Blonds Have More Fun

WEIRD NEIGHBOR SCORES

Walmart Duster Rules

such a simple thing

Crazy kid used the wrong color !!

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.. The catching on the Madison River between the lakes is picking up. There are packed trails in the snow rather than parallel rows of post-holes.
.. The fish are after the midges on occasion. And, on occasion, they will be taken on the top. But, truth be told, blonds have more fun.
.. Hereabouts there's a small, ambitious, energetic, and slightly off-center group of local residents that refuse to believe that fishing with a fly is only a 4-month proposition. These kids are not habitues of the dusty aisles in the local fly shops. They are hard working sons and daughters of folks that have lived here for a few decades, (or more.) They wear shorts and sometimes go barefooted through December.
.. They fish with worms and flies and spinners, and anything that catches fish at the moment. They cherish their time on the water, (or ice,) and don't fool around with the arcane minutia of proper fly fishing. Just can't be bothered!

.. On rare occasion they will travel to the glorious catastrophe that is Bozeman. Of course they head straight for Walmart. Prices are good, selection is extensive, and the produce in the grocery section makes the local fare look like . . . well, unmentionable poop.
.. On a recent trip Tommy, (his real name,) found himself near a trash bin and spied a genuine, ole-time feather duster.
.. He grabbed it and found a "sales associate" and asked if the duster was really being thrown out.
.. Long-story-short: through several levels of the store hierarchy he continued to ask the question untill it was determined that the bit of fluff on the stick was indeed used-up and being thrown out. He smiled and poked it in his rear pants pocket.
.. Being deeply inculcated in local lore, Tommy knew that he had secured a treasure beyond belief. This was the stuff of legends. A real feather feather duster. He had several years' supply of fly tying material.

.. Upon returning home, Tommy was assailed by his mates. You foolish dolt! The color is all wrong.
.. Our neighbor Wally, (his real name,) used the dark gray or black feathers when he invented the FEATHER DUSTER FLY.
.. Well, Tommy, being of the working class, was not going to let a bit of color stand in the way of his feather dusters. He tied up a few dozen and passed them out to his friends at the local pub.
.. Of course you know the outcome. The off-color flies worked just fine. In fact they are the current neighborhood rage. It will die down in a month or two - OR - a year or two, who knows?
.. But for now: BLONDS HAVE MORE FUN, sticking fish in their mandibular parts.
.. We bring this bit of information to you as a public service. There are too damn many hungry trout between the lakes. They are begging for blond beauties. Natural, of course!

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It's getting deep in town.

Not The Typical Pair

THE LITERATI CRINGE

The Simple Approach

ice auger's getting workout

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.. There's only a week left before February smashes into West Yellowstone. We're using it to rest up before the onslaught begins.

..We have boxes and boxes of winter flies. We love them all, we cherish them, we even use most of them on occasion: but, time and again we return to just two for most of our winter fishing.
.. The Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear Wet Fly & the Sierra Bright Dot often suffice for every situation above or below the surface. Both can be fished either wet or dry. Both are easy to tie and both stab fish jaws with satisfying regularity.
-- These flies have the additional distinction of being rare today. Neither is sold at the local feather merchants, neither is the latest and greatest, neither is full of fancy hard-to-get synthetic materials, and neither will leave you fishless.

--The "neighbors-of-the-auger," usually have one of these tied to their rig along with maggots or meal worms or bulldog flashing blades. They are a secondary attractor beneath the ice but they are common and will take fish.
.. The NORTH AMERICAN ICE FISHING CIRCUIT is holding it's $21,000 Regional Qualifier on Hebgen Lake February 3-5. The neighbors are on the lake en-mass and dragging in the fish. Practice is essential in this sort of thing.
.. The current midge hatch Between The Lakes is drawing the faithful to the open water. Often times a twin rig with a Prince Nymph and GRHE-W is the weapon of choice.
.. The true and faithful dry fly fishers use a small Sierra Bright Dot. Correctly tied the fly presents the perfect attack: the fore & aft hackle combined with the dark tips of the pheasant seem to entice the starving fish into a frenzy of idiocy. There are three targets with three specular patterns and they are close together. The fish seem mesmerized by the little fly. The red is easy to see, (so too is orange or yellow.)

