk about twice the same distance up the Firehole River to find the cool water of the Little Firehole River.
.. It's a chore for our legs and the reward, (besides the dances with trout,) was a visit with a neighbor who was bitterly whining about the same things that we were.
.. Not a single fisher nor photographer that we talked to had bear spray. None considered themselves in any danger. None had heard of the recent death by bear. None could, apparently, read.
.. It's a sad state of affairs when the illiterate masses with $4,000 cameras and $12,000 lenses can't read, and believe that the National Park Service is just a cartoon force. Believe it or don't: this IS bear country.

Safety Tip: Put The Kids Between You And The Bear !

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.. Soda Butte Creek is attracting anglers without bear spray and, of course, the meadow bear is still there. Catching is very good on both Slough Creek and the Lamar River. Bugs is the fare when hatching. Terrestrials and attractors when no hatch is present. Sneaky and closed-mouth fisher folk are drowning big Woolly Buggers and Silli-Legs in the meadows of Slough Creek. We wonder why?
.. Up on the Gallatin River the same critters are being gobbled by the bears and fish alike. It seems, right now, that any old attractor, (size 8 or smaller,) will take fish.
.. There are three active bears along the Gallatin River inside Yellowstone National Park. Combine this fact with the interesting notion that only one feather merchant in town carries large canisters of bear spray. We wonder at the marketing forces at work given this condition.
.. Bear spray costs about the same as two days worth of commercially tied flies. Unless you lose less than 5 per day. It also costs much less than a ride in a medivac helicopter. Enough of that!

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..The mosquitoes of Bechler seem to have taken a break during this warm spell. Boundary Creek, the Bechler River, and several not-to-be-named tributaries in the Cascade Corner are getting a fair amount of attention from fisher folk. Flying ants and beetles seem to be the predominant offerings that are taking fish. Bless 'em all: we hope bear spray is in attendance for the dances.

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The Last Days

AUTUMN STARTS IN AUGUST

Contrarians Of The High Country

neighbors are using streamers again

THUNDERSTORMS KEEP THE RIVERS AND AFTERNOONS COOL

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.. It's a well known fact that it takes something special to live where winter outlasts summer by 90 days. The neighbors enjoy their weird predilection for salmon-like behavior.

THESE CRITTERS IS HERE IN NUMBERS

.. Just when grasshoppers, microscopic midges, Tricorythodes, and small black beetles are being espoused by experts & peddled by the local feather merchants; they drag out the rubber-legs & streamers.
.. Fish the little flies and terrestrials if you choose: they work fine. But casting, working, retrieving, and back-stripping of streamers is a skill that takes some re-acquaintance for most folks. The neighbors are just getting a jump on the seasons and honing their skills, (and catching fish as a byproduct.)

SPRUCE MOTH OR CADDIS ?

.. The nights are cool, (an occasional 30° F is seen,) the afternoon storms are regular and the rain is cold.
.. Yellow and brown colors are gobbling up the vegetation in our neighborhood and leafy plants are sprouting curled and drying leaves.
.. The berries are ripe and ready; currently being savored by bears and brave neighbors alike, (the crop is early, huge, and juicy this year - spread your own old wife's tale.)
.. For those that need direction we suggest a squashed caddis imitation for the Spruce Moths on the Gallatin River, Madison River, Gibbon River, Nez Perce Creek, and the Firehole River.
.. The fish in Soda Butte Creek are eating their usual assortment of beetles, spruce moths, drakes, and big nymphs. A Green Beetle followed by a Shop Vac should provide more dances than is seamly! Avoid the elbow ridden meadow section and fish the pockets and pools of the little canyons and incised stream course. The bears need warning so sing songs.

GRAY BAETID IMITATION

.. Drag out your "A" game for Slough Creek. Drag out the big bugger box too. The hybridization of the native cutthroats does not seem to have 'dumbed-down' the cutbows. Slow drifted submerged flies, (near the grassy banks,) will catch some large fish - or scare them to the next pool.
.. When the Baetis are up, the fish are a bit less selective but still not a push over. The latest rage on Slough Creek is to squeeze a foam bobber over the first hook and follow it with a Bead Head Nymph, (your choice.)
.. The thundershowers are keeping the Lamar River in flux. When there's no mud and a hatch it may be the best attractor dry fly fishing in the park.
.. If there's a bit of color haul out the heavy artillery and sink a bugger and hang on. The continuous freshets have kept groceries at a high level in the river.