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Madison Madness

TIME TO GET IN LINE

A Few Rooms Left

fish eating their way toward sex

LOCAL HOLE ON THE MADISON RIVER

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.. The annual Fall Fishing Frenzy is upon us. It happened slowly this year but it has finally happened.

A FINE MIX

.. Word, somehow, spreads rapidly when the runner population finally reaches a density compatible with success rates higher than steelhead fishing.
.. All the obvious places are now populated with throngs of eager fishers and a few fish from Hebgen Lake. The Madison River is now a destination fishery for headhunters from near and far. Motels are filling up fast.
.. Autumn is an interesting time in this little village. The tourist population takes on a character of a different sort.
.. Since school is back in session, parents of school children are now dealing with backpacks too large for their offspring's back.
.. The geriatric set visits in droves and late visitors from Europe and Asia find the Fall weather appealing.
.. Both fishers of the crusty and gonzo variety are milling around and through the mix of gawkers and walkers.
.. The pubs are full at night. Feather merchants have retained their eager seasonal staff in a final push to enhance the bottom line. Restaurants have added frozen Idaho trout to the menu. 'Tis a scene and sight to behold.
..Catching is not spectacular yet, however it's getting better by the minute. The early morning thundershowers and billowy-clouded overcast has added to the feeling that fish are to be had.

DOLLY LLAMA

.. The "Big 'n' Ugly fly boxes are in profuse abundance and wader tracks are on the floor of the popular trinket shops, restaurants, and pubs. Wader friendly lodging is at capacity and the 'normal' motels are bearing up under the onslaught of spikes, cleats, and muddy felt.
.. Get here now and join the fun. Learn to say "buggers" and "rubber legs" as if you had those words in your normal vocabulary. Don't let your tongue stumble over the syllables in "Cranky Crummy Cricket." or "Gob-O-Worms," or "Dolly Llama."
.. The DOLLY LLAMA is a creation of a fisher from the deep south, (Orem, Utah,) and was featured in the Salt Lake Tribune last year.
.. Curtis Fry provides a tutorial on YouTube for tying this articulated enticer. A few of the neighbors have used it with success, albeit it a hook size or two smaller!
.. Well, the coffee is gone, the rain spots on the windshield have replaced the bug guts and the sun is burning off the mist and fog. It must be time to exercise our park permit.

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THE VIEW TOWARDS THE REAL BAKER'S HOLE

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Sbmarine Sightings

BIG FISH CAUGHT HERE

On This

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.. Try this at home! A standard Woolly Bugger with a two-toned tail and a two-toned hackle over a fuzzy mustard colored chenille that is under-weighted with fat copper wire and scrubbed to within an inch of it's life with a stiff toothbrush, size 4 streamer hook or 6 2xl will do.

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Say What ?

SUSPICIOUS BUGS INVADE

It's Been Some Time

the cicada visitation

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.. The neighbors and ever-alert guides from around here have noticed an increase in the cicada population. So? Fish eat them when they can. And, now they can!

.. We were alerted to the increase in these hoary bugs by long-time fly fishing guide Chris Herpin, who hoarsely whispered in our ear - "I don't know that I should tell you this, BUT, there are more cicadas this year than even you have ever seen!"
.. Often you won't see the big bugs but you will hear them. The launch ramps and lunch spots on the lowland Madison River are full of the song of the cicada.

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Click on the player to hear the song.

Image of CicadasFromMontana CM020501

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 .. The cicadas of Montana hatch every year. They sing and chirp and get eaten by fish with a gusto that would make a starving Pit Bull envious. You can read about the impending invasion HERE.
.. Chris did not reveal the flies he was using to woo the big trout on the river. He did note that nary a fly shop in the area had any cicada imitations for sale. He did say that there are some patterns in the competent fisher's boxes that will do. But there is a secret pattern making the rounds in the musty dark corners of the local pubs.