SNORTLE'S SCORING WITH BUGGERS

.. The short canyon section is known for bruisers this time of year. Be congenial and swap ring tones with the other 2,000 fishers in this short stretch.
.. The Notellum River, just outside of West Yellowstone has been getting very little attention this season. That's just fine with us. The Bridge Run, and the Esses are full of fish that are outsized for the little stream - they're lonely and need some company from the neighbors. Streamers and Snortle's are getting plenty of action near both the paved road and the county road. The recently closed USFS road has been mysteriously reopened, just in time for bow hunting season.
.. Catching is good right now, and promises to get better as the cool weather persists. The timely thundershowers will only keep you and your lightening rod off the rivers for a few minutes each afternoon. Take the opportunity for a bit of Havana and some amber liquids before dinner.

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NOTELLUM RUN ALONG THE SECRET SECTION OF NOTELLUM RIVER
(Note: no foot path here.)

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Wee Paws 4 Kawz

THE COLOR OF NOSTALGIA

Beautiful Cartoons

yesterday is always best
{brief fishing report too}

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.. For 41 years straight auto enthusiasts have made West Yellowstone the terminal destination for a mid summer migration. Fishing is in the rumble seat for a couple of days as we participate in the ritual.

.. The contemporary migrants with these beauties are of the same geriatric generation that tends to dominate the demographics of contemporary fly fishing. They are filthy rich very affluent well to do aging males with a passion for capturing a dream.
.. The vehicles are no longer the HOT RODS of bygone days. They are cartoons, nay, caricatures of a real or imagined ideal. They are beautiful and perfect in their own right.

.. The initial American Hot Rod Era was a very brief post WWII phenomenon that was truncated when Detroit discovered the popular passion for street speed and performance. For a very short time the amateur ruled in creativity, imagination, and performance.
.. The vehicles that are descending on our little town recall, but do not recreate that era. They are built or bought to fulfill some vision of a bygone time. They are full of modern technology. They are contemporary products that could never have been imagined in 1946. They are used for a myriad of social purposes never dreamed of in 1951.

.. These are vehicles that are owned and driven by an age-grade of citizens that was shunned by the current members when they themselves were young.
.. There is a lovely pathos present in this ritual. It evokes memories, dreams, situations and times that have become dim with the passage of decades. It is a ritual that is part recreation and part reenactment of an era that lives in American folklore.

.. The participants gather together. They no longer are vibrant teenagers seeking speed and performance from their daily drivers. They are not young combatants from a recently terminated world war that invented or innovated a better manifold, front axle, or muffler.
.. Today they wear designer togs and eschew tattered work clothing for contemporary imported styles. They buy pieces and parts from specialty manufacturers and assemble them into dream machines; painted with paint and in colors that have come straight from their long gone wet dreams.

.. The vehicles, in and of themselves, are works of art. They are beautiful, sleek, slick, perfect, and tuned with money that was not available for such things during those decades long past. They are a celebration of what should have been - OR - what could only have been dreamed of. They are what we thought we wanted. They are what we pretended was an ideal to be achieved.

.. They are brought together in a fashion that would never have happened 60 years ago. They are pampered, polished, fondled, and stroked, rather than driven. Many are towed on trailers to the appointed destination and then babied into the correctness of stance for admiration.
.. Ah, such is the state of these beautiful beasts. Their function has metamorphosed along with their owners. No longer do they rumble and roar and instill fear in a sane public. No longer do they get driven on a daily basis. No longer are they constantly changing and being "tinkered with." No longer are they used to embarrass the local constabulary in a high-speed chase.

.. Now they are reminders of a recent past that becomes embellished and augmented with the retelling of tales that never were and probably never could have been.
.. The HOT ROD of today is a "TUNER." It's built in Asia or America has far too few cylinders, whines instead of roars, and is driven by youngsters that one day, themselves, may become portly, pudgy, and ponderous. Their cars are nimble, quick, full of contemporary technology and serve the dual purpose of daily transportation and occasional reckless recreation. Perhaps their drivers will recreate their dreams 60 years hence. Perhaps not.

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.. Should you choose to fish rather than admire the sculptures, there are great possibilities in the neighborhood.
==> Obsidian Creek will yield eager Brookies to any properly presented attractor on the surface and most nymphs dangled below a bobber,
==> The lowland Madison River is fishing as it should have last month. Little nymphs such as the Shop Vac will be just fine,
==> The Gallatin River is a dream fishery right now. Use an Elk Hair Caddis followed by a Prince Nymph everywhere,
==> The Firehole River is a marginal bet for great catching but fish it if you must,
==> Nez Perce Creek above the first thermal area is going like gang busters right now, attractors of any sort on or in the water will suffice,
==> The big meadows on the Gibbon River are still productive for the accomplished fish stalker, the little meadows above the cascades are a better bet for fun catching,
==> Slough Creek is dead-nuts ripe and will provide good catching all day on nymphs and on the surface for those that need to see their fly,
==> Ignore the experts and fish the colored water of Soda Butte Creek you'll be the first to be bragging about the size of the fish. Avoid the confluence meadows and wander in the narrow sections seeking bears and brutish fish.

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THE WAY IT REALLY WAS

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