.. Should you see a group of dripping souls huddled together in out of the way places it might be a sagacious act to eavesdrop on their whispered conversation. If it's not about sex, or beer, or gas prices; it's probably about how to tie the lace-winged-wonder-pattern that takes big trout faster than a speeding minnow.
.. The fly is large, (cicadas can be 2" long.) The fly is light and casts like a dream. The fly is easy to tie and is being banged out by the virtuoso fluff artisans in town. So far we've offered bribes of significant dimensions and substance but there's no headway being made on that front.
.. Mr. Herpin suggested that there are some things that are best left unsaid and mysterious. We badgered him for a good 20 minutes but received no coherent responses. He left our presence muttering and mumbling about grizzled old farts and something called a "MEGAFUGLY." At least that's what it sounded like to our wax-laden ears.

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CLICK HERE

.. Local recipe and variations RIGHTCHERE.

It's Just Nuts

NEIGHBORS GONE WILD

Fish Completely Bonkers

the worms crawl in

MYSTERIOUS VISITOR FROM ENGLAND

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.. It is the best of times and the worst of times. Fly fishers below the ice, and fly fishers in open water are using the same flies and doing very well.
.. It's so good that fish are jumping into waders. It's so bad that exotic license plates are outnumbering the neighbor's plates.

GARDEN HACKLE

.. The switch to artificial worms is early this year. There are some skeptics that poo-poo the San Juan Worm as not fly fishing.
.. Well it may or may not be. Orvis sells them in their fly catalog. Orvis also sells several other "non-fly-fishing-flies." The neighbors love them. The fish eat them with gay abandon.
.. Even the Gob O Worms has made it appearance early and is scoring fish in the 5-pound class, (through the ice.)
.. And then there's the fly at the top of the post. We don't know it's name but it comes from England. We committed the unpardonable sin of stealing it from a neighbor's fly box while their back was turned, (toward us and behind a bush.)
.. We have apologized and further humbled our self in the effort to find out the name and source for this segmented wiggler - to no avail. Our misdeed has sealed the lips of the former friend. The damn thing looks like it's molded of vinyl or some such and reminds us of a sunfish lure, (even though it's not yellow. Now there's a thought!)
.. Several times each year we receive grief in major doses from the neighbors for revealing secrets of place or kind. This post is sure to bring down a flood of ire as well.
.. For the uninitiated we show the various non-flies that the neighbors are using right now. These things are usually tied at home but, many are now available commercially. Even if you eschew their use, they will provide excellent conversation starters and stoppers.

SAN JUAN WORM

.. The San Juan Worm is often called THE DEVIL WORM. It has become a staple of fishers that want to catch fish. Many pretend it's an imitation of a Herculean blood worm. That may be. Perhaps fish dream of these things and lose control when one floats by. Currently the red variety is in vogue on the rivers while the purple or two-toned variety is being used under the ice.

GOB O WORMS

.. The Gob O Worms is a much disparaged cluster of San Juan Worms on the same hook. It has the distinction of being invented locally, (or so we've been told.)
.. It can spark vile and evil outbursts from fishers that are usually friends, (LINK.)
.. It is featured on websites around the region, (LINK,) and is now sold commercially by Idylwilde Flies, HERE. And sold as well by the Driftless Angler, HERE.
.. Purple, puce, flesh, and red colors are all being used right now. The fish are inhaling these at a record pace.

APPS BLOOD WORM

.. This year many of the neighbors that usually kindly provide us with flies have turned to the Orvis Catalog. There are some offerings that suit their fancy and they bought some for pattern prototypes.
.. The Apps Blood Worm is the current favorite from Orvis, (LINK.) It turns out that the fly is just a San Juan Worm with some "flexi floss" tied through the body and separated at the bow and stern. The little red darling is not as effective under the ice as on the river. But on the river it's quite the phenomenon.

MEDUSA (red)

.. Another San Juan Worm variant from Orvis is the Medusa, (LINK.) This is, presumably, a fly that will not get you funny looks from your friends.
.. It's supposed to represent a blood worm cluster, CLUSTER WHAT? It is sold in several colors which suggests that blood worms are chameleons, or have projectile tongues, or some such. This creation is yet another SJW variant with a fat body and clipped floss.

MEDUSA (pink)

.. The pink variety featured by Casters Online Fly Shop is doing well under the ice. It's being used with bits of garden hackle and the fish seem to prefer the artificial.
.. Most of the neighbors, feel that both varieties are the same species and that the folks that tie for Orvis ran out of red and used pink.

SHAKY WORM

.. A minority opinion is that the red is male and the pink is female. As soon as we capture some in the seine we'll let you know.
.. Orvis is kind enough to provide even another interesting worm imitation called the SHAKY WORM. It's similar to the rest of these SJW variants but has a pretty glossy body. It also comes with a bit of Phly Phising Philosophy.

MONEY QUOTE FROM ORVIS:

This is not fly fishing heresy. The fact is trout eat worms and not just the ones we fish with. Worms exist in the stream and imitating a worm with artificial patterns is no different than imitating an insect. If it works, use it. Trout fishing worm pattern in red.

.. We suspect that if these things catch fish in the numbers that the neighbors are reporting that feather merchants across the continent will get in on the selling.
.. It will be interesting to see if the local purists eschew profits for disdainful posturing. Now there's a can of . . . .

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Time For Drilling

FINALLY - THICK ICE !

Getting Thicker

getting colder

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.. Make no mistake about it; ice fishing is meat fishing. It may be pleasant, fun, enjoyable, or miserable but, it's pretty serious stuff as well. The neighbors start talking about it as soon as the first snow flakes of Fall hit the ground.

.. Smokers are dragged out of the deep dusty recesses of the garage and cleaned. Savory woods and pine sticks are gathered. Charcoal is stockpiled and ingredients for secret recipes are studied.
.. Gear that has evolved into specialized tools is checked and augmented with the latest pieces. Flies are tied, lures cleaned and polished, and the calendar gets marked-up with dates and notes.

.. Augers are cleaned, sharpened, oiled and put into top shape. Finally, maps are checked and brought up to date with the latest information from the most recent summer's prospecting. It's time to start drilling.
.. Ice fishers that are stoked by gear every bit as maniacal as most fly fishers are found in our neighborhood. There are just as many "gotta-haves" for them as are found in the stash of summer fishers.
.. The array of specialized gear, to the uninitiated, is stunning and weirdly attractive. It all seems so familiar, in an other-worldly sort of way.

.. Spools of expensive, fresh, and strong tippet material are found, 'leader material,' of this quality is necessary.
.. Ice skimming spoons are found that would be right at home in an Italian kitchen. Lures are diminutive, brightly colored, twinkly, and seem plucked from a miniature Christmas tree.

.. One thing is very familiar and dear to us: THE SCUD! Most of the scuds are purchased locally from our neighborhood feather merchants.
.. Some are tied at home, some are even very elaborate in their design and implementation. All are certainly capable of taking a trout in any situation during the summer.
.. The neighbors fish these at any depth throughout the water column. Rigs consist of single or double scuds in the same or different colors

..  Various colors and patterns are used. Generally a synthetic fiber is used for the body and legs. The exoskeleton is often made from the clear plastic found on cigarette packages. Colors range from the ridiculous to the sublime with green, tan, and pink being the most popular.
.. Most scuds are found in relatively shallow water near the vegetation that they dearly love. They reproduce year 'round and various stages and colors are present for the fish to eat. Right after molting they are a neutral pinkish tan color.

..Scuds of the genus Gammarus are probably most common in the neighborhood. They are most active at night and in low light conditions.
.. Of course, fishing with scuds is usually most productive at first or last light and on overcast days.
.. One species Hyallela Azteca is fond of deeper water and may be found scudding along the bottom as deep as 50 feet.
.. The critters range in size from about 1/4" to 3/4". The neighbors use hook sizes from 16 to 12. Most of our local feather merchants keep a well stocked bin of scuds in appropriate sizes for the neighborhood. Although these critters are seldom found in the larger streams and rivers of the neighborhood, many a trout are taken on them during the year.
.. More to come.

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